Pahranagat Valley High School’s Jesse Jones won the 145-pound weight class at the Paul Williamson Memorial tournament Dec. 8 in Parowan, Utah.
The other Panther wrestlers also did well. Hagen Harris (106) and Tayt Leavitt (220) placed fourth and Jon Stewart (285) finished fifth.
As a team, the Panthers finished ninth in a 13-team field with 75 points, one and a half points behind Lincoln County. They were the only two Nevada schools participating.
Jones and Davin Minick, both at 145 pounds, were placed in two different classes, Jones at 145A and Minick at 145B.
Harris had a bye his first match, then faced J. Stubbs of Canyon View and won a 12-1 decision in pool action
Moving to the medal rounds, Harris faced Richard Pena of Piute and won by pin. He lost by pin in the semifinals to Wes Blake of South Sevier then lost again by fall to Madex Thompson of Beaver.
Jones won each of his matches, two by pin and the last two by point decision.
In Pool D action, he pinned Trey White of Cedar at 3:14, then pinned Zachery Glammeyer of Beaver at 3:58. He won the semifinal match,
12-8, over Russell Close of Canyon View. The championship match was a 16-2 major decision win over Mason Bartlett of Beaver, adding 29 points to the Panthers’ team score.
At 145B, Minick took sixth place, earning six points for the Panthers.
In Round 1, he lost by fall to Hagen Boyce of Lincoln County. In Round 3, he won by fall over Joshua Hall of Cedar High. In the quarterfinals, he lost by fall to Ethan Crofts of Panguitch. He received a bye in Consolation Round 1, but lost by fall in the fifth-place match to Marcos Estaban of Canyon View.
Tayt Leavitt (220) earned the team 16 points with his fourth-place finish.
In Round 1, he was pinned by Joseph Pulicola of Canyon View, but came back in Round 3 with a pin of Chris Good of South Sevier.
In the championship quarterfinals, Leavitt won by fall over Seth Patrick of Lincoln County, but he lost his next two matches by fall to Wyatt Tebbs of Panguitch and then by an 8-2 decision to Pulicola again in the third-place match.
Jon Stewart (285) placed fifth in his weight class, earning nine points for PVHS.
He had a bye in the first round, but lost by pin in the second round to Remington Veater of Panguitch.
He lost his quarterfinal match by pin to Ike Keller of Milford.
In the consolation first round, Stewart received a bye, but then won the fifth- place match, pinning Jacob Thacker of Canyon View in 61 seconds.
This week, the Panthers compete in the Desert Storm tournament at Dixie High School in St. George, Utah., Dec. 14-15.
PVHS will have their own tournament later in the season when they host the Panther Invitational on Jan. 11, featuring Moapa Valley, Lincoln County, Lake Mead, Indian Springs, and Sunrise Mountain.
