Standouts Tomlinson, Coonis to lead Uintah wrestling into first 4A State Duals

SPRINGVILLE — As Class 4A and 5A wrestling teams prepare for the two-day dual meet state tournament Wednesday and Thursday, a lot of wrestlers will be going through a four-round qualifying tournament to determine the best team in Utah by Thursday's final at the Maverik Center in West Valley City.

But as Uintah standout Tucker Tomlinson prepared for the Utes' meet at Springville on Tuesday, he realized that wouldn't be his team's lot.

They'd have to wrestle for three-straight days with the Region 8 finale Tuesday, while also traveling hundreds of miles from Vernal and spending three days living out of hotel rooms.

Bring it on, he says.

"It's normal. We travel all the time," Tomlinson said. "We're used to it. We're getting pretty good at it."

After dispatching the Red Devils, Uintah opens the State Dual Tournament on Wednesday at Box Elder High School against Corner Canyon, Cyprus and the host Bees. The winner of the four-team, two-dual pod will advance to the state semifinals Thursday, while the losers of both first-round matches will wrestle in a consolation round to ensure every school wrestles in at least two dual meets.

Other regional pods for 4A are at region champions Maple Mountain, Mountain View and Skyline. The Class 5A tournament is likewise hosted by region champions Copper Hills, Pleasant Grove, Mountain Crest and Viewmont. Each site will feature duals beginning at 5 p.m. and 6:45 p.m.

The format, which has been available in 4A for a few years but received sanctioning from the UHSAA this season, gives individual wrestlers a chance to build toward a team goal a week before the individual postseason begins.

"I like it," said Uintah coach Gregg Stensgard, a former All-American wrestler at North Dakota State. "Since I moved here 23 years ago from Minnesota, I always told them we should have a state championship derived from a team championship.

"A lot of states do it."

Much of the team's success starts with Tomlinson, Stensgard said. The junior ranks first on his team with 273 points in 37 matches, including 76 takedowns and a 34-3 record at 170 pounds.

"He's had a phenomenal year," the coach said. "Like anybody, he's had a lot of peaks and a few valleys.

"He was undefeated for a long time. Tucker's had a great year, and now we're just trying to help him keep his momentum going."

The Utes moved up to 4A from 3A this past season, moving into Region 8 with schools from south Utah County and Wasatch. That's left plenty of road trips, late-night stops at the Village Inn in Grand Junction, Colorado, for Tomlinson and his teammates — and plenty of chances to grow closer, as he did with fellow Uintah standout Kedric Coonis, a former state champion.

"He's been really important. He works his guts out every single day, and he's been like a brother to me," Tomlinson said of Coonis (27-5), who lives about 15 miles away from his close friend. "We push each other, wrestle each other, call each other in the summer time to go wrestle for a few hours. He's like a brother to me."

Tomlinson is rated one of the top 170-pound wrestlers in the state, and should challenge for a 4A state title beginning Feb. 10 at Utah Valley University.

Coonis was ranked the No. 2 132-pound wrestler across all classifications by wrestleutah.com. He'll go for his second state title in two weeks, after finishing at least third every year since his freshman season.

But first comes the matter of the dual title.

"It's just a lot of hard work and a lot of hours in the wrestling room, running and pushing each other. But winning together — that's the best," Tomlinson said. "It feels good. From the start of the season, where you see the new beginners, they get better and then as they win, it gets us pumped up. When we get pumped up, we're good."

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