Three Wolverines Headed to NCAA Wrestling Championships

OREM, Utah — The Utah Valley University wrestling team will send a trio of grapplers to the 2022 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships that will run Thursday to Saturday, March 17-19, at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit, Michigan.

It will mark the fourth time that redshirt junior 125-pounder Taylor LaMont has qualified to compete at the NCAA Championships, while freshman Haiden Drury (133 pounds) and sophomore Evan Bockman (197) will both make their first national tournament appearance this weekend. Drury will enter as the No. 17 national seed at 133 pounds, while reigning All-American LaMont will enter as the No. 21 seed at 125, and Bockman will enter as the No. 24 seed at 197.

"We are happy that Taylor, Haiden and Evan are still on track to reach their goals for the year. All three are capable of doing very well here. Taylor, of course, has been here a couple of times before, once reaching the blood round while competing with a complete tear in his ACL, and then making the semifinals last year and placing fifth. He has the experience and confidence to improve on last year's finish," head UVU coach Greg Williams said. "Haiden and Evan are both entering their first NCAA championship. Despite that, they will not be overwhelmed by the environment. They have been consistent all year in their focus and preparations. They are confident that their best wrestling of the year will be this week. Our staff feels great about their individual practices and processes this past week and a half. We are excited for them and look forward to supporting them as they embrace this opportunity."

The 2022 NCAA Wrestling Championships will run Thursday to Saturday at Little Caesars Arena and all six sessions will be televised live on the ESPN family of networks. Thursday's opening session will begin at 10 a.m. MT/noon ET and will feature pigtail and first-round matches on ESPNU. Thursday's afternoon/evening session will then follow at 5 p.m. MT/7 p.m. ET and will feature second-round matches as well as wrestleback action on ESPN. The quarterfinals as well as more consolation rounds will then come on Friday at 9 a.m. MT/11 a.m. ET on ESPNU, and the semifinals and wrestleback action will follow in the fourth session on Friday at 6 p.m. MT/8 p.m. ET on ESPN. The medal rounds/the fifth session will then come on Saturday at 9 a.m. MT/11 a.m. ET on ESPNU, while the championship finals will air live on ESPN on Saturday at 5 p.m. MT/7 p.m. ET.

Every match of the three-day national tournament will also be streamed live on ESPN3, and the ESPN App. Live results will also be available throughout the event by visiting TrackWrestling.com.

LaMont, Drury and Bockman all earned automatic berths to compete at this week's NCAA Wrestling Championships after placing at the 2022 Big 12 Championships. LaMont and Drury led the way at the 2022 Big 12s by each placing fifth, while Bockman earned the final auto bid in his weight class by finishing seventh.

The second-year freshman Drury leads Utah Valley on the season with a 19-6 record. He also holds 4-5 clip against fellow 2022 auto qualifiers on the season and placed third at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational in December. The 2021 All-American LaMont is next with a 10-4 record. He also is 2-4 on the season against fellow 2022 NCAA qualifiers on the season. Bockman has also had a strong 2021-22 campaign for the Wolverines, as he'll enter his first trip to nationals with a 14-9 record. Bockman posted an eighth-place finish for UVU at the CKLV Invitational in December and is 1-7 on the year against auto qualifiers.

In the latest NCAA Coaches Rankings, Drury is ranked 14th in his weight class, while LaMont is ranked 18th, and Bockman is 24th. Drury and Bockman are both also ranked on the most recent RPI, as Drury is rated 20th in his weight class and Bockman 27th.

LaMont will enter his third trip to the NCAA Championships (as the 2020 NCAA Championships were canceled due to COVID) and just a season removed of advancing to the semifinals of the 2021 NCAA Championships en route to earning the first All-American finish of his career last season. LaMont would go on to place fifth in his weight class last year in St. Louis after going 4-2 at nationals a year ago. LaMont entered as the No. 7 seed last year and would go on to defeat the No. 2 seed twice at the event in No. 2 Sam Latona of Virginia Tech. He also advanced all the way to the "blood round" as a redshirt freshman at the 2018 NCAA Championships and is a three-time NWCA Scholar All-American for the Wolverines.

The fourth time qualifying for nationals for LaMont ties a program-record for UVU, as former UVU great and 2016 All-American Jade Rauser was also a four-time national qualifier for the Wolverines.

LaMont will open his 2022 NCAA Championship run against fellow four-time NCAA qualifier and 12-seed from Ohio State Malik Heinselman (19-5). Drury will open his first trip to nationals with an opening-round match against EIWA runner-up and No. 16 seed Josh Koderhandt (25-8) of Navy. Bockman will begin his first national tournament appearance against four-time NCAA qualifier and No. 9 seed Cameron Caffey (26-7) of Michigan State.

Last Year's NCAAs
A season ago, UVU had multiple wresters advance to the semifinal round en route to both earning All-American honors for the first time in program history, as LaMont placed fifth at 125 and senior Demetrius Romero finished sixth at 174. LaMont and Romero would both lose tightly contested semifinal bouts to just miss out on wrestling for a national championship, as LaMont fell 2-1 in overtime (TB-1) to the No. 3 seed Brandon Courtney of Arizona State and Romero fell 2-0 to the No. 3 seed Carter Starocci of Penn State.

Overall, UVU sent four qualifiers to nationals last season, as Ty Smith also qualified at 133 pounds and Cameron Hunsaker qualified at 149. As a team, UVU recorded its first top 25 team finish in program history by placing 21st at the 2021 NCAA Championships with 21.5 team points.

UVU All-Time NCAA History
With three qualifiers this season, UVU has now tallied a total of 42 NCAA qualifiers in its 13 seasons as a full-fledged NCAA Division I member. The Wolverines have also had at least one wrestler qualify to compete at nationals every year since becoming eligible for NCAA DI postseason competition in 2009-10. UVU sent a program-record six qualifiers in 2019. Utah Valley has crowned a total of five All-Americans in program history in Benjamin Kjar in 2011 (125), Jade Rauser in 2016 (133), Tate Orndorff in 2020 (heavyweight), and both LaMont (125) and Romero (174) last season. Three of the five reached the semifinals in Kjar, who finished a program-high fourth in 2011, as well as LaMont and Romero in 2021, who placed fifth and sixth, respectively.

NCAA Format
Each weight class consists of 33 wrestlers for a grand total of 330 grapplers at the national championship event that will be competed under double-elimination format. The three-day NCAA Championships will feature a total of six sessions.

UVU'S First Round Matches
125: #21 Taylor LaMont, 10-4 (UVU) vs. #12 Malik Heinselman, 19-5 (Ohio St)
133: #17 Haiden Drury, 19-6 (UVU) vs. #16 Josh Koderhandt, 25-8 (Navy)
197: #24 Evan Bockman, 14-9 (UVU) vs. #9 Cameron Caffey (Michigan St)

Schedule
Thursday, March 17, Session I/First Round, 10 a.m. MT/12 p.m. ET, ESPNU
Thursday, March 17, Session II/Second Round, 5 p.m. MT/7p.m. ET, ESPN
Friday, March 18, Session III/Quarterfinals, 9 a.m. MT/11 a.m. ET, ESPNU
Friday, March 18, Session IV/Semifinals, 6 p.m. MT/8 p.m. ET, ESPN
Saturday, March 19, Session V/Medal Rounds, 9 a.m. MT/11 a.m. ET, ESPNU
Saturday, March 19, Session VI/Championship Finals, 5 p.m. MT/7 p.m. ET, ESPN