The Salt Lake Tribune: July 1981

Utah Grapplers Take Three National Titles

LINCOLN, Neb.  The Sundance Wrestling Club of Utah made its presence felt Monday during the final round of the AAU Grand National Wrestling finals here.

The club, coached by Jeff Winderlin and Bill Kilpack, crowned three national champions in Greco-Roman and freestyle competition, and had five wrestlers in runnerup categories.  In all, 17 of the 21-member squad earned All-America status (the top six receive the honor) in their respective weight classifications.

The largest field ever in the eight-year history of the championship, 1,708 participated.

Justin Palmer of Brigham City won the 65-pound title in the freestyle division.  Other national champions were Wes Machan at 66 pounds in the Greco-Roman intermediate division, and Jay Simon, Granger, captured the trophy in the Greco-Roman 119-pound class.

In the elite heavyweight class, Ken Fincher of Salt Lake, who was sixth heading into the final round, wrestled his way through the challenger series to earn fourth place.  That enabled him to earn a spot on the Greco-Roman team which will competed at the National Sports Festival in Indianapolis.

Machan, of Sandy, along with Greg Bullock of Cedar City, made the prestigious School Boy World Championship Team.

Machan was third entering the finals, but wrestled his way to the championship by eliminating the two grapplers ahead of him in impressive fashion.

Simon, Fincher, Machan, Bill Kilpack, West Jordan, and John Kelly, Sandy, all won All-America status in both freestyle and Greco-Roman.

Kelly took runnerup honors at 50 pounds in the Greco-Roman midget division.  Kilpack earned All-America status for his work in the Greco-Roman junior division.  Mike Searle, Delta, placed fifth in the Greco-Roman 70-pound class.

David Harris, Delta, was fifth-place finisher in the Greco-Roman advanced division.

In freestyle, Kelly placed second at 50 pounds.  Kilpack took second at 95 pounds and John Cordova grabbed fourth at 65 pounds.  Bullock emerged third at 138.5 pounds.

Chris Humphrey of Delta took the runnerup slot in the Junior World Boys division at 149.5.  That division is set aside for boys in the 18–20 age grouping.

The Sundance Wrestling Club placed fifth in the competition.  Powerful Oklahoma City took the overall title with Oregon USA, second.

The five-day tournament featured some of the top junior division wrestlers from throughout the nation.

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