NIU HUSKIE DUALS
#21 UTAH VALLEY vs. CLARION (RV)
Saturday, Nov. 17  |  10 a.m. MT/11 a.m. CT
Victor E. Court  |  DeKalb, Ill.
UVU Notes  |  Clarion Notes

#21 UTAH VALLEY vs. HARPER COLLEGE
Saturday, Nov. 17  |  12 p.m. MT/1 p.m. CT
Victor E. Court  |  DeKalb, Ill.

#21 UTAH VALLEY at NORTHERN ILLINOIS
Saturday, Nov. 17  |  2 p.m. MT/3 p.m. CT
Victor E. Court  |  DeKalb, Ill.
Watch Live  |  NIU Notes

#21 UTAH VALLEY at #17 WISCONSIN
Sunday, Nov. 18  |  1 p.m. MT/2 p.m. CT
UW Field House  |  Madison, Wisc.
Watch Live (FloWrestling)  |  Live Results  |  WISC Notes
 

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#21 UTAH VALLEY HEADS TO MIDWEST FOR NIU HUSKIE DUALS, #17 WISCONSIN
OREM, Utah – The 21st-ranked Utah Valley University wrestling team will head to the Midwest this weekend to take part in a total of four duals over two days, as it will participate in the NIU Huskie Duals on Saturday (Nov. 17) before capping the trip at No. 17 Wisconsin on Sunday (Nov. 18).
 
On Saturday, UVU will take on the host Northern Illinois Huskies, Clarion, and Harper College at NIU's Victor E. Court in DeKalb, Illinois. The Wolverines will first face the Clarion Golden Eagles at 10 a.m. MT/11 a.m. CT, followed by Harper at noon MT/1 p.m. CT and NIU at 2 p.m. MT/3 p.m. CT. Utah Valley will then head north to Madison, Wisconsin, to face off against Big Ten Conference foe and 17th-ranked Wisconsin at the UW Field House on Sunday at 1 p.m. MT/2 p.m. CT. 
 
Saturday's dual against the NIU Huskies will be UVU's lone contest of the day that will be streamed via NIUHuskies.com (for a fee), while Sunday's showdown against the Badgers will be streamed on FloWrestling.org (for a fee). Live results will also be available for Sunday's matinee at Wisconsin by visiting TrackWrestling.com.
 
"Having a trip like this will be a little bit of a grind for us. With three duals on Saturday and another tough one on Sunday; this will definitely test us," head UVU coach Greg Williams said. "Clarion, Northern Illinois and Wisconsin are all good teams so these will be challenging duals. We'll look to our guys to continue to be the aggressor in each match just like they were last week. We have a lot of respect for these programs and we know that these will be tight matches."
 
The Wolverines enter the weekend off of a strong 2-1 outing at the Journeymen Northeast Duals last week, which included an upset victory over the then 15th-ranked Rutgers Scarlet Knights. UVU managed to reel off an impressive six-match winning streak in the contest en route to defeating Big Ten Rutgers by a score of 24-12. Junior 157-pounder Grant LaMont had the win of the match by pulling out a 9-6 decision over No. 9 John Van Brill. 
 
Utah Valley also nearly knocked off No. 12 Nebraska last week, as it dropped a tightly contested 19-15 contest to the Big Ten Huskers. In that dual, sophomore Matt Findlay recorded UVU's upset of the weekend with a 10-8 decision over returning All-American and sixth-ranked Chad Red. The Wolverines then capped the Journeymen Duals with a dominant 47-6 victory over Niagara County CC. In the match, UVU won nine bouts including eight by bonus points. 
 
UVU then capped its trip last week by placing fourth at the Journeymen Collegiate Classic. With the fourth-place finish, the Wolverines finished ahead of Big 12 foes Oklahoma, West Virginia, and No. 21 Wyoming, as well as No. 15 Rutgers, No. 17 Purdue, Army, Edinboro, Appalachian State, Bloomsburg, The Citadel, Hofstra, Ithaca and Long Island. Redshirt freshman Tate Orndorff led UVU at the tournament by placing second at heavyweight with a third-period fall over No. 8 Thomas Haines of Lock Haven.
 
WELCOME TO THE TOP 25
With the strong weekend last week, Utah Valley managed to crack the top 25 for just the second time in program history earlier this week by currently holding down a program-best No. 21 on the NWCA Division I Top 25 Coaches Poll. UVU is one of six fellow Big 12 institutions to currently find itself on the top 25 coaches poll, as fellow Big 12 foes Oklahoma State (No. 4), Northern Iowa (No. 14), Wyoming (No. 18), North Dakota State (No. 20), UVU (No. 21) and South Dakota State (No. 22) are all ranked. The Wolverines are also currently ranked 24th on the latest InterMat Dual Ranking. This marks just the second time in program history that UVU has been nationally ranked, as the Wolverines were previously ranked 25th this past February.  
 
