OREM, Utah – Despite winning a trio of overtime matches and splitting the contest at five bouts apiece, the Utah Valley University wrestling team dropped a Big 12 Conference dual meet to Wyoming by criteria (17-16) on Saturday afternoon at Lockhart Arena.
 
Trailing 16-10 after eight bouts, Kimball Bastian and Will Sumner won the final two matches of the contest for UVU (4-3, 1-1 Big 12) to deadlock the team score at 16-all. But the Cowboys (4-5, 2-1 Big 12) managed to hold the criteria tiebreaker thanks to a 42-37 individual match advantage to give the dual to Wyoming.
 
"It was a great match and I was pleased that we were able to win three of the four overtime matches. This shows where our guys heads and hearts are at," head UVU coach Greg Williams said. "Overall it was disappointing to lose, especially since it was so close. But the effort is there, the confidence is there, and I love the fact that the fans were able to see another tight match."
 
With the dual meet opening up at 197 pounds, the 24th-ranked Tanner Orndorff got the Wolverines off to a solid start with an 11-2 major decision over Wyoming's Nate Shaw. The UVU redshirt freshman controlled the bout with four takedowns, an escape, a penalty point and an additional riding time point to record the bonus-point victory.
 
In a very tightly contested heavyweight match, Dustin Dennison managed to extend UVU's lead to 7-0 by pulling out a 4-2 triple-overtime win over Brandon Tribble. With the bout all tied up at 1-1 at the end of regulation, the two managed to fight off a series of shots to send the match to the tiebreakers. After each wrestler scored an escape in the first set of tiebreaker rounds, the bout then headed to the second sudden victory period with the score all squared up at 2-2. With both wrestlers in the neutral position, Dennison made his move as he managed to score a takedown on the Wyoming senior early in the round to record the 4-2 sudden-victory 2 win. 
 
The Cowboys then battled back to cut the deficit to 7-3 with a hard fought 2-0 decision by No. 16 Drew Templeman, but back answered the Wolverines with a 4-2 overtime win from Jarod Maynes at 133 pounds to extend UVU's lead to 10-3. With Maynes holding to a 2-1 lead late in the bout, Wyoming's Gunnar Woodburn managed to gain more than a minute of riding time to send the match to overtime. Then with Woodburn looking for a takedown in the opening sudden victory round, Maynes managed to convert the Woodburn shot into a takedown of his own to record the victory.
 
Defending NCAA finalist and eighth-ranked Cowboy Bryce Meredith then answered for the Pokes by earning a 12-2 major decision over Trevor Willson to cut the team score to 10-7. Wyoming 149-pounder Cole Mendenhall followed that up with a 3-2 decision win of his own over Grant LaMont to tie the team score at 10-all.
 
With Utah Valley 157-pounder Raider Lofthouse trailing No. 19 Archie Colgan by a score of 4-2 entering the third period, the Wolverine sophomore managed to tilt the ranked Cowboy on his shoulders to secure a four-point nearfall to take a 6-4 lead. Following a quick escape by Colgan coupled with a riding time point, the bout then headed to overtime with the score all knotted up at 6-6. In the opening sudden victory period, Lofthouse looked very close to securing a defensive fall on a scramble but Colgan managed to find a way out and score the decisive takedown to win the bout by a score of 8-6 to give Wyoming its first lead of the night at 13-10.
 
Spanish Fork, Utah native and 16th-ranked Branson Ashworth then extended UW's lead to 16-10 with an 8-2 victory over Koy Wilkinson at 165 pounds, but back answered Wolverine 174-pounder Kimball Bastian with a much-needed victory to pull the score to 16-13 with just one match to go. With Bastian and UW's Kyle Pope all tied up at 1-1 late in the final stanza, the UVU redshirt freshman managed to secure the only takedown of the match with just 20 seconds to go to score the victory.
 
The dual then came down to the 184-pound match and UVU's Will Sumner didn't disappoint as he managed to pull out a 3-2 double-overtime win over Lucas Lovvorn. Trailing 1-0 entering the final period, Sumner chose the neutral position and did everything he could to score the go-ahead takedown, but Lovvorn kept his distance, which resulted in a stall point to send the match to overtime. After a scoreless opening sudden victory period, Sumner picked up a huge reversal in the opening tiebreaker round to take a 3-1 lead. Lovvorn later countered back with an escape in the second tiebreaker period to make it a one-point score, but Sumner managed to hold onto his lead to pickup UVU's third overtime win of the night and deadlock the team score at 16-16 before the additional point was awarded to Wyoming via criteria.
 
Despite suffering the setback, the contest marks Utah Valley's best effort against UW since it defeated the wrestling power Pokes by a score of 26-19 in Laramie in 2006.
 
Saturday's dual meet also caps UVU's month-long homestand with a 2-1 record after the Wolverines previously defeated Air Force (18-15) and CSU Bakersfield (21-17). It is also marks Utah Valley's second dual of the season to be decided by criteria, as it previously knocked off No. 23 Oregon State in December by the same 17-16 score.
 
UVU will now hit the road for a pair of Big 12 Conference duals next weekend against ranked foes in the Dakotas. The Wolverines will first face No. 23 North Dakota State on Friday, Feb. 3 in Fargo before closing the trip at No. 19 South Dakota State on Saturday, Feb. 4 in Brookings. Following the trip, UVU will return home to welcome No. 20 Stanford to town on Feb. 10.
 
Wyoming 17, Utah Valley 16 (By Criteria)
197: Tanner Orndorff (UVU) MD Nate Shaw (WYO), 11-2
285: Dustin Dennison (UVU) Dec. Brandon Tribble (WYO), 4-2 (SV-2)
125: #16 Drew Templeman (WYO) Dec. Mitch Brown (UVU), 2-0
133: Jarod Maynes (UVU) Dec. Gunnar Woodburn (WYO), 4-2 (SV-1)
141: #8 Bryce Meredith (WYO) MD Trevor Willson (UVU), 12-2
149: Cole Mendenhall (WYO) Dec. Grant LaMont (UVU), 3-2
157: #19 Archie Colgan (WYO) Dec. Raider Lofthouse (UVU), 8-6 (SV-1)
165: #16 Branson Ashworth (WYO) Dec. Koy Wilkinson (UVU), 8-2
174: Kimball Bastian (UVU) Dec. Kyle Pope (WYO), 3-1
184: Will Sumner (UVU) Dec. Lucas Lovvorn (WYO), 3-2 (TB-2)
 
Official: Josh Briscoe
Attendance: 929