10TH ANNUAL UVU OPEN
Orem, Utah  |  Lockhart Arena (PE Building)
Saturday, Jan. 7  |  9 a.m. MT
Live Results (TrackWrestling.com)  |  UVU Match Notes
 

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WOLVERINE WRESTLING RETURNS HOME TO HOST UVU OPEN
OREM, Utah – Fresh off of a strong performance at the Southern Scuffle, the Utah Valley University wrestling team returns to Orem to host the 10th annual UVU Open on Saturday, Jan. 7. The all-day open tournament will begin at 9 a.m. MT at UVU's newly named Lockhart Arena (PE Building) and will feature competitors from more than 10 schools and clubs around the West.
 
Saturday's competition will take place on four mats and live results can be followed throughout the duration of the tournament by visiting TrackWrestling.com. The tournament will wrestle straight through until completion, as four placewinners will be crowned at each weight class.
 
Besides 11 grapplers from UVU, wrestlers from Boise State, Wyoming, Cal Poly, CSU Bakersfield, Colorado Mesa, Clackamas, Embry-Riddle, Western State Colorado and Western Wyoming are all slated to compete at Saturday's tournament.
 
Of the 11 Wolverines set to compete at Saturday's Open, three are scheduled to compete for UVU while the other eight are redshirting the 2016-17 season and slated to wrestle unattached. The three grapplers that are set to wrestle for the Wolverines are juniors Dustin Dennison (heavyweight) and Abel Gomez (184 pounds), as well as sophomore Tyler Scott (125). The eight unattached UVU grapplers will be freshmen Benjamin Andrew (heavyweight), Gary Jantzer (184), Taylor LaMont (133), Michael Milliner (165), Austin Trapp (133) and Heston Woolsey (125), along with sophomore Kieffer Taylor (174) and junior Matthew Ontiveros (149).
 
UVU crowned a record six champions at last year's UVU Open. All-American Jade Rauser won a title at 133 pounds, while Trevor Willson took one home at 141, Jacob Armstrong at 174, Will Sumner at 184, Tanner Orndorff at 197 and Jordan Karst at heavyweight. With no returning champions scheduled to compete this year, Utah Valley will look to returning placewinners Ontiveros and Scott to repeat podium finishes after placing third and fourth, respectively, a season ago.
 
The Wolverines will enter Saturday's tournament with a 2-2 dual meet record and coming off of a solid showing at the 2017 Southern Scuffle earlier this week in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Karst and Orndorff led the way for UVU at the Scuffle by going a combined 7-4 en route to each advancing to the grueling tournament's second day of action and finishing just one match shy of placement.
 
The heavyweight Karst went 4-2 at the Southern Scuffle with wins over Campbell's Jere Heino (5-3), Lehigh's Christian Colucci (5-3), Oklahoma State's Tanner Allen (2-1, TB-2) and Missouri's Austin Myers (6-4, SV-1), while Orndorff went 3-2 with victories over Gardner-Webb's Drew Barrett (10-0), Virginia's Jay Aiello (11-9, SV-1) and Chattanooga's DJ Smith. Five other Wolverines posted 2-2 records at the premier holiday tournament, as juniors Dustin Dennison (heavyweight) and Jarod Maynes (133), redshirt freshman Grant LaMont (149), and unattached freshmen Taylor LaMont (125) and Durbin Lloren (133) all too posted solid outings at the Scuffle.
 
Karst tops UVU with a 21-5 record on the year, while Orndorff holds a 15-10 clip and redshirt freshman Kimball Bastian (174) is 14-9.
 
UP NEXT FOR UVU
The Wolverines will return to dual action on Friday, Jan. 13 when Big 12 Conference foe Air Force comes to town for a league dual at 7 p.m. Following the Big 12 dual meet against the Falcons, UVU will step out of conference action to host CSU Bakersfield of the Pac-12 Conference on Thursday, Jan. 19. 

UTAH VALLEY'S PROBABLE LINEUP
125 - Tyler Scott, So. (1-4)
125 - Heston Woolsey, Fr., Unattached (3-4)
133 - Taylor LaMont, Fr., Unattached (12-4)
133 - Austin Trapp, Fr., Unattached (3-3)
149 - Matthew Ontiveros, Jr., Unattached (2-2)
165 - Michael Milliner, Fr., Unattached (0-8)
174 - Kieffer Taylor, So., Unattached (3-3)
184 - Abel Gomez, RJr., (0-0)
184 - Gary Jantzer, Fr., Unattached (11-5)
285 - Dustin Dennison, Jr. (11-6)
285 - Benjamin Andrew, Fr., Unattached (11-3)