It was a storybook ending for Ridgeline's Seth Montierth, even though he had to wait longer than anticipated to achieve his primary objective.
The senior came from behind to beat Mountain View's Landon Shumway for all the marbles in the 190-pound weight class at the 4A Boys Wrestling State Championships, which concluded at a little after 11 p.m. on Wednesday evening at the UCCU Center in Orem. Montierth wrapped up his 6-3 victory over Shumway, a fellow divisional champion, at 10:46 p.m.
It was a memorable two days of wrestling for Montierth and teammate Joseph Holbrook (113), who also made it to the finals. Holbrook's first-place match took place before the Herald Journal's print deadline, which was well before before Montierth took center stage.
The junior put up a good fight against Uintah's Maddox Hacking before falling, 8-4. Hacking, who also beat Holbrook in the finals at divisionals less than two weeks ago, took a 3-0 lead with a takedown early in the first round and executed another takedown in the final round. Holbrook pared his first-round deficit to 3-2 with a reversal. Holbrook earned a massive come-from-behind overtime triumph over a 2024 state finalist from Payson in the semifinals.
"It is a really big deal for Joe to make the finals, for Seth to make the finals," Ridgeline head coach Jarrett Morrill said Wednesday afternoon. "That speaks to how hard they've worked and how much progress they've made to get to this point. Seth's such an amazing kid. He never stops working and he's always asking questions. He truly is a student of the sport and he just loves it, and he loves doing it. And I guess it kind of helps when your mom's a coach, but he's an incredible kid and has definitely earned this with the amount of work he's put in.
"And Joe as well. Joe is somebody who didn't wrestle as much. He wrestled a little bit growing up, but came out to wrestle freshman year and wasn't great, but really dedicated himself starting that offseason freshman year and even more so offseason after his sophomore year. ... A lot of people don't know this, but he's a kid who wakes up early every morning at 5 in the morning and gets his own workouts in, and so I think a great deal of success can be contributed to how much extra work he does on his own."
As for the team competition, Uintah had its fifth straight state championship -- three at the 4A level and two as a 5A program -- wrapped up well before the championship round. The Utes, who are widely regarded as one of the top three teams in all of Utah this season, had an impressive eight finalists and reigned supreme in six of those bouts.
Uintah racked up a whopping 362 points, while Timpanogos claimed the runner-up trophy with 191 points and Mountain View was third with 171. Ridgeline's strong season came to a conclusion with a fourth-place showing. The Riverhawks accumulated 121.5 points.
Bear River was the next highest placer among Region 11 programs as the Bears tied for seventh with Snow Canyon with 85 points. Rounding out the Region 11 teams were West Field (10th place, 62 points), Green Canyon (12th, 57), Mountain Crest (13th, 54.5), Sky View (16th, 36) and Logan (20th, 16.5).
This is arguably the deepest 4A field in recent memory.
"I would say that 4A this year is as tough as it's ever been since we've been around," Morrill said. "This is our eighth year in 4A after our first year was in 3A, but in our eight years in 4A this is probably the toughest it's ever been and Uintah's got a lot of great things going on. They're an incredible team, so obviously they add a lot to the depth. ... I would say 6A at the top end, the best guys in 6A are the best in the whole state, but if you look at the depth 4A might be the toughest if you just look (at) top to bottom depth wise."
Montierth made the most of his final trip to state as he pinned his first two foes and then surged past Mountain Crest's Carter Egbert via a 16-5 major decision in the semifinals. Standing in the way of individual glory for Montierth was Shumway, a two-time 4A state placer, who, like Montierth, was a consolation champion a year ago.
Shumway jumped out to an early 3-0 lead with a takedown and took a 3-1 advantage into the second round. Montierth choose the bottom position for the second, got a reversal midway through the round and rode Shumway out the remainding 55 or so seconds. Shumway elected to start in the neutral position for the third round, Montierth secured a takedown 25 seconds in and rode his opponent out for his first state championship.
Four local grapplers captured consolation state championships, meaning they finished third in their respective weight classes, in Ridgeline's Mack Rutledge (144) and Sam Rassi (157), Mountain Crest's Stetson Bingham (150) and Green Canyon's Sam Tanner (285). It was a memorable bounce-back tournament for Rutledge and Rassi as they both placed fourth at divisionals.
Rutledge was triumphant in his third-place match by major decision, while Rassi pinned his opponent in the first round. Bingham came through with a pair of takedowns late in the third round and pulled out a thrilling 7-5 win over Zack Mccann of Timpanogos, while Tanner dispatched of Timpanogos' Jesse King for the second time this tourney, this time by a 7-0 scoreline. Tanner, who outpointed King 8-0 in the quarterfinals, finished his junior season with an impressive record of 51-3.
All five Cache County programs had athletes that made it to the placement rounds. Ridgeline had a fifth medalist in Kruz Allred, who pinned a fellow returning state placer in his fifth-place duel. Allred finished sixth at state a year ago.
In addition to Bingham, the Mustangs were represented in the placement rounds by now three-time 4A medalist James Rollins (120) and Carter Egbert (190). Rollins made it to the consolation finals, while fellow junior Egbert placed sixth.
"James is a great kid," MC head coach Jay Tovey said. "He has a great attitude and will continue to improve to achieve his goals. He has earned everything he has achieved."
Sky View had a trio of medalists in Preston Smith (5th, 285), Kayson Leak (6th, 138) and Xander Stokes (6th, 220). Smith stuck his opponent in the final match of his prep career and is now a two-time state placer. Leak, a junior, has made it to the placement rounds in each of his three seasons.
"It is a huge accomplishment," Anderson said of Leak becoming a three-time state medalist. "I believe we only have a few four-time state placers in program history and Kayson is on track to becoming the next."
Like Sky View, Green Canyon had a trio of athletes earn the right to stand on the podium. Spencer Mitchell (215) edged Stokes 2-1 in their fifth-place match, while Easton Darley (6th, 126) also represented the Wolves on the podium.
Logan's Payton Redd (6th, 144) is now a four-time state placer. The senior was a 4A champion as a sophomore and a finalist as a junior.
"Payton has been a privilege to have on the team," LHS head coach Rocky Lunceford said. "He's played a huge role in bringing this program back to where it belong -- being competitive in every aspect. Any future success we have will be largely due to the effort he's put in every day for the past four years. I believe he is our first four-time state placer in school history, which is an incredible achievement. It's great to see him cement his legacy at a school with such a rich tradition and so many big names."
Like Ridgeline, Bear River had five medalists. Those Bears who competed on Day 2 of the tourney were Jaxon Morgan (5th, 113), Daxston Bingham (4th, 126), Keaton Smith (5th, 157), Vincent Fertig (5th, 165) and Max Anderson (5th, 190).
West Field, Region 11's other program, had two medalists in standout Jason Worthley (150) and Diesel Knudsen (5th, 126). Worthley's championship match didn't take place until after the HJ went to print, but he capped off a 42-3 senior season with a dominant technical fall triumph over Jordan's Myka Love early in the second round. It was a gratifying breakthrough for Worthley, who was a two-time 6A state runner-up at Fremont.