Clay Collard burst onto the local wrestling scene when, as a freshman for Emery High School, he placed at the state 3-A wrestling tournament. Now as a junior, Collard has went through the region undefeated and will be the top seed from region 12 at 160 pounds in the southern super-regional tournament that will take place this Thursday and Friday at the Centrum on the campus of Southern Utah University in Cedar City.
Emery’s other high placement in that tournament should be Spencer Fehlberg. Fehlberg is a 112-pound wrestler that should get the second seed from region 12 in the tournament.
Emery finished their wrestling regular season last Thursday night when they hosted North Sanpete in the Spartan Center. The Hawks prevailed over Emery by a 43-27 score. The score reflects the fact that North Sanpete was given 12 points by Emery because Emery does not field a wrestler in the two heaviest classes.
It was senior night at the wrestling meet and Emery honored those that will be graduating this spring. Senior wrestlers for the Spartans are Cort Jensen, Hadan Hatch, Jace Guymon, Keith Bird, Jesse Malan and Colton Wilcox.
The match against North Sanpete started at the 171-pound class and Brett Sorenson lost a tough decision 10-0. Brandon McCandless followed at 189 pounds and Brandon was pinned in the second round. Emery then had the two forfeits and the Spartans trailed 22-0. McKoy Allred then was pinned at 103 pounds. Emery trailed 28-0.
Spencer Fehlberg at 112 pounds started off the winning ways for Emery with his second round pin of his Hawk opponent. Dillon Walls followed at 119 pounds and also had a second round pin to cut the deficit in team scoring to 12-28.
Kennedee Byington at 125 pounds and Tice Guymon at 130 pounds then each were pinned in the first round for the team score to get to 12-40.
Tim Larsen had a victory for Emery at 135 pounds when he won a hard fought decision over his opponent at 8-2. Cort Jensen at 140 pounds followed with a 7-5 decision in overtime to beat his opponent. Cort’s opponent had a reversal in the closing seconds of the match to tie the score and force the overtime. With about 15 seconds left in the overtime round, Jensen was able to get the takedown and end the match. Hadan Hatch at 145 pinned his man in the second round. After Jace Guymon was decisioned at 152 pounds, Collard wrestled the final bout of the evening and snuck out with a 7-6 decision.
Emery wrestlers at home against Delta-No. Sanpete
"Clay Collard wins by a 7-6 decision against North Sanpete."