Feb. 20, 2009

Final Results

OREM, Utah - The Wolverine wrestling team ended their 2008-09 season with a bang Friday as UVU (11-3, 4-1 WWC) dominated the Air Force Academy (4-12, 1-5 WWC) from start to finish, winning 36-6. With the win Utah Valley also broke the school record for the most wins in a season with 11.

"The guys should be proud of how they wrestled tonight and extremely proud of the season they had," UVU head wrestling coach Greg Williams said. "It was a great year for us and as a young team I feel that we have a lot of upside and that we will continue to grow. Our goal tonight was for our guys to come out in their last match and wrestle with the same intensity that we are looking to have from them every single night and feel that we accomplished that."

The Wolverines controlled their final matchup against Air Force, concluding their season Friday evening winning eight of the total ten bouts. Utah Valley had three victories by fall in the dual as well, coming from true freshman Adam Fager (197 lbs.), No. 19 ranked sophomore Benjamin Kjar (125 lbs.), and sophomore Flint Ray (133 lbs.).

Sophomore Casen Eldredge (184 lbs.) got the Wolverines rolling from the get-go, as Eldredge controlled his match against AFA's Brett Boyce winning by major decision, 13-2. UVU's first victory by pin fall came in the second matchup as Fager (197 lbs.) was able to turn his opponent, James Ciccone at the end of the first period, pinning him at the 2:50 mark. With the win Fager finished the season with the most wins by any Wolverine, finishing with a team-high record of 33-10, including an 11-3 clip in duals.

Following a close loss by UVU's heavyweight grappler Diego Avalon, 2-1, Utah Valley's star grappler shined very brightly as Kjar won his matchup by fall in the second period (4:53). Kjar had worked his lead up to a 13-4 advantage before securing his victory by pin fall. Kjar finishes his sophomore campaign with an impressive 29-8 season record (13-1 duals) and ranked in the top 20 in the nation. Late in the season Kjar also became the Wolverines all-time win leader as in his two-year career he already has 68 total victories, 39 last year and 29 this season.

After Kjar's win, fellow UVU team-captain Flint Ray tried not to be outdone winning his match over AFA's Derek Gillespie in the third period by fall (6:40) to give Utah Valley a commanding 22-3 lead. UVU would then continue to extend its advantage as the Wolverines won four more consecutive matches. During the stretch UVU junior Jeffrey Newby (141 lbs.) won his match by major decision 12-3, sophomore Justin Morrill (149 lbs.) also won his by major decision 14-3, freshman Jamison Moss (157 lbs.) won his by decision 12-6, and sophomore Jeb Clark finished the winning streak by decision, winning 9-3.

In the final match of the evening Air Force's Stephen Crozier was able to finally stop the bleeding as he won a hard fought matchup over UVU's Brad Darrington (174 lbs.) by the score of 9-3.

With the win UVU breaks the school record for wins in a season breaking the old record that stood at ten from back in the 2003-04 campaign. Utah Valley also finishes its Western Wrestling Conference record at 4-1 with the lone loss coming to the Wyoming Cowboys in a close 21-15 affair. The 4-1 clip is good enough for either a second or third place WWC finish depending on how fellow conference schools Wyoming and Northern Iowa play out the remainder of their schedules.

"I wasn't surprised at all to see that we broke the school record," Coach Williams added. "Records are records, I mean you wrestle one match at a time and good things will happen. We are ahead of schedule of where I thought that we would be right now, but I knew that we had this kind of potential where our guys are talented enough and hardworking enough to succeed. We had a very successful season."

This marks Utah Valley's conclusion to its 2008-09 season. The Wolverines are in their final year of provisional status at the Division-I level. Next year UVU will be fully NCAA certified and eligible for postseason play as Coach Williams has high hopes for his squad with the entire roster returning next season. The future looks bright for the Utah Valley wrestling program as the squad will continue to mature and gain more experience under their belts as the Wolverines prepare for a WWC crown and as well as competing deep at nationals next year.

FINAL RESULTS
Utah Valley 36, Air Force 6
184 - Casen Eldredge (UVU) maj. dec. Brett Boyce, 13-2
197 - Adam Fager (UVU) fall James Ciccone, 2:50
HWT - Stephen Larson (AF) dec. Diego Avalon, 2-1
125 - #19 Benjamin Kjar (UVU) fall Andrew Zwirlein, 4:53
133 - Flint Ray (UVU) fall Derek Gillespie, 6:40
141 - Jeffrey Newby (UVU) maj. dec. Tyler Untrauer, 12-3
149 - Justin Morill (UVU) maj. dec. Alec Williams, 14-3
157 - Jamison Moss (UVU) dec. Joseph Stafford, 12-6
165 - Jeb Clark (UVU) dec. Justin Shadrix, 9-3
174 - Stephen Crozier (AF) dec. Brad Darrington, 9-3