NCAA Wins for LaMont and Romero; Hunsaker and Smith in Wrestlebacks

ST. LOUIS — Utah Valley University grapplers Taylor LaMont and Demetrius Romero both advanced in the championship bracket with opening-round victories on Thursday morning during session number one at the 2021 NCAA Wrestling Championships in St. Louis.

Cameron Hunsaker too recorded a win for UVU on the day in the pigtail round, but then fell later in the session as he and Ty Smith will both have to wrestle back in the consolation rounds.

The seventh-seeded redshirt junior LaMont (125 pounds) opened with a 19-1 technical fall over No. 26 Jackson DiSario of Stanford while the two-time Big 12 champion and second-seeded redshirt senior Romero (174) followed with a 9-6 decision over No. 31 Jake Logan of Lehigh to both move on. The 33rd-seeded sophomore Cameron Hunsaker (149) first picked up a 5-1 decision over the No. 32 seed from Hofstra Greg Gaxiola before falling to the No. 1 seed Sammy Sasso of Ohio State by fall. The redshirt freshman and No. 28 seed Ty Smith dropped his lone match of the session to the No. 5 seed Micky Phillippi, 14-3.

"Taylor and Demetrius got the first wins under their belts. They need to come out strong this next session and earn a trip to the quarters," head UVU coach Greg Williams said. "It was nice for Cameron to get started with a win too. We're planning on Ty and Cameron both coming back tonight and wrestling hard."

In his opening bout of the at the 2021 NCAA Championships, the three-time UVU NCAA qualifier LaMont (125 pounds) looked like a man on a mission as he dominated the two-time NCAA qualifier for the Cardinal DiSario. LaMont got off to a quick start, as he picked up a quick takedown and followed that up with throw, a takedown and a headlock on his way to racking up four back points to take an 8-1 lead after one. The 2021 Big 12 finalist LaMont then followed that up with another four-point nearfall in period two to extend his lead to 12-1. Then in the third, LaMont picked up another quick takedown and a four-point nearfall to win by a score of 19-1.

With the victory, LaMont improves to 10-1 on the season and advances on to face the Penn State freshman and No. 23 seed Robert Howard (6-4) in the Thursday afternoon's second session.

The two-time Big 12 champion and second-seeded Romero too picked up a win to move on and remain undefeated on the season at 17-0. The two-time UVU Big 12 champion got off to a solid start against the No. 31 seed Logan of Lehigh by scoring a pair of quick takedowns to take a 4-1 lead after one. Logan then made things interesting in the second with an escape and a takedown of his own to tie things up at 4-4. With Romero holding to a 5-4 advantage in the third, the Utah Valley senior then picked up his second escape of the match along with another takedown and riding time point to go on to take the bout by a score of 9-6.

With the victory, Romero moves on to face Big 12 conference foe and the No. 18 seed Dustin Plott of Oklahoma State (15-4) on Thursday evening.

Opening his first NCAA Championship appearance in the pigtails, the 33rd-seeded Hunskaer too picked up a victory for UVU with a 5-1 decision over the No. 32 seed Greg Gaxiola of Hofstra. Hunsaker opened the bout with a first-period takedown to jump out to a 2-0 lead. Gaxiola then responded by riding out Hunsaker in the second, but the UVU sophomore bounced back with an escape and another takedown in the third to go on to win the bout and move on to face the 2020 NWCA All-American and top-seeded Sammy Sasso of Ohio State later in the session.

In his second match of the session against the top-seeded Sasso, Hunsaker hung in early as he trailed just 2-0 at the end of one. The 2021 Big Ten champion Sasso then picked up an escape and a takedown in the second to extend his lead to 5-0. In the third with Hunsaker in the bottom position, the No. 1 seed Sasso managed to get the UVU sophomore on his back and lock up the fall to send Hunsaker to the wrestlebacks.

After going 1-1 in the session, Hunsaker (10-8) will next face the No. 16 seed PJ Ogunsanya of Army (9-1) in a win-or-go-home match in session two.

Also making his NCAA Championship debut, the 133-pound redshirt freshman Smith found himself on the wrong end of the 14-3 major decision to the three-time NCAA qualifier and two-time ACC champion Micky Phillippi of Pittsburgh. Phillippi secured a pair of opening-period takedowns to take a 4-1 lead. Smith then managed to record a pair of escapes in the second, but the 2020 NWCA All-American Phillippi would go on to pick up four more takedowns on his way to winning the contest by major decision.

With the setback, Smith (8-6) now heads to the consolation brackets and will face a familiar foe in No. 21 Jared Van Vleet of Air Force (5-6) on session number two.

In the team score race, UVU is currently tied for 25th out of 63 teams with 4.5 points. Iowa is leading after the opening session with 19 points, while Penn State is in second with 17 and Missouri third (14).

The 2021 NCAA Wrestling Championships will continue with the second session on Thursday afternoon beginning at 4 p.m. MT/5 p.m. CT. The session will air live on ESPN2. Each mat will also be streamed on ESPN3.

UVU Session I Results

• 125 - #7 Taylor LaMont (1-0)
• 125 - #7 Taylor LaMont (UVU) TF #26 Jackson DiSario (STAN), 19-1 (5:37)
• 133 - #28 Ty Smith (0-1)
• #5 Micky Phillippi (PITT) MD #28 Ty Smith (UVU), 14-3
• 149 - #33 Cameron Hunsaker (1-1)
• #33 Cameron Hunsaker (UVU) DEC #32 Greg Gaxiola (HOF), 5-1
• #1 Sammy Sasso (OHIO ST) FALL #33 Cameron Hunsaker (UVU), 6:34
• 174 - #2 Demetrius Romero (1-0)
• #2 Demetrius Romero (UVU) DEC #31 Jake Logan (LEH), 9-6