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OREM — Pleasant Grove wrestler Cole Zorn remembered taking second place at the state wrestling tournament a year ago.
It’s not a bad finish, by any means.
But it ate at him, chewed him up — and eventually motivated him. He wanted to win a state title; no one was going to stop him.
Not even his own teammate.
Zorn took a 3-1 win over teammate Luis Garcia to win the 132-pound state championship Thursday night, paving the way to the Vikings’ dominant team win at the UCCU Center for their seventh title in eight years.
“Luis is something else. He’s really strong, a crazy athlete, and I knew I had it tough coming in,” said Zorn, who finished 19-5. “You never know what is going to happen when you wrestle your own teammates. We’ve wrestled in practice maybe twice ever. He’s a stud, and I’m happy for him, too.”
Pleasant Grove cruised to the title with 283 points, followed by Layton (202.5), Herriman (200), Bingham (166.5) and Syracuse (159.5).
A year after being dethroned by Layton, Pleasant Grove was back on top. The Vikings won six-straight 5A championships in 2017, but the first year of Utah’s six-classification setup proved to be their strongest.
“We dominated this year,” Zorn said. “I’m super happy; we locked down the state title yesterday, and it felt really good. We’ve been working really hard this year.”
The title was Pleasant Grove’s 19th in school history, the most among schools currently in Class 6A and fourth-most overall. Delta, in 3A, leads the state with 34 championships, 4A Uintah has 23 and 5A Wasatch 21.
But few moments were as emotional as Zorn’s title, a moment two years in the making. The senior hugged his coaches, his mom and his dad. Then he ran over and found a special mentor: veteran wrestling coach Cole Kelly, who Zorn refers to as a “second father.”
“It’s something else. I’ve been dreaming of this since I was little,” Zorn said. “Taking second last year wasn’t very fun, and I wanted to get one this year.”
Even before the final round, the Vikings held a commanding 275 to 190.5 lead over second-place Layton, the reigning 5A champs.
Pleasant Grove had finalists in seven of the state’s 14 classifications, and in addition to Zorn, Maika Tauteoli also won the 220 championship. Garcia, Jaxon Moore (152) and Harrison Sperre (160) each finished second.
Layton had just two finalists, while Herriman — which trailed the Lancers by 1.5 points before the championship round — had finalists in three classifications and teammates R. Wardle and G. Ogden contesting the 106 championship bout.
6A state wrestling final results
106 — River Wardle, Her., p. Gage Ogden, Her., 5:18
113 — Jacob Finlinson, Wstlk, d. Zeke Kelley, PG, 14-5
120 — Kegan Leatherow, Fre, d. Oakley Ridge, PG, 7-5 (OT)
126 — Terell Barraclough, Lay, p. Rhett Miner, AF, 3:18
132 — Cole Zorn, PG, d. Luis Garcia, PG, 3-1
138 — Tyson Humpherys, Lay, p. Anthony Ridge, PG, 0:45
145 — Josh Bartholomew AF, d. Braden Henson, Tville, 6-4
152 — Logan Jensen, Herr, d. Jaxon Moore, PG, 20-10
160 — Caleb Schulte, Tville, d. Harrison Sperre, PG, 3-2
170 — Mason Christiansen, Bing, d. Jeff Hardy, Fre, 14-2
182 — Cole Moody, Bing, p. Jayden Burton, Syr, 2:39
195 — Tucker Bartels, Syr, d. Tristan Carman, Herr, 3-2
220 — Maika Tauteoli, PG, d. Keala Mahe, Hill, 7-4
285 — Brady Briskey, Web, p. Ian Filoso, AF, 1:34
