Wolverines Going to Air Force Saturday

OREM, Utah - The Utah Valley University wrestling team will send a contingent of grapplers to USAF Academy, Colorado on Saturday to take part at the USAFA Round Robin. The contest will mark the regular-season finale for the Wolverines.

The non-team scored round robin event will begin at 11 a.m. MT at Air Force's East Gym. Wrestlers from UVU, Air Force, Northern Colorado, and Wyoming are expected to compete at the tournament.

Each mat of Saturday's round robin event will be streamed live on TrackWrestling. Live results can also be followed throughout the duration of the tournament by visiting TrackWrestling.com.

The Wolverines will enter Saturday's round robin with a 2-4 overall dual record and an 0-3 clip in Big 12 Conference duals. After splitting a pair of duals against Pac-12 foes Oregon State and No. 22 Stanford two weeks ago, the Wolverines then dropped two Big 12 duals to North Dakota State and South Dakota State last Saturday. UVU first fell to the host Jackrabbits, 22-11, before falling to the Bison, 25-12, later in the day.

Senior 174-pounder Demetrius Romero led the Wolverines in the Dakotas by going 2-0 on the day to keep his undefeated record intact and improve to 12-0 on the year. The two-time UVU NCAA qualifier first beat No. 28 Cade King of SDSU by major decision (10-2) before capping the trip with an 11-6 decision over NDSU's Austin Brenner.

Kekana Fouret (165 pounds) and Hunter Morse (184) also picked up wins for UVU against the Jacks, while Kase Mauger (125), Ty Smith (133) and Cameron Hunsaker (149) also pulled out wins against the Bison. In non-team scored extra matches, Jaxon Garoutte (149) led the way for the Wolverines by going 2-0, while Dawson Collins (125) went 2-1 and Tyson Humpherys (133) went 1-0.

At Air Force on Saturday, UVU is expected to send Will Edelblute (125), Kainalu Estrella (133), Sammy Heywood (133), Sam Edelblute (141), James Emmer (149), Brigg Hoopes (157), RJ Bingham (157), Tanner Lofthouse (165) and Payson Anderton (285) for a total of nine wrestlers.

Ranked Wolverines

Four Utah Valley grapplers will enter the weekend ranked in the latest national polls. Two-time NCAA qualifiers Taylor LaMont (125) and Romero (174) lead the way by both being ranked as high as fourth in the nation in their respective weight class, while the 133-pounder Smith checks in No. 17 and 149-pounder Hunsaker is ranked 28th. Behind Romero's 12-0 season record, LaMont too is undefeated at 6-0, while Smith follows at 7-2 and Hunsaker is 7-5. As a team, UVU will enter the weekend ranked 17th on the latest InterMat Tournament Ranking, 24th on the TrackWrestling Tournament poll and 29th on the WIN Magazine Tournament poll.

About the Opposition

Air Force will enter Saturday's round robin event with a 2-5 overall dual record and a 2-5 clip in Big 12 Conference competition. The Falcons also competed in dual competition against North Dakota State last weekend and fell by a score of 28-19. UVU and Air Force were originally scheduled to face each other last weekend in South Dakota but decided to hold off until this weekend at the USAFA Round Robin.

Air Force is expected to have 26 grapplers in action on Saturday. Of the group, six are currently nationally ranked in No. 13 Jared Van Vleet (133), No. 18 Lenny Petersen (141), No. 20 Wyatt Hendricksen (285), No. 26 Cody Surratt (174), No. 28 Jake Thompson (184) and No. 32 Cody Phippen (125).

Northern Colorado will travel to USAF Academy, Colorado on Saturday with a 4-2 overall dual record and a 3-2 clip in Big 12 Conference competition. The Bears last had their trip to Ames, Iowa canceled last weekend but prior to that picked up a 30-10 win over Fresno State at home on Feb. 6. UNC previously pulled out a tightly contested 19-16 dual over UVU on Jan. 8 in Orem.

