UVU Sending Three to Nationals

TULSA, Okla. —Evan Bockman became the third Utah Valley University wrestler to earn an automatic bid to the NCAA Championships with a win on Sunday at the Big 12 Championships, joining Taylor LaMont and Haiden Drury, who clinched their spots on Saturday.

LaMont (125 pounds) and Drury (133) both placed fifth after winning their final matches of the tournament.

Bockman needed to defeat Alan Clothier of Northern Colorado to earn the seventh and final spot at 197 pounds from the Big 12. After a first-period takedown from Clothier, Bockman was in control the rest of the way. Down 2-1 entering the second, Bockman tied it on a quick escape and then took the lead on a takedown with 54 seconds left before riding out Clothier.

The seventh-seeded Clothier made it a 5-3 match with an escape in the third, but Bockman's takedown with 36 seconds left all but clinched it for the Wolverine wrestler. With riding time, the eighth-seeded Bockman earned a 7-4 decision to punch his first ticket to NCAA Nationals with the seventh-place Big 12 finish.

Bockman posted a 2-2 record at his first trip to the Big 12 Championships en route to placing seventh and earning his first trip to nationals.

Both LaMont and Drury fell in tight bouts in the consolation semifinals in their first matches of the day to drop to the fifth-place matches.

In his fifth-place match against the No. 8 seed Jace Koelzer from Northern Colorado, the second-seeded LaMont had a pair of takedowns in the first and built up over two minutes of riding time in the first period. A four-point near fall in the second helped him build a 9-3 lead after two before he earned the major with an escape and four takedowns in the final period to win by a score of 19-6.

LaMont posted a 4-2 record at the Big 12 Championships on his way to placing fifth. By punching a ticket to the NCAA Championships, this marks the fourth time of LaMont's career that he has earned a spot to compete at nationals.

In his fifth-place contest against the No. 7 seed Tony Madrigal of Oklahoma, Drury rode Madrigal for nearly the entire second period and that riding time was the difference in the 2-1 win. Both wrestlers scored on an escape, but Drury was able to get away 18 seconds into the third period to have the riding time he collected in the second stand up.

Drury was the lone UVU competitor to advance to the semifinals at this year's Big 12s and finished with a 2-2 outing and the fifth-place finish to earn his first trip to nationals.

Ty Smith (141) was also in action for UVU on Sunday and placed eighth after dropping his match on Sunday against the five seed Carter Young of Oklahoma State. Young avenged an earlier loss to Smith with a 7-4 decision. Young got a pair of takedowns and four-point near fall in the opening period to give himself a 6-1 lead en route to the win. Smith went 2-3 on the weekend on his way to placing eighth in his weight class.

Smith and a couple of other Wolverine wrestlers will now hope to earn an at-large bid to the NCAA Championships that will be announced by the NCAA on Tuesday, March 8. The official NCAA Championship seeds and brackets will then be released on NCAA.com at 4 p.m. MT on Wednesday, March 9.

Six other UVU grapplers competed for the Wolverines at the 2022 Big 12 Championships but had their runs come to a close during Saturday's opening day of action at the conference tournament. Danny Snediker (165) led the group by going 1-2, while Cameron Hunsaker (149), Jaxon Garoutte (157), Jacob Armstrong (184), and Chase Trussell (285) all went 0-2, and Kekana Fouret (174) finished with an 0-3 showing.

As a team, UVU is currently in 11th place with 34 points with one session of action left to go. Missouri is leading the way with 127.5 points, while Oklahoma is in second (113) and Iowa State in third (106).

Sunday's third session of action marked the conclusion of the 2022 Big 12 Championships for UVU.

The Big 12 Championships will close with the championship finals on Sunday at 6 p.m. MT/7 p.m. CT live on ESPN2. The 2022 NCAA Wrestling Championships will then be held March 17-19 at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit, Michigan. A season ago, UVU crowned multiple All-Americans for the first time as LaMont placed fifth and senior Demetrius Romero finished sixth.

