By Rich WInter

| Special to The Tribune

Orem • While Wasatch, Uintah and Payson took turns occupying the second position of the 3A wrestling tournament Friday, the Delta Rabbits remained on top.

Delta advanced eight wrestlers to Saturday’s semifinals and holds a 16.5-point lead over Payson as the Rabbits close in on a fourth straight title.

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At a glance

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Standings

1. Delta (116)

2. Payson (99.5)

3. Uintah (90)

4. Bear River (75)

5. Wasatch (74.5)

6. Tooele (58.5)

7. Cedar City (57)

8. Union (54.0)

9 .Hurricane (47)

10. Juab (47)

11. Desert Hills (39.5)

12. Snow Canyon (35.5)

13. Canyon View (33.5)

14. Pine View (27)

15. North Sanpete (24)

16. Stansbury (24)

17. Dixie (19)

18. Spanish Fork (17.5)

19. Morgan (13)

20. Carbon (8)

21. Grantsville (3)

22. Juan Diego (3)

23. Park City (3)

24. Ben Lomond (2)

25. Ogden (0)

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"I’m pleased that we got that many through, but I thought we could have gotten more," said Delta coach John Wright. "Ryan Peterson at 182 pounds getting to the semifinals after missing all of last year with a knee injury is big for us."

Wasatch had a strong showing in the evening quarterfinals, advancing seven to the semis, followed by Uintah, which has six wrestlers alive in the championship bracket.

Payson’s Fab Four of Mitch Brown, Jed Mellen, Zac Loveless and Cole Ford will be joined by teammate and 195-pounder Dalton Judd, who advanced to Saturday’s semifinals with pins over wrestlers from Bear River and Snow Canyon.

"We didn’t have a great quarterfinal round," said Payson coach Chris Loveless. "Tonight, we’ll just make sure everyone understands we can score a lot of points in the placing rounds and that we have to keep fighting."

With two more wins, Payson senior Mitch Brown would join an elite list of Utah wrestlers with four state titles. Brown spent less than five minutes on the mat Friday with pins over Grantsville’s Brennon Kimber and Tooele’s Tyson Vigil.

After a few extra laps around Utah Valley University’s UCCU Events Center, Brown turned from competitor to competitive teammate.

"We’ll lose some tonight but I’ll be there cheering on our guys to get every point we can," Brown said.

Brown squares off against Wasatch’s Robby Miner; the winner will face Delta’s Bracken Lovell or Wasatch’s Matt Sweat for the championship.