Brothers Mack and Zach Huntsman both had the goal of winning the 5A State Championship in wrestling last year. Anyone who has been involved in wrestling knows it is a very difficult sport that takes extreme dedication and hard work to achieve success. The wrestling room is literally swimming in sweat after workouts. After working hard all season, as a senior, Mack knew it was his last chance, and during his championship match he put it all out there stunning the crowd as he pulled off an exciting win in the last few seconds. The whole Weber crowd celebrated Mack’s victory at 160 lbs. Mack tributes his win to his coach, Jeffrey Eure. He says, “If he wasn’t my coach there’s no way I would have taken State. He spent countless hours in the off -season working with me.”
Zach began this season last November with renewed determination and successfully won match after match. After an upsetting loss to a wrestler from Davis High during the season, Zach felt very down on himself and was really doubting his ability to fulfill his goal. Coach Eure took him into his office. Zach said, “He talked to me about my potential and how everyone makes mistakes. He helped me believe I could do it.” A few weeks before the State competition, Mack started showing up at practice to work out with Zach as his practice partner. Zach says, “That was huge. It was awesome how he came up to work with me. We don’t have a lot of wrestlers around my weight, so it was really helpful!” As the team headed down to UVU for State, Mack says he knew Zach “had it in the bag.” Zach performed well at State and won the title. The Weber crowd celebrated once again and Mack shares, “I think I was happier when he [Zach] took it than when I did!”
The Weber team worked hard placing 6 wrestlers. Devon Childress placed 5th at 185, Hunter Riggs took 3rd at 160, Garrett Hoyt was 5th at 145, Dakota Caldwell placed 6th at 126, and Heston Woolsey took 3rd at 106.
The week after State, Zach was excited to receive his LDS mission call. Mack had received his call weeks before and was to serve in the Paraguay, Asuncion mission. In the spirit of doing things together, Zach opened his call and found out he would be reporting the same MTC as Mack, the Argentina Buenos Aires MTC, June 6, two weeks after Mack arrives. Zach will serve in the Uruguay, Monte Video mission. Mack said, “It was a sweet feeling to see [Zach] was going to a really similar place. We’ve always done so much together, so it’s fun to keep the ball rolling.” Zach reported that he was, “…pretty dang excited! I’ll have a welcoming buddy waiting for me when I get to the MTC.”
Author’s note: The Weber Wrestling ‘family’ is sad to see Coach Eure leaving the program at the end of the school year. We would like to wish him luck in his new position at Canyon High School in Draper.