UNC is anticipated to send 17 grapplers to the round robin event on Saturday. Of the group, seven are currently nationally ranked in No. 5 Andrew Alirez (149), No. 14 Mosha Schwartz (133), No. 17 Dalton Robertson (285), No. 22 Alan Clothier (184), No. 23 Jacob Seely (197), No. 27 Jackson Hemauer (174) and No. 32 Chris Sandoval (141).

Wyoming will enter Saturday with a 5-3 overall dual record and a 3-1 clip in Big 12 duals. The Cowboys last crowned four champions at Oklahoma State's Cowboy Challenge last weekend in Stillwater. Jacob Wright (157), Hayden Hastings (174), Tate Samuelson (184) and Stephen Buchanan (197) combined to go 11-0 last weekend on their way to each bringing home titles for the Pokes.

Wyoming has not yet released what wrestlers it is planning on sending to Air Force on Saturday but currently has seven grapplers nationally ranked in No. 6 Buchanan (197), No. 7 Samuelson (184), No. 9 Hastings (174), No. 15 Wright (157), No. 15 Brian Andrews (285), No. 16 Job Greenwood (133) and No. 31 Cole Moody (165).

Up Next for UVU

The Wolverines will next head to Tulsa, Oklahoma on March 6-7 for the 2021 Big 12 Wrestling Championships. There, UVU will look to qualify as many grapplers as it can for the 2021 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships. In 2019, Romero became Utah Valley's first Big 12 champion by winning the 165-pound weight class.

Saturday's Probable Competitors

Utah Valley (2-4, 0-3 Big 12)
125: Will Edelblute, RSo. (0-0)
133: Kainalu Estrella, RSo. (2-5); Sammy Heywood, Fr. (0-2)
141: Sam Edelblute, RFr. (0-0)
149: James Emmer, RFr. (0-7)
157: Brigg Hoopes, So. (1-5); RJ Bingham, RFr. (0-0)
165: Tanner Lofthouse, Fr. (0-0)
174: --
184: --
197: --
285: Payson Anderton, RFr. (0-1)

Air Force (2-5, 2-5 Big 12)
125: #32 Cody Phippen, So.; Graham Shore, So.; Will Vom Baur, Fr.
133: #13 Jared Van Vleet, Jr.; Garrett Kuchan, Fr.; Nick Krug, So.
141: #18 Lenny Petersen, Sr.; Bradley Bitting, Jr.; Garrett Bowers, Fr.
149: Dylan Martinez, So.
157: Giano Petrucelli, Fr.; Trey Brisker, Jr.
165: Vincent Dolce, Jr.; Noah Blake, Fr.; Jacoby Ward, Sr.
174: #26 Cody Surratt, Sr.
184: #28 Jake Thompson, Jr.; Cal Sund, Fr.; Sam Wolf, Fr.; Brock Jennings, Sr.; Jimmy Weaver, Sr.; Cole Phelps, Sr.
197: Kayne Hutchison, Jr.; Cole Forrester, So.; Garrett Henigin, Fr.
285: #20 Wyatt Hendricksen, Fr.

Northern Colorado (4-2, 3-2 Big 12)
125: Jace Koelzer, RSo.; Jacob Duran, Fr.
133: #14 Mosha Schwartz, So.
141: #32 Chris Sandoval, RJr.
149: #5 Andrew Alirez, So.
157: Nick Knutson, Gr.; Brody Lamb, RSo.; Nathan Moore, So.; Cody Eaton, Fr.
165: Johnny Blankenship, Gr.; Damen Pape, Fr.; Jordan Robison, RJr.
174: #27 Jackson Hemauer, RJr.
184: #22 Alan Clothier, RSr.
197: #23 Jacob Seely, RSr.
285: #17 Dalton Robertson, RSr.

Wyoming (5-3, 3-1 Big 12)
TBA

Individual rankings listed are the highest ranking taken from the latest InterMat, FloWrestling, TrackWrestling, WIN Magazine and The Open Mat polls.