UVU's Orndorff, LaMont, Gregerson Qualify for World Championships

AKRON, Ohio - Utah Valley University rising sophomore Tate Orndorff won a U23 Greco-Roman World Team Trial title on Friday in Akron to earn a spot on the U.S. U23 Greco-Roman National Team.

The top-seeded Orndorff went an unblemished 5-0 on the day en route to winning the 130-kilo bracket to land a spot on the U23 National Team. After opening with an 8-2 win over Thomas Killoran (Golden Bear WC) and a 7-0 victory over Brandon Reed (Blue Raider WC) in the quarterfinals, Orndorff then pulled out a 6-0 win over James Ford (Columbus WC) in the semis to advance to the championship series. The UVU 2019 NCAA qualifier then managed to take care of business with back-to-back technical fall wins over Haydn Maley of Stanford to win the tournament and land a spot at the U23 Worlds this fall.

A total of three Wolverines all advanced to the best-of-three finals on the day, as Taylor LaMont (60 KG) and Dylan Gregerson (63 KG) too each won their first three matches of the tournament to both land a spot in the championship series. Both LaMont and Gregerson ended up placing second, however, after each dropped their respective best-of-three championship series.

After pulling out wins over Mason McMillen (Dubuque WC), David Stepanian (Northern Michigan) and King Sandoval (Terrapin WC), the 2018 UVU NCAA qualifier LaMont then advanced to the 60-kilo championship series to match up against the No. 2 seed Randon Miranda of Northern Michigan. Miranda took the first bout 6-3, but LaMont responded by pulling out a hard fought 2-1 win in the second bout to force a winner-take-all third contest. A four-point move by Miranda early in the third match proved to be the difference, as he went on to record a 6-2 victory in the third bout to win the championship series.

LaMont's second-place finish comes just weeks removed from a true second-place finish on his way to earning a U.S. National Team spot on the Senior Men's Greco Team at the Men's Senior Greco World Team Trials.

Gregerson too finished second at the U23 World Team Trials on Friday after opening with wins over Savion Haywood (Virginia Beach RTC), Joshua Saunders (TMWC) and Jaden Enriquez (Michigan State) to advance to the finals at 63 kilos. The top-seeded rising UVU sophomore Gregerson then ended up dropping the first two matches to drop the best-of-three championship series to No. 3 Dalton Roberts of Northern Michigan. Roberts won the two bouts by scores of 4-0 and 8-0.

Gregerson's second-place finish comes on the heels of a third-place outing at the Senior Men's Greco World Team Trials a couple of weeks ago.

The trio of Wolverines all entered the event as the top seeds in their respective weight classes.

The U23 World Team Trials will continue with the Freestyle portion of the tournament on Saturday and Sunday at the Akron Fieldhouse in Akron, Ohio. Orndorff, LaMont, Kimball Bastian, Will Sumner, Gary Jantzer and Chase Trussel are slated to wrestle from the Utah Valley Regional Training Center. Fans can follow the action by visiting FloWrestling.org.

By winning the title at 130 kilos, Orndorff has landed a spot to compete at the U23 Greco-Roman World Championships Oct. 28 to Nov. 3 in Budapest, Hungary.