UVU's First Two Semifinalists at NCAAs

ST. LOUIS —Utah Valley University has two semifinalists for the first time, as Taylor LaMont and Demetrius Romero both won their respective quarterfinal bouts on Friday at the 2021 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships in St. Louis to each advance to Friday night's national semifinals and secure All-American finishes in the process.

It not only marks the first time that UVU will have multiple semifinalists in the same season, but also the first time that the Wolverines will have multiple All-Americans as well. The NCAA Wrestling Championship semifinal round will begin at 6 p.m. MT/7 p.m. CT on Friday evening and air live on ESPN.

The seventh-seeded redshirt junior LaMont earned his first trip to the semifinals with a 7-4 upset victory over No. 2 Sam Latona of Virginia Tech, while the second-seeded redshirt senior Romero shut out the No. 7 seed Kaleb Romero to also reach the semis for the first time.

"We are extremely happy for Taylor and Demetrius. They are deserving of this success. Both have their eyes set on a national title and will continue on that quest this evening," head UVU coach Greg Williams said. "It's obviously great for both of them to achieve All-American status and they are happy to have that part checked off the list."

Deadlocked in a scoreless battle late in the first period, LaMont was able to utilize his Greco background with a takedown late in the period followed by two more nearfall points to jump out to a 4-0 lead. In the top position in the second period, LaMont then managed to ride Latona out for over a minute but Latona responded with an escape to make it 4-1 at the end of two. The three-time UVU NCAA qualifier LaMont then picked up a quick escape point in the third followed by a penalty point on the second stall call on Latona to extend LaMont's lead to 6-1. Latona then managed to get a takedown and a late stall point of his own to pull within three, but LaMont did what he needed to do to hold onto his lead and lock up his first NCAA All-American honors with the trip to the semis.

"I knew that he (Latona of Virginia Tech) was going to be good at attacking my right leg and I felt that right off the bat. But I was able to shut that down pretty much the whole match," the redshirt junior LaMont said. "He tried to shut my underhooks down, but I've got a lot of tricks there and was able to get one of those on him and pick up the win."

LaMont previously picked up two wins on the opening day of action on Thursday with victories over No. 26 Jackson DiSario of Stanford and No. 23 Robert Howard of Penn State. He opened with a dominant 18-1 technical fall over Stanford Disario and followed that up with a hard earned 2-1 decision over the Penn State freshman Howard to move on to Friday's quarterfinal bout against the Latona.

With the 3-0 record so far in the tournament, LaMont has upped his season record to 12-1. His lone loss of the season came in the Big 12 championship match against Brody Teske of Northern Iowa. LaMont will face the No. 3 seed and two-time Pac-12 champion Brandon Courtney of Arizona State (14-0) in Friday evening's 125-pound semifinal bout.

"He's tough (speaking about Courtney of ASU). We should've wrestled earlier this year, but he wasn't able to make the trip due to COVID protocols," LaMont added. "He's quick. I think I might be a little stronger but he's probably quicker than me. So, it should be an interesting matchup for both of us."

In his quarterfinal match on Friday afternoon, the two-time UVU Big 12 champion Romero got off to a strong start against Romero of Ohio State with a quick takedown and ride out in the first to take a 2-0 lead after one. UVU's Romero then followed that up with an escape early in the third and another takedown in the third along with riding time to go on to defeat his Buckeye counterpart by a score of 6-0 and earn his first trip to the national semifinals as well as his first All-American honors.

"I feel good, that was a great match. I started off a little slow yesterday, but I just had to get that first one out of the way and we have things rolling," the redshirt senior Romero said. "Yesterday I felt like I didn't move my feet as much, but today I moved a lot and I felt like I controlled the pace on our feet. I also took some dominant shots and rode hard and that made the difference and took a lot out of my opponent."

"Demetrius wrestled his best match of tournament so far. He is very coachable. Coach Lofthouse set up a game plan for him and he executed it perfectly," Williams said.

