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With the high school wrestling season starting this week, 5A coaches likely may be salivating with the knowledge that Viewmont High School is young, untested and without the services of 17 seniors from last year's squad.

Gone from last year's team are state champions Danny Kjar and Mitch Rasmussen. The Vikings lost about 80 percent of their scoring from the team that extended the school's championship streak to three.

Coach Brandon Ripplinger admits his team is young, but said the cupboard is anything but bare.

"We lost a ton from last year's team but when you have a program like Viewmont you just bring up the next batch," Ripplinger said. "We've had new leaders emerge already and step up to take ownership for the season."

The squad may be young, but that doesn't stop Ripplinger or his athletes from believing they can be on top of the podium again in February.

"Every day in practice we ask ourselves what are we going to be capable of by the end of the year," Ripplinger said. "At Viewmont we don't set our expectations low, and we strive to be the absolute best we can be."

While last year's team dominated the upper-weights, Ripplinger said young, scrappy wrestlers led by Austin Johnson, Matt Wilcox, Kyle Shepherd, Kanchi Abe and Lawson Essig have been leading the charge in practice.

"Our practices are brutal and the work ethic in the room is just awesome," Johnson said. "Everyone works really hard, so it seems like practices can sometimes be tougher than matches."

Teammate Matt Wilcox said the pressure to carry on the legacy at Viewmont makes everyone work harder.

"Viewmont is more than wrestling, it's a high name to hold," Wilcox said. "When you wrestle for Viewmont, you really want to work for the people who have gone before you."

Tradition aside, this Viewmont team is young and Ripplinger said his squad needs to concentrate on scoring opportunities, especially late in matches.

"We need to work on our maturity and mat sense," Ripplinger said. "The change up to the varsity level means that our guys need to score when they're on the edge of the mat and especially in late-match situations."

A tough schedule opens when the Vikings meet always powerful Wasatch High School on Wednesday before they participate in their first tournament action at Layton High School on Saturday. Ripplinger said tough competition gets his kids ready for the bigger tournaments later in the year.

"Region 1 is such a tough wrestling region, but we like wrestling tough matches," he said. "When you have tough matches during the season, it makes the state tournament seem like just another day of work." —

Viewmont wrestling

Viewmont has won six of the last seven 5A state wrestling titles. Its only loss in that time came at the hands of Weber in 2007, which racked up an astonishing 241.5 points that season.

Only one wrestler from last year's Viewmont team has state-meet experience. Austin Johnson wrestled at 103 pounds last year and did not place.

After graduating 17 seniors from last year's team, the Vikings have only six seniors on this squad.

Coach Ripplinger's assessment of his team: "We are going to be tough, but off the radar. People won't know a lot about our kids, but we are going to surprise some people."