Four Wolverines win UVU Open Titles

OREM, Utah – Four Utah Valley University wrestlers won titles at the eighth annual UVU Open on Saturday in the PE Building. Two more finished in the top three as the Wolverines boasted six placers at the open tournament.

Sophomores Trevor Willson (149 pounds), Jarod Maynes (133) and Dustin Dennison (285) all won titles along with freshman Will Sumner (184). Maynes, Dennison and Sumner all competed unattached at the tournament.

This is always a fun tournament for our guys and we were pleased with how they wrestled," said head coach Greg Williams. "It was mainly our younger wrestlers that competed on the day, and I was happy to see them succeed. I was especially pleased to see two of our walk-ons make the finals."

Willson, who was one of just three UVU grapplers to compete attached to the Wolverines on Saturday, went an unblemished 4-0 en route to his UVU Open championship. The 149-pound starter for Utah Valley began his title run with an 18-3 technical fall and followed it up with a second-period fall. He then picked up a hard fought 3-1 overtime victory over Wyoming's Branson Ashworth in the semis and finished off his day with another win via fall over Brock Brown (unattached) in the finals. Willson recorded two falls, a technical fall and a sudden-victory decision on the day.

Maynes had an easier route than most to his championship as he had to compete in just two matches. Maynes made the most of his bouts by winning both of them including an 8-1 decision over Western Wyoming's Aaron Allard in the title match. Maynes finished his tournament run with a 2-0 record.

Dennison concluded the tournament by winning the heavyweight bracket while competing unattached. The sophomore went an impressive 4-0 en route to his title with a pair of falls, a major decision and a decision. He wrapped up his tourney run with an 11-2 major decision over Northwest College's Jorge Rodriquez in the finals. With the four victories, Dennison is now 17-6 on the year while wrestling unattached.

Sumner had an impressive outing at the tournament as he secured his title thanks to three pins. The freshman 184-pounder, which wrestled unattached, secured all three of his wins via fall in the first period. Sumner scored falls over Boise State's Keavon Buckley (1:34), as well as Western Wyoming's Chris Restad (1:09) and Adrian Mack (1:31). He finished his day with a 3-0 outing on Saturday.

In all, 11 Wolverines competed on Saturday (including the unattached wrestlers) and six of them advanced to the semifinals. Five of those six wrestled in the finals of their respective weight classes.

Freshman Jesse Christensen (174) was the fifth Wolverine to reach the title bout, but he found himself on the wrong end of a 6-4 decision in his championship match and he finished second while competing unattached. Christensen reached the finals thanks to back-to-back first-period falls. He ended his day by going 2-1.

True freshman Raider Lofthouse (157) also placed at Saturday's Open, as he took third while competing unattached. After falling to Wyoming's Robert Stroh by a score of 6-3 in the quarterfinals, Lofthouse rebounded with four straight wins to earn his third-place finish. Lofthouse ended the tournament with an impressive 5-1 record on the day.

Sophomore Brayden Humpherys (149, unattached), as well as freshmen DJ Argyle (149, unattached) and Michael Suwyn (157, unattached) just missed out on placing at the tournament, as they all finished with identical 2-2 records. Senior Derek Malan (141) and redshirt freshman Koleton Hardy (157) too competed in Saturday's tournament but both finished without a victory. Malan went 0-2 while Hardy finished with an 0-1 clip after having to withdraw from the tournament due to injury.

The tournament marked the beginning of a month-long homestand for UVU, as it will remain home for the entire month of January. The Wolverines will now return to dual action, as they will begin their Western Wrestling Conference slate against No. 21 Wyoming next Saturday. Following the dual meet versus the Cowboys, UVU will welcome Air Force to town on Jan. 23, as well as Pac-12 foes No. 19 Oregon State on Jan. 30 and Stanford on Jan. 31.

