The Evanston High School wrestling team opened the 2022-23 season in fine fashion, winning the overall team title at last Friday’s Evanston Invitational.

The Red Devils’ 214 points was 63 points ahead of runner-up Pinedale at 151. Spring Creek was third with 99 points; Duchesne (95 points) and Orem (92 points) rounded out the Top 5.

“I thought our kids wrestled well for the first meet of the season,” said EHS head coach Larry Wagstaff. “I was excited to see that the kids worked hard enough to be in shape to wrestle a match — a lot of those kids they wrestled had a week or two head start on us, and I don’t think we lost any matches because of conditioning, so that’s good. Some of our older kids picked right up where they left off from last season. We obviously have some things to work on, but overall, the kids wrestled very well.”

Ryker Frogner at 106 pounds, Brady Roberts at 160 pounds and Tarrin Haws at 195 pounds won individual titles, while 13 Red Devils in all earned a spot on the podium.

“All three of those guys competed well,” Wagstaff said. “We had a lot of kids that were able to place, and wrestle some good competition. A lot of our kids picked up from where they left off last season, and were really competitive. It was a good weekend for a lot of them.”

Frogner went 3-0 en route to the 106-pound title, with pins over Wes White of Bear River and Michael Stromberg of Rock Springs; he pinned Jaxon Morgan of Bear River in the title match for the first tournament championship of his high school career.

“Ryker’s a freshman, and he’s done a lot of wrestling over the years,” Wagstaff said. “He came out and got after it, had a good tournament. He’s a hardworking kid — he meets us for practice in the morning, and puts in the extra time to get better. We’re looking forward to watching him improve.”

Roberts at 160 pounds went 3-0, as well, with a pin over KC Tisher (Bear River), and a 14-4 decision over David Farrington (Big Piney); last year’s 4A State bronze medalist won a close 11-8 decision over Tucker Blackburn (Duchesne) to win the title.

“Brady got by the Duchesne kid [Tucker Blackburn] for the championship, then got the chance to wrestle him again the next day in duals,” Wagstaff said. “With a few adjustments, Brady just destroyed that kid (technical fall, 17-2).

Sophomore Haws went 4-0 for the tournament, pinning Spring Creek’s Logan Austin in the second round to win the title at 195 pounds.

“Tarrin just wrestles hard,” Wagstaff said. “He’ll keep getting better as time goes on — he’s only a sophomore, so we’re excited about his future.”

Four Red Devils wrestled their way to second-place finishes, including Ryder Wilson at 120 pounds, Kyson Hamilton at 138 pounds, Ethan Reichenberg at 170 pounds and Carsen VanGieson at 285 pounds.

Luke Benton (120 pounds), Walker Wilson (126 pounds) and Aiden Liechty (182 pounds) finished third at their respective weight classes, while Braunson Sims (132 pounds) and Gideon Stahl (145 pounds) finished fourth.

Riley Kohler rounded out the Red Devils’ podium finishes, placing fifth at 145 pounds.

“Both the Wilson kids wrestled well, Braunson [Sims[ wrestled well,” Wagstaff said. “Riley Kohler wrestled hard — all of the kids who made the podium did what they were supposed to do. It was good to see.”

The Red Devils will compete in one more tournament before the Christmas break, traveling to Utah this weekend for the Viewmont Invitational in Bountiful. This tournament routinely features some of the best schools in Utah, and has become a favorite for the EHS wrestling team over the years.

“The Viewmont Invitational is going to be a great tournament,” he added. “That’s a tough tournament in Utah, and we’ve been there since the beginning. Some of the better teams in Utah will be there, so it will be a good test for us. And the girls are going over to Weber for a tournament on Saturday, so they’ll have a chance to compete, as well.”

Lady Devils 3rd in first state-sanctioned tourney

The newly-formed Lady Devils wrestling team made school history at the Evanston Invitational last Friday, placing third out of nine teams in their first-ever, state-sanctioned tournament.

Pinedale took the top spot with 69 points, followed by Lyman, with 47.5. Evanston was third with 46 points; Spring Creek (23 points) and Mountain View (22 points) rounded out the Top 5.

“The girls were really fun to watch, and if you listened to the crowd, they go twice as loud when the girls wrestle,” Wagstaff said. “It doesn’t even matter if they’re from your school — fans are just behind them, and it’s just awesome to see. I get a little emotional watching them, myself — it’s been a long time coming, and I’ve pushed for it for many years. It was great to see our girls do well — all of them had at least one win, and we had two individual champions.”

The Lady Devils had two individual champions in Leah Larkin (3-0) at 130-135 pounds, and Marty Dick (2-0) at 170-190 pounds. Larkin was named Outstanding Wrestler for the tournament.

Johanna Saavedra (1-1) was second at 145 pounds, as was Aaliyah Martin (1-1) at 235 pounds. Sydney Liechty (1-3) was fourth at 115-120 pounds.

“We’d like to get more girls out,” Wagstaff said. It’s getting close to the cutoff point, but we’ll still take them, if they’d like to give it a shot. Everyone’s greener than green, but you learn a few moves, you’ll be OK.”