Romero too won his first two matches on Thursday to advance to Friday's quarterfinal round. He first defeated No. 31 Jake Logan of Lehigh, 9-6, before picking up an 11-5 decision over Big 12 foe and No. 18 Dustin Plott of Oklahoma State.

With the trio of wins this weekend, Romero remains undefeated on the season as he will take a perfect 19-0 record into Friday evening's semifinal contest. He will face-off against the No. 3 seed and 2021 Big Ten runner-up Carter Starocci of Penn State (11-2) on Friday night.

"This shows that we have a great coaching staff and that they know how to get things done. And if you just listen to them, they will take you where you need to be," Romero said when asked about what it means to have two Utah Valley wrestlers in the semifinals. "We also have a great team full of great teammates that we can build around. Being a smaller school, we are not getting 10 All-Americans every year, but we are definitely making the most out of it and getting a few. We also have a great community around us that's always putting money into the program and boosting our confidence. It shows that we can get it done even as a small school and we will continue to bring in those guys that we need to help build a dynasty."

LaMont and Romero will become UVU's second and third NCAA Championship semifinalists in program history and the third and fourth NCAA All-Americans. Benjamin Kjar was the lone other Wolverine grappler to reach the semis, as he achieved the feat in 2011 at 125 pounds. Kjar would go on to place fourth that season, while Jade Rauser wrestled back in the consolation rounds to earn an eighth-place finish in 2016, as Kjar and Rauser mark the program's other NCAA All-America finishers.

A pair of other Wolverine grapplers also took part in the 2021 NCAA Championship but both Ty Smith (133) and Cameron Hunsaker (149) had their inaugural runs cut short on Thursday. The 33rd-seeded Hunsaker led the two by going 1-2 with a 5-1 win over No. 32 Greg Gaxiola of Hofstra, while Smith finished with an 0-2 outing.

In the team score race, Utah Valley is currently in a program record 15th place out of 63 teams with 20.5 points. The Iowa Hawkeyes leads the event with 73.5 points, while Penn State is in second (57.5) and Oklahoma State third (51). By being in 15th, UVU is currently the third-highest team in the Big 12 Conference.

The NCAA Championships will continue on Friday evening with the semifinals at 6 p.m. MT/7 p.m. CT live on ESPN. Action will then continue on Saturday with the medal rounds at 9 a.m. MT/10 a.m. CT on ESPN2 followed by the championship finals on ESPN at 5 p.m. MT/6 p.m. CT.

UVU NCAA Championship Results

125 - #7 Taylor LaMont (3-0)

• #7 Taylor LaMont (UVU) TF #26 Jackson DiSario (STAN), 18-1 (5:37)
• #7 Taylor LaMont (UVU) DEC #23 Robert Howard (PENN ST), 2-
• #7 Taylor LaMont (UVU) DEC #2 Sam Latona (VT), 7-4
• Will face #3 Brandon Courtney of Arizona State in semifinals

174 - #2 Demetrius Romero (3-0)

• #2 Demetrius Romero (UVU) DEC #31 Jake Logan (LEH), 9-6
• #2 Demetrius Romero (UVU) DEC #18 Dustin Plott (OKST), 11-5
• #2 Demetrius Romero (UVU) DEC #7 Kaleb Romero (OHIO ST), 6-0
• Will face #3 Carter Starocci of Penn State in the semifinals

133 - #28 Ty Smith (0-2)

• #5 Micky Phillippi (PITT) MD #28 Ty Smith (UVU), 14-3
• #21 Jared Van Vleet (AF) DEC #28 Ty Smith (UVU), 4-1

149 - #33 Cameron Hunsaker (1-2)

• #33 Cameron Hunsaker (UVU) DEC #32 Greg Gaxiola (HOF), 5-1
• #1 Sammy Sasso (OHIO ST) FALL #33 Cameron Hunsaker (UVU), 6:34
• #16 PJ Ogunsanya (ARMY) DEC #33 Cameron Hunsaker (UVU), 5-3