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Orem • Jake McCormick heard the whistle, looked up at the scoreboard to see his 9-5 decision and pointed his fingers in the air. The senior 152-pounder knew his win would ensure South Summit would finally break through.
The Wildcats overcame Millard's platoon of 27 wrestlers to win its first team title since 1997. South Summit's string of consolation victories helped them break the Eagles' streak of five straight championships.
"I knew we had it clinched, it was just this unreal feeling," McCormick said. "We've been talking about beating Millard since my freshman year, and we've finally done it."
Although Millard dominated in numbers, South Summit came through on the mats. In the third- and fifth-place matches, the Wildcats went 5-for-6 while the Eagles only won one of their 10 matches in the round.
No one came up bigger than 285-pounder Sam Embry, who earned three pins in his three consolation contests after a first-round loss. Brandon Woolstenhulme also notched three pins in the meet to finish third.
"We had a team discussion, and I told the guys that third place wins championships," coach Gary Crandall said. "When Sam got that last pin, it sparked a lot of our guys in the finals. I'm proud of those guys because they didn't fold. They came back and got third, and that's what gave us the win."
In the final round, Millard sniffed within 15 points of the lead. Individual wins by Kyle Robison, Brenden Turner and Josh Rasmussen gave the Eagles some hope and left South Summit sweating. But Colton Thornton, Jake McCormick, Jeff McCormick and Cody Angell all won individual titles to lift the Wildcats to the 2A championship.
Eagles coach Blake Turner said his team deserved to hold their heads high and would return next year to reclaim the title.
"This year, the credit goes to South Summit. They were better than us," Turner said. —
Highlights
R South Summit wins four individual championships and claims five consolation matches to earn the program's first title since 1997.
• The Eagles have three state champions but fall to second, breaking the school's streak of five straight team titles. —
Photo gallery
O For more photos from Saturday's 3A, 2A and 1A state wrestling tournaments, visit
Team scores
For state wrestling team scores from each respective class, see Scoreboard. > S12