Dec. 3, 2008

Final Results

ST. GEORGE, Utah - Utah Valley University's wrestling team came through in the clutch Wednesday night as the Wolverines (3-2) came back to beat No. 7 Western State (D-II) by a point in the final match 20-19 at Desert Hills High School in St. George, Utah. With the loss Western State falls to 0-1 on the year.

UVU in past years has had trouble against the Division-II powerhouse Western State as the Mountaineers have beaten the Wolverines the past two years in decisive fashion. This time Utah Valley got some revenge of their own as sophomore Jeb Clark (165) was able to gain a major decision victory in his match to help propel the Wolverines to the win.

"We knew that we were in for a hard fought battle tonight," UVU head wrestling coach Greg Williams said. "They are a very good Division-II team and I knew it would be very close. It is always hard to win when you give up a forfeit like we did at heavyweight tonight but our guys showed some real progression and growth out there tonight as we were able to come away with the victory."

The first match of the evening was at 174-pounds and Wolverine redshirt-freshman Brad Darrington started UVU out with a lead as he won his match (10-6) over WSC's Clayton Weaver. The Mountaineers quickly tied the team score at three-all as UVU sophomore Casen Eldredge fell to the WSC's Larry Wilbanks by a point (3-2). From there Western State took the lead as their 197-pounder Donovan McMahill, who is ranked second nationally in D-II, beat UVU freshman Adam Fager (13-2) to put the Mountaineers up 7-3. WSC won the next match by forfeit at heavyweight as the Wolverines found themselves trailing 13-3 at that point.

The next match featured the Wolverines go-to guy, the 19th nationally ranked sophomore Benjamin Kjar. Kjar lived up to his expectations as he won his match (125-pounds) by fall 43 seconds into the contest over WSC's Kyle O'Brien that put the score at 13-9. The very next match between UVU sophomore Flint Ray and WSC Marques Bravo was the tightest of the evening. The match went into triple-overtime and Bravo was finally able to takedown Ray to win the contest (9-7), which put the Mountaineers up 16-9 on the scoreboard.

From there UVU came back quickly as junior Jeffrey Newby (141) and sophomore Justin Morrill each won their respective matches 13-5 and 6-5 to tie the team score at 16 apiece. At 157-pounds UVU freshman Wade Eldredge lost 2-1 putting the Wolverines in a bind as they found themselves down 19-16 going into the last match. Utah Valley sophomore Jeb Clark was up for the challenge as he was able to win his match over WSC's Skye Wells by major decision 10-2. Clark's victory sealed the win as the Wolverines improved to 3-2 on the season.

Both schools will lock-heads again this season on Jan. 24, 2009, as UVU will take part at the Tracy Borah Duals at the home of Western State, Gunnison, Colo.

For full results see the final scores listed at the bottom of the article.

The Wolverines next action will come on Friday and Saturday as they will participate in the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invite in Las Vegas, Nev. Following the Las Vegas Invite UVU will travel to Kearney, Neb., Dec. 13 to take part in the Nebraska-Kearney Loper Open.

Utah Valley 20, Western State 19

174 - Brad Darrington (UVU) wins by decision 10-6 over Clayton Weaver (WSC) {UVU 3-0}
184 - Larry Wilbanks (WSC) wins by decision 3-2 over Casen Eldredge (UVU) {tied 3-3}
197 - Donovan McMahill (WSC) wins by major decision 13-2 over Adam Fager (UVU} {WSC 7-3}
285 - Charlie Alexander (WSC) wins by forfeit {WSC 13-3}
125 - Benjamin Kjar (UVU) wins by fall (43 seconds) over Kyle O'Brien (WSC) {WSC 13-9}
133 - Marques Bravo (WSC) wins by decision in 3OT 9-7 over Flint Ray (UVU) {16-9}
141 - Jeffrey Newby (UVU) wins by major decision 13-5 over Tate Lowe (WSC) {16-13}
149 - Justin Morrill (UVU) wins by decision 6-5 over Justin Morris (WSC) {tied 16-16}
157 - Nick Ross (WSC) wins by decision 2-1 over Wade Eldredge (UVU) {WSC 19-16}
165 - Jeb Clark (UVU) wins by major decision 10-2 over Skye Wells (WSC) {UVU 20-19}

The dual took place at Desert Hills High School in St. George, Utah