UVU Results
125 - #2 Taylor LaMont (4-2) - 5th Place
#2 Taylor LaMont (UVU) DEC Tanner Jordan (SDSU), 3-1 (SV-1)
#7 Joey Prata (OU) DEC #2 Taylor LaMont (UVU), 7-5
#2 Taylor LaMont (UVU) FALL Jake Svihel (WYO), 2:03
#2 Taylor LaMont (UVU) FALL #6 Kysen Terukina (ISU), 1:39
#4 Trevor Mastrogiovanni (OK State) DEC #2 Taylor LaMont (UVU), 5-3 (SV-1)
5th Place: #2 Taylor LaMont (Utah Valley) MAJOR DEC #8 Jace Koelzer (NC), 19-6

133 - #6 Haiden Drury (2-2) - 5th Place
#6 Haiden Drury (UVU) DEC Connor Brown (Mizzou), 6-2
#2 Kyle Biscoglia (UNI) DEC #6 Haiden Drury (UVU), 7-5, (SV-1)
Sidney Flores (AF) FALL Haiden Drury (UVU), 5:58
5th Place: #6 Haiden Drury (UVU) DEC #7 Tony Madrigal (OU), 2-1

141 - Ty Smith (2-3) - 8th Place
Ty Smith (UVU) DEC #5 Carter Young (OK State), 6-2
#4 Allan Hart (Mizzou) DEC Ty Smith (UVU), 9-2
Ty Smith (UVU) DEC Cody Phippen (AF), 7-5
Jacob Butler (OU) DEC Ty Smith (UVU), 9-5
7th Place: #5 Carter Young (OK State) DEC Ty Smith (UVU), 7-4

149 - Cameron Hunsaker (0-2)
#4 Josh Edmond (Mizzou) TECH FALL Cameron Hunsaker (UVU), 19-4 (7:00)
Jeffrey Boyd (WVU) MAJOR DEC Cameron Hunsaker (UVU), 12-4

157 - #8 Jaxon Garoutte (0-2)
#1 David Carr (ISU) 19-0 TECH FALL #8 Jaxon Garoutte (UVU), 18-3 (7:00)
Kenny O'Neil (SDSU) DEC #8 Jaxon Garoutte (UVU), 4-2

165 - Danny Snediker (1-2)
Danny Snediker (UVU) DEC #6 Tanner Cook (SDSU), 9-4
#3 Austin Yant (UNI) DEC Danny Snediker (UVU), 4-1
Nick Knutson (NC) DEC Danny Snediker (UVU), 3-2

174 - Kekana Fouret (0-3)
#6 Peyton Mocco (Mizzou) MAJOR DEC Kekana Fouret (UVU), 13-4
#5 Hayden Hastings (WYO) TECH FALL Kekana Fouret (UVU), 19-2 (6:50)
Sam Wolf (AF) INJ DEFAULT Kekana Fouret (UVU), 5:13

184 - Jacob Armstrong (0-2)
#7 Keegan Moore (OU) DEC Jacob Armstrong (UVU), 7-6
#8 DJ Parker (NDSU) DEC Jacob Armstrong (UVU), 13-6

197 - #8 Evan Bockman (2-2) - 7th Place
#1 Stephen Buchanan (WYO) MAJOR DEC #8 Evan Bockman (UVU), 12-4
#8 Evan Bockman (UVU) MAJOR DEC Kayne Hutchison (AF), 12-4
#5 Rocky Elam (Mizzou) DEC #8 Evan Bockman (UVU), 4-2 (SV-1)
7th Place: #8 Evan Bockman (UVU) DEC #7 Alan Clothier (NC), 7-4

285 - Chase Trussell (0-2)
#4 AJ Nevills (SDSU) DEC Chase Trussell (UVU), 3-2
#6 Brandon Metz (NDSU) DEC Chase Trussell (UVU), 3-1 (SV-1)

*Big 12 Championship seeds listed not national rankings