Armstrong Claims Reno Tournament of Champions Title

RENO, Nev. – Utah Valley's Jacob Armstrong became the first Wolverine to take home a title from the Reno Tournament of Champions by winning the 184-pound weight class. Armstrong finished the day with a 4-0 record as the top seed at 184. Haiden Drury made the finals and placed second, with Caleb Uhlenhopp, Mahonri Rushton, and Chase Trussell also finishing on the podium.

UVU had their highest finish in the tournament with a fourth-place finish and scored 76 points. Big 12 foe Oklahoma won the team event with 174.5 points, followed by Wyoming and Grand View.

"Jacob had a great tournament. He wrestled aggressively throughout every match, which he and the rest of the team have been working on. Haiden looked solid for his first time competing at 141. He looked stronger as the tournament went on," said UVU head coach Greg Williams.

Williams continued, "Overall, our guys competed well. Three of our four starters here were on the podium, with the fourth having to medical forfeit after winning his first match. Several of the other guys here wrestled strong."

Armstrong reached the finals after a dominant day against his competition. He started with a round of 16 tech fall victory over Cade Gubler (Montana-Northern). In the quarterfinals, he needed just 3:21 to defeat Southern Oregon's John White by a 16-3 tech fall. The day was getting shorter by the round, as his ticket to the first-place match was clinched with a pin over Oklahoma's No. 32 Guiseppe Hoose in 1:52.

A fast start in the finals aided Armstrong to victory over Grand View's Isaiah Luellen. He used a pair of first-period takedowns to take a 6-2 lead into the second period. The lead was pushed out to 7-2 after an escape in the second. As the bout winded down, Luellen fought back with an escape, but his comeback attempt fell short, giving Armstrong a 7-3 win.

Drury finished 4-1 on the day while wrestling up a weight class for the first time. He won his first two matches of the day with a 5-0 decision over Cesar Avelar (Clackamas) before being pushed to sudden victory, where he scored a takedown on San Francisco State's Sean Yamasaki to clinch a 6-3 win. He cruised to a major decision victory in the quarterfinals before picking up a 6-4 decision over Wyoming's Stockton O'Brien in the semifinals. Drury took a 1-0 lead in the finals against KJ Evans (Oklahoma) after an escape in the second period. As the two tussled in a highly contested third period, it was Evans who came out on top with a reversal to clinch the match.

Caleb Uhlenhopp, Mahonri Rushton, and Chase Trussell all placed during the tournament for the Wolverines. It was the 174-pounder Uhlenhopp who used two tech falls to reach the quarterfinals before taking his first defeat to put him into the consolation rounds. He bounced right back, picking up a decision over Oregon State's Graham Gambrall and beating Tyson Stover via tech fall to reach the fifth-place match, where it came down to a takedown in sudden victory to secure the fifth-place finish.

Rushton took a different path to his fifth-place finish, winning his final five matches after losing a tight 3-2 match in the round of 16. He bounced back with a pin of Jaykob Mills (Wayland Baptist) before adding an 8-2 decision over Isaiah Twait (Corban). After he advanced past Austin Vanek by a 8-0 major, he was pushed to the second tiebreaker in the consolation round of four and before his opponent had a forfeit before the fifth place match.

Trussell did not disappoint in his season debut, going 4-2 on the day. He started with a round of 32 tech fall win over Sebastian Echeverria (Southern Oregon) and added a major decision to advance to the quarterfinals. After a sudden victory loss in the quarters, he rebounded with his second tech fall of the day, defeating CSU-Bakersfield's Eric Mittlestead. He moved on to the fifth-place match after a hard-fought 2-1 decision over Big 12 foe Juan Mora of Oklahoma. His day ended with a sixth-place finish after a medical forfeit.

The Wolverines had some notable performances that did not end up on the podium. Kobe Nelms finished 3-2 and made the quarterfinals at 141. Luke Van Orden picked up a pair of pins during his consolation run to finish 3-2. Jack Forbes finished 2-2 on the day, reaching the consolation round of eight.

Isaiah Delgado (1-1), Tyler Jones (1-2), Tyson Humphreys (1-2), Alex Emmer (2-2), Tanner Lofthouse (2-2), Merrell Morley (0-2) all competed for UVU.

Utah Valley had four wrestlers competing unattached to reach the consolation round of eight. 165-pounder Trevor Frank reached the quarterfinals of his bracket after a pair of tech falls in his first two matches. Jacob Carson, Kael Bennie, and Kayd Craig finished 2-2. Jakob Romero (1-2), Nakoa Fouret (1-2), and Radi Stafford (0-2) also competed unattached. The tournament marked Craig and Stafford's collegiate debuts.

Utah Valley has some time away from the mat for the holidays and will next meet No. 6 Iowa State in their first Big 12 dual of the season on Jan. 12 in Ames, Iowa. The Wolverines will also face No. 14 Northern Iowa on Jan. 13 to wrap up the road trip. They will return home to Lockhart Arena on Jan. 20 for their first home dual against Wyoming at 6:00 p.m. MT.