| Brett Riche manhandles an opponent at the region tournament, which was hosted by Emery High. Riche earned a state bid with his strong performance. |
The 30 minute drive to Emery for the region eight wrestling tournament last week proved fruitful for seven Carbon wrestlers.
Each secured a bid for the state wrestling tournament, which begins today at Utah Valley State College in Provo.
Zack Burdick, Tim Lasslo, Trent Greenhalgh, Dustin Howa, Russell Scow, Brett Riche and Dallen McFarlane will all represent Carbon High after top finishes in the region finals and consolation finals.
Coach Dave Smith said that more Carbon wrestlers made it to the region finals this year than in past years, although the team did not have as many low state qualifiers.
Burdick defeated Kendall Bird of Emery to take third place.
Trent Greenhalgh pinned Jaron Day of Lehi, who had previously been ranked first in the state.
Howa defeated Derrick Anderson of Delta and Dallen McFarlane polished off Sean McIntosh of Lehi.
Lasslo, Scow and Riche were narrowly defeated in their matches, but received state bids for their high placement.
Courtney Ivory will also join the team as an alternate.
Ivory narrowly missed a state bid when he was defeated by a Delta wrestler in the consolation finals.
The state wrestling tournament begins at 9:30 a.m. today and will continue through Saturday with the championship finals at 4 p.m.
Smith said he expects the group to perform well at the tournament.
“I’m excited about how some of these kids will do at state,” he stated. “I’ll be surprised if we don’t have at least five kids placing.”