UVU's LaMont, Orndorff Going to World Championships

Utah Valley University redshirt junior Taylor LaMont has been named a replacement and has officially accepted a bid to represent the United States in Greco-Roman wrestling at the U23 World Championships on Oct. 28-Nov. 3 in Budapest, Hungary.

After previously being named an alternate, LaMont (Mapleton, Utah) will replace Randon Miranda at 60 kg (132 pounds). With LaMont now being officially added to the tournament, Utah Valley wrestling will now send a pair of grapplers to represent the U.S. at the U23 Greco World Championships, as Tate Orndorff (130 kg) previously earned an automatic bid in May.

"We are thrilled that Taylor will get the opportunity to represent our country at the U23 World Championships along with Tate," head UVU coach Greg Williams said. "Since he has been strongly considering taking this year to focus on Greco, Taylor has been training hard and will be ready to do well there. His goal, as always in his seven world championships, will be to bring home a gold medal. It's a great testament to the training we are doing at our (newly named) Brunson UVRTC that UVU has two wrestlers representing USA in Budapest. Both Tate and Taylor are great examples of hard work paying off."

LaMont will make his seventh-straight appearance at an age-group World Championships and first at the U23 level. He has represented the USA at the 2013, 2014 and 2015 Cadet World Championships as well as the 2016, 2017 and 2018 Junior World Championships.

In 2016, LaMont won a Junior World bronze medal. In 2015 and 2017, he registered fifth-place finishes. Budapest will mark LaMont's first international event since his 2018 Junior World showing.

Outside of his international success, LaMont also owns an impressive domestic resume.

As an age-group athlete, LaMont was a four-time Fargo champion, winning two titles in Greco-Roman and two in freestyle. Additionally, he was third at the 2018 Senior U.S. Open and the 2019 World Team Trials Challenge Tournament. Most recently, he was runner-up at the U23 World Team Trials, giving him the position as first alternate for the 2019 U23 World Team.

Wrestling for UVU at 133 pounds, LaMont will begin his redshirt junior season this fall after taking a year away from the mat with an injury (2018-19). In the 2017-18 season, his freshman campaign, LaMont was an NCAA qualifier, reached the blood round, and compiled a 27-5 record on the year for Utah Valley. LaMont was also tabbed an NWCA Scholar All-American and a First Team Academic All-Big 12 honoree in 2017-18.

Redshirt sophomore Orndorff (Spokane, Wash.) too will wrestle for the U.S. at the U23 World Championships after winning the a U23 Greco World Team Trial title in May. The UVU heavyweight went an unblemished 5-0 at the qualifying event on his way to winning the 130 kg bracket and landing a spot on the U23 National Team.

Orndorff has previously been crowned a Fila Cadet Greco National Champion, a U.S. Junior Greco National Champion, a runner-up at Fargo nationals in Cadet Freestyle, and third-place finishers at both Fargo National Junior Freestyle and Fargo National Junior Greco. He also recently earned a pair of podium finishes at the U.S. Open in Greco and freestyle.

During his freshman campaign on the mat for the Wolverines last season, Orndorff compiled a 26-9 overall record. He also earned a podium finish at his first Big 12 Championship by placing third at the event and capped his season by qualifying for his first trip to the NCAA Championships. Orndorff also earned NWCA Scholar All-American and First Team Academic All-Big 12 honors in 2018-19.

The U.S. also named one other replacement for the U23 Greco World Championships on Monday in Arizona State's Chad Porter. Porter will step in and replace G'Angelo Hancock at 97 kg.