UVU Returns To Tulsa For 2023 NCAA Championships

OREM, Utah — Utah Valley wrestling will compete this week at the NCAA Championships in Tulsa, Oklahoma. UVU has three in the NCAA Championships that will run from Mar. 16-18 from the BOK Center. It will be the second trip to Tulsa in two weeks for UVU as Tulsa hosts both the Big 12 and NCAA Championships this year.

174-pounder and 2021 All-American Demetrius Romero returns to compete in his fourth NCAA Championships after missing last year due to an injury. Evan Bockman earned his second trip to Nationals after finishing fifth at the Big 12 Championships. Junior Isaiah Delgado finished seventh a couple of weeks ago and will enter his first NCAA Championships.

The 2023 NCAA Wrestling Championships will run Thursday to Saturday at the BOK Center, 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 and will feature pigtail and first-round matches on ESPNU. Thursday's afternoon/evening session will then follow at 5 p.m. MT 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 11 a.m. MT on ESPNU, and the semifinals and wrestleback action will follow in the fourth session on Friday at 6 p.m. MT on ESPN. The medal rounds/the fifth session will then come on Saturday at 9 a.m. MT on ESPNU, while the championship finals will air live on ESPN on Saturday at 5 p.m. MT.

Last Year at NCAAs
Utah Valley had three at Nationals a year ago. Taylor LaMont went 2-2 a year ago for UVU, while Haiden Drury went 1-2, and Evan Bockman finished 0-2. They both were competing in their first NCAA Championships. Bockman will look for his first win at this year's NCAA Championship.

Returning to Tulsa
174-pounder Demetrius Romero will wrestle at his fourth NCAA championships this week and will look to return to the podium after a sixth-place finish in 2021. The finish earned him All-American honors to become the fifth All-American in UVU history. He enters the NCAA Championships with a 14-3 record.

UVU History at NCAAs
With three qualifiers this season, UVU has now tallied a total of 45 NCAA qualifiers in its 14 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 with 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.

Schedule

• Session I: Thursday, March 16, Pigtail and First Rounds, 10 a.m. MT
• Session II: Thursday, March 16, Second Round, 5 p.m. MT
• Session III: Friday, March 17, Quarterfinals, 11 a.m. MT
• Session IV: Friday, March 17, Semifinals, 6 p.m. MT
• Session V: Saturday, March 18, Medal Rounds, 9 a.m. MT
• Session VI: Saturday, March 18, Finals 5 p.m. MT