PCHS Miners win wrestling home meet against Cottonwood High, 42-30

Park City High School Wrestling team beat Cottonwood High School on Thursday night at home. Photo: TownLift // Michele Roepke

PARK CITY, Utah — The Park City High School Miners wrestling team competed at home on Thursday, where they beat the team from Cottonwood High School with a final score of 42 – 30.

A few of standout performances included those by Blake Howlett in the 126 lb. weight category, Eli Olson at 113, and Scott Miller who wrestled at 132.

“The match went great, all of our kids wrestled very well,” Park City Head Coach Trip Ocana told TownLift. “We’re looking forward to getting better and to keep advancing.” 

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The High School Miners seniors on this years’ wrestling team are Eli Olson, Hudson Underhill, Scott Miller, Jackson Hockersmith, Jackson Richey, and Herlan Ponce. 

Watch one of several winning Miners matches here:

Ocana, who also works as a paraprofessional at Park City High School, grew up wrestling in Heber City. His sport-origin story is not too unlike Thursday’s opponent’s coach, as Cottonwood’s Isaac Halliday wrestled in high school for the neighboring town of Taylorsville. 

Cottonwood had a couple of girls wrestlers travel with them to this meet, even though Park City had no wrestlers to go up against them, this time. Noa Omessi is one female wrestler who graduated from Park City High’s team last year and has taken her skills and passions for the sport along with her. Both Cottonwood and Park City’s graduating girls from last years’ wrestling teams have moved on to matriculate in New York. Omessi is a freshman attending Barnard but wrestling with the squad at Columbia University and traveling to train among multiple other prestigious schools in the Ivy League-League.

Below, Park City coaching staff Ocana and Assistant Coach Larry Miller (right) giving their junior varsity and varsity athletes a pre-game pep talk in the practice room.

“This year is super exciting for the Park City High School Wrestling Team,” Ocana said. “Because we’ve had robust recruitment resulting in the biggest roster we’ve ever had. Historically we have 10 or 12 and right now we have 30 students wrestling.”

When Coach Ocana was in middle school in Heber, his wrestling coach was Steve Sanderson, the famous father of Olympic athlete Kale Sanderson. Generational participation is the way of the wrestling world as both Park City coaches work closely with their fathers and with their sons. 

Ocana concluded Thursday’s interview explaining, “Park City Wrestling’s goal is not only to build good wrestlers but to build good humans. That’s why sportsmanship is key in supporting these competitors’ sports lessons and turn them into life lessons.”