Mustangs' Lofthouse to enroll at Iowa

Deseret News (Salt Lake City), May 4, 2004 by James Edward Deseret Morning News

Mountain Crest's Luke Lofthouse spent four years manhandling high school wrestlers in Utah. Now he'll turn his attention to the college ranks.

Over the weekend, Lofthouse accepted a scholarship offer at the University of Iowa, an elite wrestling program.

The Hawks have won 20 NCAA championships and 27 Big Ten Championships. Last season, Iowa was an NCAA runner-up to Oklahoma CIty.

With Lofthouse on board, Iowa hopes that second-place finish will become a national title.

Lofthouse, who maintains a 4.0 GPA, is a three-time state champion, which includes a 158-8 record. During his junior and senior seasons, he was named the 4A upper weight outstanding wrestler during the state tournaments. He's also an accomplished baseball and football player, having been named first-team all-state for both.

Iowa is coached by Jim Zalesky, a three-time NCAA champion who also wrestled for Iowa.

Other schools who actively recruited Lofthouse were: Columbia, Cornell, Oklahoma State, Oklahoma, Minnesota, Missouri, Oregon State, Stanford, Penn State, Michigan, Iowa, Boise State and Nebraska.

THE K KING: Springville pitcher Mark Pawelek will set the Utah high-school career strikeout mark today when he faces Spanish Fork. The junior lefty, who has never lost a game, has fanned 124 batters in eight games this season, giving him 312 for his career -- two shy of the mark set by Bingham's Bryan Hardy in 1974-76. With another 12- 15 games left to pitch in his high school career, Pawelek is sure to set a mark that will stand for decades.

D.J. A VANDAL: Mountain View's Danny Johnson, a 6-foot-7 forward who averaged nearly 18 points per game for the Bruins, has signed to play basketball for Idaho State. The first-team All-State player says he'll redshirt for one year and then go on an LDS Church mission. He was also recruited by Snow College and Yale.

LONE PEAK RANKED: In the latest regional rankings released by the National Soccer Coaches Athletics Association on Monday, Lone Peak's boys' soccer team fell from fifth to eighth. The Knights own an 11-0- 1 record and are ranked first in Class 4A in the Deseret Morning News rankings.

RIVERTON KEEPER SIGNS: Riverton goalie Adam Richardson signed a letter of intent last week to play with Sacramento State. Richardson has 2 1/2 shutouts this year for the upstart Silverwolves who are 8- 6.

CONTRIBUTING: Jim Rayburn

E-mail: jedward@desnews.com