FIVE WOLVERINES INDIVIDUALLY RANKED
With a trio of wins over top-10 opponents last week, Utah Valley now has five of its grapplers currently nationally ranked. Freshman heavyweight Tate Orndorff (5-1) leads the way as he now finds himself ranked as high as No. 11 by TrackWrestling, while juniors Demetrius Romero (165, 2-0) and Kimball Bastian (174, 2-1) are each ranked 14th by FloWrestling and InterMat, respectively. Junior 157-pounder Grant LaMont (1-3) also entered the rankings at No. 21 in his weight class on the latest TrackWrestling poll, while two-time NCAA qualifier and junior 197-pounder Tanner Orndorff (2-3) is also ranked 23rd by TrackWrestling. 
 
ABOUT THE OPPOSITION
The Clarion Golden Eagles will enter Saturday with a 1-0 record on the season after defeating Gardner-Webb, 42-9, at home two weeks ago. Clarion, who is currently receiving votes for the NWCA Top 25 Poll, is a member of the Eastern Wrestling League. Clarion went 10-7 overall a season ago and 4-2 in EWL action. The Golden Eagles have just one wrestler currently ranked by InterMat in two-time NCAA qualifier and ninth-ranked Brock Zacherl at 149 pounds. 
 
Harper College is a Junior College program that hails from Palatine, Ill. Saturday's NIU Duals will mark the Hawks' first dual competition of the 2018-19 season. 
 
Northern Illinois is off to an 0-1 start in 2018-19 with a 35-4 setback to Big 12 foe North Dakota State on Nov. 8 in Fargo. Brit Wilson (174) was the lone Huskie to record a victory in the dual. NIU is a member of the MAC and went 3-10 in 2017-18 and 1-6 in conference action. No Huskies are currently ranked in the latest InterMat poll. 
 
The 17th-ranked Badgers are off to a 3-0 start with wins over Buffalo (25-12), Kent State (37-13) and Pac-12 foe CSU Bakersfield (28-12). Wisconsin will first face No. 12 Nebraska in Lincoln in Big Ten action on Friday, before hosting both Princeton and UVU on Sunday. The Badgers are coming off of a 7-5 season in 2017-18 and a 4-5 dual clip in Big Ten action. Former South Dakota State head coach Chris Bono is in his first season at the helm of UW, and the Badgers currently have seven wrestlers ranked by InterMat. Returning All-American Evan Wick leads the way, as he's currently ranked second in the nation at 165 pounds.  
 
ALL-TIME SERIES HISTORY
Saturday will mark just the second all-time meeting between UVU and Clarion, as well as the first between the Wolverines and both NIU and Harper. Utah Valley will enter the NIU Huskie Duals with a 1-0 series advantage over Clarion after defeating the EWL foe, 22-14, in Clarion, Pa., last November. 
 
Sunday's showdown against the 17th-ranked Wisconsin Badgers will also be just the second all-time meeting between the Wolverines and the Badgers. UW holds a 1-0 series lead after defeating UVU, 28-7, at the Lone Star Duals in 2008. 
 
UP NEXT FOR UVU
Following the busy weekend, the Wolverines will be off until Nov. 30 and Dec. 1 when they'll head to Las Vegas, Nev., for the annual Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational. A season ago, Taylor LaMont won UVU's first CKLV Invite title by going a perfect 6-0 at the esteemed tournament. 
 
PROBABLE MATCHES VS. CLARION (RV)
125 – Josh Jensen, Sr. (2-1, 2-1 duals) vs. Tyshawn White, RFr. (4-0, 1-0)
133 – Mitch Brown, RSr. (3-3, 1-2) vs. Seth Koleno, Fr. (6-1, 1-0)
141 – Matt Findlay, RSo. (2-0, 2-0) vs. Taylor Ortz, RSo. (4-2, 1-0)
149 – Matthew Ontiveros, RSr. (1-4, 0-2) or Landon Knutzen, RSo. (6-3, 1-0) vs. #9 Brock Zacherl (6-0, 1-0)
157 – Grant LaMont, RJr. (1-3, 1-1) vs. Mike Bartolo, Sr. (2-3, 0-1)
165 – #16 Demetrius Romero, RJr. (2-0, 2-0) or Koy Wilkinson, RSo. (8-2, 1-0) vs. Evan Delong, RSr. (5-1, 1-0)
174 – #14 Kimball Bastian, RJr. (2-1, 1-1) or Dante Springsteen, RFr. (2-4, 1-0) vs. Taylor Cahill, RJr. (3-2, 0-1)
184 – Will Sumner, RSr. (3-2, 1-1) or Gary Jantzer, RSo. (4-0, 1-0) vs. Ty Bagoly, So. (6-1, 1-0)
197 – Tanner Orndorff, RJr. (2-3, 1-1) or Ashton Seely, RFr. (5-4, 1-0) vs. Greg Bulsak, RSo. (4-1, 1-0)
285 – #15 Tate Orndorff, RFr. (5-1, 3-0) or Benjamin Andrew, RSo. (2-1, 0-0) vs. Edgar Ruano, RSr. (6-2, 1-0)
 
