Look to Hillcrest High girl wrestlers to win individual titles, and likely, the 5A state championship.

As one of the state championship favorites, Hillcrest High returns two two-peat state champions, sisters Eliza and Eva Zimmerman, with little sister, sophomore Katie, and teammate senior Antonia Ingabire, also capable of claiming their weight class titles, wrestling coach Nick Pappas said about the leaders of his team.

“I think pound for pound, we’re one of the better teams in the state for girls wrestling,” he said. “We have 15 or 16 girls out right now, if we can get five, six or seven more girls on the team, I don’t see why we couldn’t (win state).”

Wasatch High is the team to beat, with returning champions, Pappas said.

“We’re definitely the top team in our region,” he said, adding they will continue to wrestle in 5A. “Our girls are going back out to the Reno TOC (tournament of champions) national tournament Dec. 19-21. (Senior) Eliza was an All-American last year; we’re hoping she’ll repeat, and we have a couple more.”

Transfer student, junior Eleni Nonu, who placed at state freshman year, just missed being an All-American at the national tournament last year, but injured her elbow late last season and missed state. Pappas expects she could “definitely be top three and potentially, a state champion.” 

He also is looking to senior Alei’a Baarsma to be on the podium at state.

“She had surgery on her shoulder so we hope she might be good to go in January,” Pappas said. “She’s ranked top three or four right now so she can be competitive if she’s healthy. It’s going to be tough with missing a majority of the season, but she’s got the potential to come back and be a state placer.”

He also has been impressed with “a couple seniors who have never wrestled before, but they can make some noise.”

The boys’ team is rebuilding, Pappas said.

“We have some good top-end talent, but we graduated two state placers and also, other varsity-level competitors,” he said. “I am excited about junior Moroni Mahe. He has a real shot to win a title this year; he should be a state placer. Senior Hunter Hanson was a state qualifier last year, but he got injured at a practice, so never got to wrestle at the state tournament. He should do well.”

Seniors Lyrik Martinez and Lance Tello, along with Hanson, should lead the boys’ team that has 12 members returning and about eight new members.

After their first tournaments Dec. 6-7 — the girls will travel to the “Skyhawk Showdown” at Payson High and the boys will compete at “The Gauntlet” at Olympus High — the girls will host a tri-dual Dec. 11. The boys will go across town to wrestle at Kearns High.

On Dec. 13-14, the boys will take part at the AK duals while the girls will travel to the Jody Warren duals in Grantsville.

Hillcrest will host the annual Battle of the Axe against Brighton High on Dec. 17. Hillcrest boys have won it the past three years.

“We’re thin, but if we can fill our roster, I like our chances. It’s going to depend on where we match up with their guys; Brighton has a pretty good team. We’re have good talent, but if we have some holes, it’s going to be tough,” Pappas said, adding last year, Brighton’s JV boys won the JV title, Battle of the Hatchet.

The girls, too, wrestle for the Battle of the Axe, a revolving trophy in the shape of a wood block. Scoring the competition for the title began last year, with Hillcrest winning. He anticipates his Huskies to win it as well this year.

The boys team then will compete in the Christmas Clash in Herriman, Dec. 20-21.

The teams’ last December matchup will be at the Beehive 25 Invitational in Nephi.

January matches begin with “The Best of the West” in Tooele followed by the Ross Brunson All-Star Duals. The teams’ competition continues all month until the divisional state qualifier for boys, Jan. 29-30, 2025 in Cedar Valley, and for girls, Jan. 31-Feb. 1, 2025 hosted by Hillcrest.

Boys state is Feb. 12-13, 2025 at Utah Valley University’s UCCU, followed by the girls, Feb. 14-15, 2025 at the same location.

Earlier this school year, Hillcrest hosted the second Brunson Brawl, named for Shawn and Russell Brunson, who were named All-Americans while wrestling at Hillcrest and their dad, Ross, who served as head coach for the Huskies in the late 1990s to early 2000s.

“It’s more of an exhibition and fundraiser; we didn’t keep team scores,” Pappas said. “The experience is cool for the kids to wrestle into those lights. We wanted our kids who have never wrestled before to get in some matches and then, it helped shake off any jitters for our returning wrestlers. This summer we had (junior) Eva traveling on Team Utah to the national duals in Fargo (North Dakota) and Moroni wrestled with the boys team. They both won a few matches and were right there, with the best talent throughout the entire nation. We have a good team; I’m excited for our year.”