The Evanston High School wrestling team traveled to Utah for its second meet of the season, finishing fourth as a team at the Viewmont Invitational, in Bountiful.

Eight Red Devils reached the podium in the 21-team event, led by senior Brady Roberts – winner of the 175-pound championship – while the JV squad placed sixth as a team overall, reaffirming that the future is indeed bright for EHS wrestling.

“I was pleased that we not only placed eight wrestlers, we also won a lot of matches in the medal round, as well,” said EHS head coach Garth Wagstaff. “We ended up fourth – really close to third, in terms of points – a match here or there is all that kept us from the Top 3. We’re the only Wyoming team there, so we don’t have to worry about seeding; we just go and wrestle. We always get a lot of compliments on how we wrestle down there, so I’m glad we can represent well.”

After a first-round bye, Roberts rattled off four straight wins on his way to the title, including a 15-8 decision over Corner Canyon’s Caleb Robinson in the semifinals, and a pin over Payson’s Wyatt Peterson in the championship match. Roberts is now 10-0 on the season.

“Brady is just focused – he’s such a good kid to coach,” Wagstaff said. “He does what he’s coached to do, and he maintains that focus all the time, whether it’s in practice or in a match. He’s always doing good things.”

Fellow EHS senior Aiden Liechty finished runner-up at 190 pounds, earning his spot in the title match by way of three straight pins over Jackson Hosino (Northridge), Eli Wheatley (Green Canyon) and Logan Allen (West Jordan). Liechty wrestled Riverton’s Gage Watt for the championship, losing by pin in the third round.

“Aiden’s wrestling well right now, gaining that confidence,” Wagstaff said. “I know he was upset with how the championship match went; he was in it, but just got caught in a couple of situations. That’s what we’re focusing on at this point of the season – wrestling through those situations, and getting better from it, as an athlete and wrestler.”

Keith Shelton finished third at 120 pounds, pinning Ryker Smethurst (Mountain Crest) to advance to the semifinals. After shaking off a loss to Declo’s Riley Hutchinson in the semis, Shelton pinned Easton Darley (Green Canyon) and Samuel John Ingram (Woods Cross) to claim third.

“Keith is doing a lot of good things,” Wagstaff said. “The thing that impressed me about Keith is after he got beat in the semis, he didn’t dwell on it – he grew from it, and learned from it, then came back and took third. To come back from losing the way he did in the semis, it’s not always easy to do.”

After losing his opening-round match at 126 pounds, Ryker Frongner battled back through the consolation rounds, pinning three opponents to advance to the consolation semifinals. After beating Jordan Brinkerhoff (Northridge) in the semis by a 14-5 major decision, Frongner won a close 7-6 decision over Gavin Gulbranson (Box Elder) for 3rd Place.

“Ryker is also wrestling well,” Wagstaff said. “He had a tough draw – the kid he lost to in the opening round won this thing the last two years. He came back and wrestled all the way to third – that shows a lot of character for all those guys – like Keith and Ryker and Kyson – to come back and take third after tough losses.”

Winning his first three matches at 144 pounds, Kyson Hamilton found himself in a dogfight with Viewmont’s Spencer Rees in the semifinals, losing 3-1. Hamilton bounced back with a 10-1 major decision over Gavin Houston (West Jordan) in the consolation semis, then beat Blake Buckway (Box Elder) 5-4 to claim third.

The Red Devils had a pair of placers at 150 pounds, with Jaxon Haider taking fourth and Braunson Sims sixth. After losing his quarterfinal match, Haider pinned Ben Tillman (Brighton) and won a 6-4 decision over Preston Martinez (Carbon), setting up a showdown with teammate Sims in the consolation semifinals.

Sims was injured in the match and unable to continue; Haider lost to Jarom Nelson (Bear River) in the 3rd-place match, finishing fourth.

“Braunson has been battling a knee thing all year, and it was a little tender this weekend,” Wagstaff said. “He’s going to have to battle through things – he wanted to wrestle his fifth and sixth place match, but I told him, ‘This is December, not February – we’re not questioning your toughness, I know you’d wrestle if we asked you to.’ We made the decision to rest him, and we’ll evaluate it this week, see how it’s going.”

As for Haider, he upset the No. 3-seed right off the bat [Riverton’s Ryker Church] in his opening match, getting the Red Devils fired up.

“You could see Jaxon’s confidence just explode,” Wagstaff said. “It was like, ‘Hey, I can do this.’ He wrestled really well.”

Rounding out the placers was freshman Bridger Roberts, who wrestled his way to 5th at 157 pounds. After a loss in the second round of the championship bracket, Roberts won a 12-5 decision over Barrick Beals (Payson) and a medical forfeit over Cashe Kelly (Layton). He then pinned Cale Christensen (Viewmont) to advance to the consolation semifinals, losing to Kalob Baker (Riverton). In the 5th-place match, Roberts won a 10-5 decision over Steven Christensen (Riverton) to earn a spot on the podium.

“With Bridger, you always know you’re going to have something to watch,” Wagstaff said. “As a freshman, to have him step up as a varsity wrestler – realistically, he could probably weigh 150, but he told me, ‘I’ll go to 157, coach – it’s for the team.’ That’s his mentality – he’ll do whatever you ask him to do. And that’s how he wrestles, he does whatever he has to do. He gets in scraps, but as a freshman at that weight class – really impressive.”

Other Evanston wrestlers that won matches included Kolby Hamilton at 132 pounds, Ryker Wilson at 132 pounds and Karter Moore at 144 pounds.

“The kids that won some matches, but didn’t place – they’re still going out and representing,” Wagstaff said. “They just have to make that jump to the next level. It’s a long season, so they just need to keep rolling – we gotta grow, we gotta learn and focus on what you need to do to get better. We’re a solid team, and it’s a fun process to be going through.”

The Red Devils will have a week off of competition for the holidays, and then will host Bear River in a dual on Thursday, Dec. 28. It will be a special event, as longtime head coach Larry Wagstaff – who stepped down following last season – will be honored for his years with the program.

“We’ll practice every day this week – focus on individual improvement,” Wagstaff said. “On the 28th, we’ll have a dual with Bear River, who won the Viewmont Invite. We’re gonna do a tribute to Wag, so as many people as we can get out to that event, the better.”

The dual is scheduled for the afternoon on that Thursday, so Wagstaff is hoping to have a full house.

“Hopefully, he shows up,” he said, laughing. “He follows it pretty well, but he doesn’t like recognition at all. His daughter promised me she’d have him there.”

Red Devils JV place five on podium

The Red Devils JV squad also had a successful tournament at the Viewmont Invitational, placing sixth as a team with five wrestlers earning a spot the podium.

Leading the charge for the JV was Luke Guild  (3-1) who won the JV title at 165 pounds. Guild pinned Karson Richards (Box Elder) to claim the championship.

Zachary Welling placed third at 155 pounds, while Zander Tippetts (106 pounds) and Waylon Martinson (285 pounds) finished fourth. Taiton Mills rounded out the JV placers with a fifth-place finish at 190 pounds.

Other JV wrestlers scoring points included Lukus Heflebower (120 pounds), Tyson Bateman (126 pounds), Tyce Wisenbaker (132 pounds) and Braxton Hanks (144 pounds).