Utah Valley's UVU Open Results

141 pounds

• First Round – Jace Abbott (Colo. Mesa) over Derek Malan, Fall 4:27
• Cons. First Round – Justin Horsley (Dixie St.) over Derek Malan, Forfeit

149 pounds

• First Round – Trevor Willson (UVU) over Jaydon Rogers (Western Wyo.), TF 18-3
• Quarterfinal Round – Trevor Willson (UVU) over Taylor Merkley (Dixie St.), Fall 4:05
• Semifinal Round – Trevor Willson (UVU) over Branson Ashworth (Wyoming), Dec. 3-1 (SV)
• 1st-Place Match – Trevor Willson (UVU) over Brock Brown (Unattached), Fall 4:24

157 pounds

• Second Round – Steve Stryker (Glendale) over Koleton Hardy (UVU), Inj. Default 1:07
• Cons. Third Round – David Koller over Koleton Hardy (UVU), Med. Forfeit

133 pounds (unattached)

• Semifinal Round – Jarod Maynes (UVU) over Brett Jones (Western Wyo.), Dec. 5-4
• 1st-Place Match – Jarod Maynes (UVU) over Aaron Allard (Western Wyo.), Dec. 8-1

149 pounds (unattached)

• Second Round – DJ Argyle (UVU) over Shae Bryant (BYU), MD 11-0
• Quarterfinal Round – Branson Ashworth (Wyoming) over DJ Argyle (UVU), Fall 2:33
• Cons. Fourth Round – DJ Argyle (UVU) over Jake Marrow (Northwest), Dec. 6-5
• Cons. Fifth Round – Ian Steen (Western St.) over DJ Argyle (UVU), Dec. 8-6

149 pounds (unattached)

• Second Round – Brayden Humpherys (UVU) over Brett Kasprzyk (Colo. Mesa), MD 11-2
• Quarterfinal Round – Brayden Humpherys (UVU) over Logan Stewart (Western Wyo.), Fall 1:53
• Semifinal Round – Brock Brown (Unattached) over Brayden Humpherys (UVU), Fall 5:29
• Cons. Semifinals – Ian Steen (Western St.) over Brayden Humpherys (UVU), Dec. 10-8

157 pounds (unattached)

• Second Round – Raider Lofthouse (UVU) over Colton Havens (Northwest), Fall 2:08
• Quarterfinal Round – Robert Stroh (Wyoming) over Raider Lofthouse (UVU), Dec. 6-3
• Cons. Round 4 – Raider Lofthouse (UVU) over Michael Suwyn (UVU), Dec. 9-7
• Cons. Round 5 – Raider Lofthouse (UVU) over Brandon Brenenstahl (Boise St.), MD 12-3
• Cons. Semifinals – Raider Lofthouse (UVU) over Lucas Somera (Boise St.), Med. Forfeit
• 3rd-Place Match – Raider Lofthouse (UVU) over Ryan Pellow (Western St.), MD 13-2

157 pounds (unattached)

• First Round – Michael Suwyn (UVU) over Jordan Aguilar (Arizona), TF 16-0
• Second Round – Matt Widdicombe (Northwest) over Michael Suwyn (UVU), Fall 3:44
• Cons. Third Round – Michael Suwyn (UVU) over Michael McDonald (Boise St.), MD 17-6
• Cons. Fourth Round – Raider Lofthouse (UVU) over Michael Suwyn (UVU), Dec. 9-7

174 pounds (unattached)

• Quarterfinal Round – Jesse Christensen (UVU) over Pablo Mata (Arizona), Fall 1:39
• Semifinal Round – Jesse Christensen (UVU) over Colby Barlocker (Western Wyo.), Fall 1:14
• 1st-Place Match – Stephen Mejia (Colo. Mesa) over Jesse Christensen (UVU), 6-4

184 pounds (unattached)

• Quarterfinal Round – Will Sumner (UVU) over Keavon Buckley (Boise St.), Fall 1:34
• Semifinal Round – Will Sumner (UVU) over Chris Restad (Western Wyo.), Fall 1:09
• 1st-Place Match – Will Sumner (UVU) over Adrian Mack (Western Wyo.), Fall 1:31

285 pounds (unattached)

• First Round – Dustin Dennison (UVU) over Sam Eagan (Wyoming), Fall 4:28
• Quarterfinal Round – Dustin Dennison (UVU) over Gaylen Edmo (Boise St.), Dec. 5-2
• Semifinal Round – Dustin Dennison (UVU) over Corby Wyett (Colo. Mesa), Fall 3:54
• 1st-Place Match – Dustin Dennison (UVU) over Jorge Rodriquez (Northwest), MD 11-2