Wasps Not So Ready To Rumble

Despite uncontrollable events leaving the squad without much sting at the Rocky Mountain Rumble, Sophmore Spencer Heywood took to the mat with Wasatch on his back and made the entire community proud on a very emotional weekend.

BY KENNY BRISTOW

Wave Sports Writer

The Wasatch Wasp wrestling team has been on a nice roll.  They recently had excellent showings at Bear River and at a duel in Morgan.  With more than a week in between meets, the grapplers from Wasatch thought they would have a little extra time to heal from some injuries and to get over some nasty flu bugs before competing in one of the biggest wrestling tournaments in the western United States, The Rocky Mountain Rumble.  Then tragedy set in.

The Rumble began Friday night with a few of the Wasp’s top regulars out with illness, including December’s Wrestler of the Month, Robby Miner.  Coach Wade Discher and his staff would have to piece together a squad to fill the holes to avoid numerous forfeits.  The ones who were healthy, however, namely Garrett Sweat, Spencer Heywood, Jake McNaughton, amongst others, were wrestling hard and having some pretty good results.  Sweat was undefeated on the first night of the duel.

At approximately 5:00 PM on Friday night, shortly after the Rumble had started, two young brothers, Coleman and Trevan Sweat, well known in the Wasatch High School wrestling community, were fatally wounded in an avalanche.   Sweat was closely related to the victims, while McNaughton was a nearby friend and neighbor.  The news did not reach the participants until after the night’s events, but it would affect the meet for the Wasps for the following day.  A few of the Wasp wrestlers were unable to go on the second day due to the tragedy.

Spencer Heywood gets airborne as he pounces on one of his opponents.

Able to muster the strength to fight on for his team, however, Sophmore Spencer Heywood, wrestling at 152 lbs., was the story of the tournament.  He took the mat for his final match of the first night just shortly after the sad news had spread throughout his team.  On Saturday, after fighting his way into the later rounds, he eventually lost a quadruple overtime match to the number 3 seed (A high school all-American from Idaho) and lost to a 3-time state champ 5-4 in the consolation semi's.  Spencer ended up taking 5th place overall in his weight class and according to his coach, Wade Discher, “is right there among the elite kids.”  Discher added that, “Spencer wrestled his guts out.”

Spencer has been having a very good season thus far and his toughness at the Rumble against some of the best grapplers in the area defined that.  “I feel pretty good about the way things have been going this year,” said Heywood.  “Last year was a little nerve-racking… being just a freshman and having to fill-in.  But Coach didn’t baby me or anything and just started putting me out there,” he added with a chuckle.  “I’m glad he did because it’s helped me a lot this year.”

Uncle!  Uncle!  There was no quit in Spencer Heywood at the Rocky Mountain Rumble.

Saturday was Spencer’s 16^th birthday.  According to Kimberly King, mother of Garrett Sweat and aunt of the two young boys who lost their lives, Spencer was very humble with his finish and only expressed concern for others who were grieving.  “Saturday was Spencer’s birthday and he mentioned nothing about it!,” King said.  “He only asked me how I was doing.  What an incredible young man.  We are all so proud of him.”