Emery wrestlers beat Manti: prepare for divisionals

By GARY ARRINGTON Sports Writer

The Emery High wrestling team wrestled for the last time at home last week when they hosted the Manti Templars on Tuesday night. Emery defeated the Templars 43-20. The Spartans are now preparing for the 2-A Divisionals that will be held this Friday and Saturday at the Sevier Valley Center in Richfield. The Emery team will compete in Richfield against Millard High, Beaver High, San Juan High, Parowan High, Summit Academy, South Summit and Kanab. All other 2-A schools will wrestle in the other division. Each team can have two wrestlers in each weight class. The top eight in each division will advance to the state tournament the next week at Utah Valley University.
Emery will be led by junior McKoy Christiansen and senior Matt Mecham, both of whom placed in last season’s tournament and made life tough on their opponents this season. Coach Kirk Christiansen thinks “Matt and McKoy should do very well the next two weeks. We have several other wrestlers that also could do well, Ashton Dieli, Ty Mecham, Nathan Urie, Tel Gardner, Newt Oveson to name some that wrestled well this season and could have good tournaments.”
Seniors Matt Mecham and Charlie Turner were honored before the match for their contributions to the program. Matt is the son of Doug and Kathy Mecham of Huntington and Charlie is the son of David and Kimberly Turner.
Zac World at 106 pounds started the night off by defeating his opponent 9-0 to get a major decision. After Steven Brown lost at 113, Christiansen pinned his man 29 seconds into the second round. After Justin Jennings was decisioned at 126 pounds, Nathan Urie at 132 pounds pinned his man with just 1.9 seconds left in the second round to grab the win. Urie had struggled getting the second shoulder down but perseverance paid off and the match was his.
Tel Gardener lost at 138 pounds. Cameron Petersen, wrestling at 145 pounds, was down 5-0 late in the first round when he reversed his fortunes and got the pin and the win with 11.3 seconds remaining.
Delan Funk was up 9-4 in the second round when he pinned his opponent. Three straight forfeits followed Funk’s bout. Both teams forfeited at 160 pounds and 182 pounds and Matt Mecham received the forfeit at 170 pounds.
Lakota Clark decisioned his opponent at 195 pounds by the score of 4-2 and then Ty Mecham pinned his opponent in the second round after neither man scored in the first round.
Mason Moss at 285 pounds then lost the final match of the night. Moss might weigh 200 pounds in wet clothes as he wrestled up for this match.