PROBABLE MATCHES VS. HARPER
TBA
 
PROBABLE MATCHES VS. NORTHERN ILLINOIS
125 – Josh Jensen, Sr. (2-1, 2-1 duals) vs. Bryce West, RFr.
133 – Mitch Brown, RSr. (3-3, 1-2) vs. Alijah Jeffery, RSr. or Drew West, RFr.
141 – Matt Findlay, RSo. (2-0, 2-0) vs. Anthony Cheloni, So. or Bryce Thurston, So.
149 – Matthew Ontiveros, RSr. (1-4, 0-2) or Landon Knutzen, RSo. (6-3, 1-0) vs. McCoy Kent, RJr. or Anthony Rubino, Jr.
157 – Grant LaMont, RJr. (1-3, 1-1) vs. Mason Kauffman, RFr. or Zack Velasquez, RSr.
165 – #16 Demetrius Romero, RJr. (2-0, 2-0) or Koy Wilkinson, RSo. (8-2, 1-0) vs. Kenny Moore, RSo. or Caden McWhirter, RJr. or Jose Acosta, So.
174 – #14 Kimball Bastian, RJr. (2-1, 1-1) or Dante Springsteen, RFr. (2-4, 1-0) vs. Brit Wilson, RFr.
184 – Will Sumner, RSr. (3-2, 1-1) or Gary Jantzer, RSo. (4-0, 1-0) vs. Andrew Scott, RSr. or Michael Aldrich, RJr.
197 – Tanner Orndorff, RJr. (2-3, 1-1) or Ashton Seely, RFr. (5-4, 1-0) vs. Ross Sealby, RJr.
285 – #15 Tate Orndorff, RFr. (5-1, 3-0) or Benjamin Andrew, RSo. (2-1, 0-0) vs. Caleb Gossett, RJr.
 
PROBABLE MATCHES VS. #17 WISCONSIN
125 – Josh Jensen, Sr. (2-1, 2-1 duals) vs. #18 Connor Brown, So. (3-0)
133 – Mitch Brown, RSr. (3-3, 1-2) vs. Jens Lantz RSr. (1-3) or Michael Cullen (3-2), RJr.
141 – Matt Findlay, RSo. (2-0, 2-0) vs. #13 Tristan Moran, RJr. (5-1)
149 – Matthew Ontiveros, RSr. (1-4, 0-2) or Landon Knutzen, RSo. (6-3, 1-0) vs. #20 Cole Martin, RJr. (6-1) or Devin Bahr, RFr. (3-1) 
157 – Grant LaMont, RJr. (1-3, 1-1) vs. #20 Zander Wick (0-1), RSo. or Patrick Spray, RSo. (1-3)
165 – #16 Demetrius Romero, RJr. (2-0, 2-0) or Koy Wilkinson, RSo. (8-2, 1-0) vs. #2 Evan Wick, RSo. (6-0) or Izaec Quintanilla, RJr. (2-2)
174 – #14 Kimball Bastian, RJr. (2-1, 1-1) or Dante Springsteen, RFr. (2-4, 1-0) vs. #19 Ryan Christensen, RSr. (6-1)
184 – Will Sumner, RSr. (3-2, 1-1) or Gary Jantzer, RSo. (4-0, 1-0) vs. Mason Reinhardt, RJr. (6-2)
197 – Tanner Orndorff, RJr. (2-3, 1-1) or Ashton Seely, RFr. (5-4, 1-0) vs. Andrew Salemme, Fr. (2-4)
285 – #15 Tate Orndorff, RFr. (5-1, 3-0) or Benjamin Andrew, RSo. (2-1, 0-0) vs. #17 Trent Hillger, RFr. (5-0)
 
Individual Rankings from InterMat