Romero Looks For His Third Big 12 Crown

OREM, Utah – Utah Valley wrestling heads to Tulsa for the 2023 Big 12 Championship on Mar. 4-5 at the BOK Center. UVU will have a contingent of ten wrestlers in the field, with three having received pre-seeds ahead of the tournament.

The Wolverines will look to compete for auto bids to the upcoming 2023 NCAA Wrestling Championships that will be held in Tulsa on Mar. 16-18. 174-pounder Demetrius Romero will look to earn his third Big 12 Championship and second at 174. UVU had a total of four Wolverines claim podium spots a year ago. Taylor LaMont at 125 and 133-pounder Haiden Drury both took home fifth. Evan Bockman added a third auto bid with a seventh-place finish at 197. 141-pounder Ty Smith went 4-2 to finish eighth at last year's Big 12 Tournament.

The 2023 Big 12 Championship begins Saturday at 9 a.m. MT/10 a.m. CT with preliminary and quarterfinal matches, while the Saturday evening session will continue at 4 p.m. MT/5 p.m. CT with semifinal and consolation quarterfinal matches. Sunday's consolation semis, as well as third, fifth and seventh-place matches start at 11 a.m. MT/noon CT and the championship finals will conclude the event on Sunday evening at 7 p.m. MT/8 p.m. CT.

Each match of the first three sessions will be broadcast live on Big 12 Now on ESPN+ (subscription required), while the championship session will be televised live on ESPNU. Live results will also be available throughout the tournament by visiting TrackWrestling.com.

Utah Valley enters the 2023 Big 12 Championships at 3-9 overall in duals and 2-6 in Big 12 duals. The Wolverines defeated California Baptist 29-9 in November and picked up a come-from-behind victory over No. 21 Northern Colorado, 22-20, to close out the season.

Traveling to Tulsa
The Big 12 Championships return to the BOK Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma, for the seventh year. The last time the Championships were not in Tulsa was 2016 when Kansas City was the host city.

Romero Going for Third Crown
174-pounder Romero will wrestle for his third Big 12 title this weekend in Tulsa. The senior is the No. 4 seed in the 174-pound field, and was given a first-round bye. He won't wrestle until the quarterfinals on Saturday and he will await the winner of No. 5 seed Tate Picklo of Oklahoma or UNC's Andrew Berreyesa.

Romero defeated Jackson Hemauer of Northern Colorado in 2021 by a 6-2 decision to win his second Big 12 crown, and first at 174. Romero won the 2019 165 title with a 8-6 decison over No. 5 seed Andrew Fogarty of NDSU.