Romero Looks to Return to the Podium at NCAA Championships

OREM, Utah — The four-time NCAA qualifier and 2021 NCAA All-American will look to return to the podium at the NCAA Championships after recovering from a season-ending knee injury a year ago.

"I'm excited to get to compete this week and look forward to some tough competition. This is a weekend where everyone shows up and wrestles tough, so I won't have any easy matches. I'm happy with the preparation I have had leading up to this because I feel prepared and I plan to win the NCAA title," said UVU senior Demetrius Romero.

Romero has overcome a lot in his time in Orem. He has seen the highs and lows. He qualified for the NCAA Tournament his first year at UVU after a sixth-place finish at the Big 12 Tournament. He went 1-2 at the NCAA Tournament and finished 26-9 overall and 11-0 in duals. The successful first year set the tone for a Championship season.

In his second year, Romero claimed his spot in the record books as UVU's first Big 12 Champion and an automatic berth to NCAA's. He earned the second-highest ranked No. 9 seed at Nationals and finished 28-5 overall, picking up 11 wins over ranked opponents on the year. A third-place finish at the Cliff Keen Invitational earned him Big 12 Wrestler of the Week honors.

After the successful season, he was awarded a medical redshirt year after suffering a season-ending injury. He quickly came back in 2020-2021 and qualified for the NCAA Tournament, winning his second Big 12 title after going 4-0 in the tournament. He entered Nationals with a 19-0 record on the season.

Entering the 2021-2022 season, Romero was 2-0 on the season when he had a second season-ending injury and was awarded a medical waiver for the 2022-2023 season.

Romero made his season debut at California Baptist, where he defeated Louis Rojas. He won his first seven matches this year before losing to No. 7 Drexel's Mikey O'Malley at the Purdue Duals. He bounced back with three ranked victories in Big 12 duals, defeating UNI's No. 12 Lance Runyon, No. 15 Cade DeVos (South Dakota State), and No. 33 Andrew Berreyesa of Northern Colorado.

"Demetrius has steadily progressed toward the competition level he had two years ago. At the Big 12 Championships, he had some issues finishing his shots. He has focused a lot on that the past week. He is looking really good this week and is ready to make his run for that NCAA title," said UVU head coach Greg Williams.

He returned this year and finished fourth at the Big 12 Championships. He lost to Oklahoma's Tate Picklo before coming back with victories over Louis Rojas (CBU) and West Virginia's Scott Joll to advance to the consolation semifinals. He advanced to the third-place match after a medical forfeit by Air Force's Sam Wolf, and then he finished fifth after taking a medical forfeit to SDSU's Cade DeVos.

Romero opens the NCAA Tournament on Mar. 16 as the No. 15 seed at 174. He will get a rematch with the No. 18 seeded Tate Picklo (Oklahoma).