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Mountain Ridge wrestling team going strong in second year

Jan 26, 2021 11:47AM ● By Justin Adams

Danny Reyes ready to make a move against his opponent during a match between Mountain Ridge and Payson. (Justin Adams/City Journals)

By Justin Adams | [email protected]

With the creation of a new high school, it’s reasonable to expect that it would take a few years for the school’s sports teams to become competitive. Don’t tell that to the Mountain Ridge High School wrestling team though. 

“Right now we’re ranked in the top four in the state. I think we have a great thing going,” said head coach Mitchell Stevens.

Mitchell came to Mountain Ridge from Brighton High School’s wrestling program. He said he was intrigued by the chance to start a program from scratch as well as the exciting culture of a new school.

“I think we have an outstanding culture in this school,” he said. “We have fun. We work hard. We have a tradition of creating hard-working kids with good values. We have great kids on the team.” 

Another advantage for the new coach: two of his assistant coaches, Pat Garcia and Dwayne Henry run wrestling clubs in the area. He came into a cupboard already loaded with talent.

In their very first season, the Sentinels finished in seventh place at the state meet. One wrestler, Kyison Garcia, also took first in his respective weight class. Multiple other wrestlers placed in the top six.  

The Sentinels continued where they left off this season, albeit after a delayed start to the season because of a spike in COVID-19 cases last November. But the team got back on track in December, winning (and hosting) the Christmas Battle Royale tournament on Dec. 22.

Then in January at the War at the Watchtower tournament, the team took second place behind only Wasatch High School, a Utah wrestling powerhouse. 

The team’s success led to three of its wrestlers being invited to the state All-Star Meet, which was held on Jan. 12. Those wrestlers were Kyison Garcia, Mark Rausch and Rylan Stevens. Stevens (who is the son of Coach Mitchell Stevens) was also named the Deseret News Athlete of the Week for boys wrestling. 

“Rylan has a lot of heart and even if he’s down in a match, he never gives up. He can be down by 14 and still pull out the win,” Coach Stevens told the Deseret News. 

The upcoming state meet will on Feb. 18, held at Utah Valley University.