Brighton wrestling has new coach, new girls team for 2021-22

By Jerry Christensen | [email protected]

Brighton High School has boasted a strong wrestling heritage since the Nixon Administration. Fifty years of exceptional coaches and dedicated wrestlers have produced 14 team state championships and 20 top-five state finishes. The program has crowned 75 individual state champions. This year, the program adds a new boys’ head coach and a second team—newly UHSAA (Utah High School Activities Association) sanctioned girls wrestling. 

Newly appointed head coach Mason Brinkman emphasized “the need to be disciplined in all aspects of the student-athlete experience: practice, classroom, tournaments.” Brinkman, 25, brings a young, new feel to the wrestling room. From Council Bluffs, Iowa and Lewis Central High School, Brinkman was a student-athlete at Iowa State University. His goal for the team is to “approach every day with a tenacity that will help us take the team to the next level.”

Brinkman was assistant wrestling coach over the last years at Brighton as the team earned back-to-back region championships. Team leadership will be critical to earning a rare “three-peat” and continuing the Brighton wrestling legacy. This team leadership will come from returning wrestlers junior Micah Murdock, two-sport athletes Mana Nonu and Tyler Knaak and senior twins Isaac and Jacob Tatton. 

Sharing the state-of-the-art wrestling facility is Brighton’s new girls wrestling team guided by coach Bronson Weaver. Bronson brings a wealth of wrestling coaching experience to the mat from years of assistant coaching at Brighton. 

“We have a range of two-sport athletes joining us from the track and rugby teams. I expect that the team and community will encourage other athletes to join in early November. With a full roster, we will have the potential to bring home the first region championship in the newly sanctioned sport,” Weaver said. 

The team will be anchored by Brianna Jeppson who is a pioneer of Brighton girls wrestling.