OREM, Utah – The Utah Valley University wrestling team will head to New York this weekend to take part at the Journeymen/Defense Soap Northeast Duals and the Journeymen Collegiate Classic on Saturday and Sunday, Nov. 9-10. 
 
Both Saturday and Sunday's action will be held at Hudson Valley Community College in Troy, New York. On Saturday, the Wolverines will open dual competition by facing both Sacred Heart (8 a.m. MT/10 a.m. ET) and Purdue of the Big Ten Conference (10 a.m. MT/12 p.m. ET) as part of the Journeymen Northeast Duals, before capping the weekend at the Journeymen Collegiate Classic on Sunday (7 a.m. MT/9 a.m. ET).
 
Saturday's Journeymen Duals as well as Sunday's Journeymen Classic will both be streamed live on FloWrestling.org for a fee. Live results for both will also be available by visiting Arena.FloWrestling.org.
 
With all of UVU's returning NCAA qualifiers sitting out last week's Cowboy Open, a pair of unattached freshmen led the way by placing at the season-opening tournament. Unattached 165-pounder Corbin Smith paced the pair of Wolverines by winning the Amateur Division at 165, while fellow unattached freshman RJ Bingham placed fourth at 165 in the Amateur Division. 
 
In the Elite Division of the Cowboy Open, sophomore 133-pounder Isaiah Delgado led UVU by going 4-2, while junior Koy Wilkinson (165) and redshirt freshman Jerry Rubio (149) each went 3-2, and sophomore Spencer Heywood (157) and redshirt freshman Josh Tolentino (149) both posted 2-2 outings. 
 
Utah Valley will enter this weekend's Journeymen Northeast Duals currently receiving votes for the NWCA Top 25 Coaches Poll and ranked 28th by TrackWrestling. The Wolverines went 10-14 in 2018-19 and spent a program record of 10 consecutive weeks ranked in the NWCA Top 25 Coaches Poll a season ago after knocking off a pair of nationally ranked foes from the Big Ten Conference in No. 13 Purdue and No. 15 Rutgers.
 
UVU welcomes back a program record of five returning NCAA qualifiers in seniors Demetrius Romero (165), Kimball Bastian (174) and Tanner Orndorff (184), junior Matt Findlay (149), and sophomore Tate Orndorff (285). All five Wolverines are currently nationally ranked, and the 2019 Big 12 Conference champion Romero leads the way by being ranked seventh in his weight class at 165. Findlay and Tate Orndorff are next by being ranked as high as No. 10, while Bastian is ranked as high as 11th, and the three-time NCAA qualifier Tanner Orndorff is 17th.
 
Due to injuries and Tate Orndorff recently returning home from competing at the U23 World Greco-Roman Championships, only Bastian and Tanner Orndorff are slated to compete for the Wolverines this weekend.
 
ABOUT THE COMPETITION
Sacred Heart of the Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association posted a 5-7 record a season ago and a 1-5 conference clip. Saturday's contest against UVU will mark Sacred Heart's first dual meet of the 2019-20 season. The Pioneers are also scheduled to face Long Island in dual action on Saturday.
 
SHU didn't qualify any wrestlers to compete at the 2019 NCAA Championships and doesn't have any grapplers currently nationally ranked. Sacred Heart welcomes in a total of 21 newcomers to the mat this season after losing a total of six grapplers to graduation last year.
 
Saturday's matchup will mark the first all-time meeting between UVU and SHU. 
 
Purdue is also currently receiving votes for the NWCA Top 25 Coaches Poll and ranked 24th in the latest InterMat Tournament rankings. The Boilermakers went 7-10 overall a season ago and 3-6 in Big Ten action. Purdue is also scheduled to face Buffalo and No. 8 Arizona State on Saturday.
 
Purdue sent a total of eight grapplers to the NCAA Championships a season ago and tied with UVU for 29th place with 11.5 points. The Boilermakers currently have seven grapplers nationally ranked in No. 6 Kendall Coleman (157), No. 8 Dylan Lydy (174), No. 11 Devin Schroder (125), No. 11 Christian Brunner (197), No. 12 Griffin Parriott (149), No. 18 Max Lyon (184) and No. 19 Emil Soehnlen (165). Six of the seven ranked Boilermakers are listed in Purdue's probably lineup for Saturday.
 
Saturday's dual will mark the second all-time meeting between UVU and Purdue. A season ago, the then 22nd-ranked Wolverines managed to knock off the then 13th-ranked Boilermakers, 28-11, at the South Beach Duals. UVU managed to claim seven of the 10 bouts in the contest, which included three by bonus points. 
 
LAST YEAR AT THE JOURNEYMEN NORTHEAST DUALS/CLASSIC
UVU went 2-1 at the 2018 Journeymen Northeast Duals with wins over No. 15 Rutgers (24-14) and Niagara County CC (47-6), as well as a tightly contested setback to No. 12 Nebraska (19-15). The Wolverines won seven of the 10 bouts en route to earning the upset win over the Scarlet Knights, as well as nine of the 10 against Niagara County CC. 
 
Findlay and Grant LaMont led UVU at last year's Journeymen Northeast Duals by each knocking off a top-10 ranked opponent on the day. Findlay managed to upend No. 6 Chad Red of Nebraska by a score of 10-8, while LaMont topped No. 9 John Van Brill of Purdue, 9-6. Tate Orndorff also had a strong outing by going a perfect 3-0 on the day. 
 
At the 2018 Journeymen Classic, UVU posted a fourth-place finish at the round-robin style tournament with a total of 250.5 points. By taking fourth, the Wolverines finished ahead of fellow Big 12 foes Oklahoma, West Virginia, and then No. 21 Wyoming, as well as fellow ranked foes Rutgers (No. 15) and Purdue (No. 17).
 
At 184 pounds, Gary Jantzer led the Wolverines by winning the 184-C division with a perfect 3-0 record. Tate Orndorff too had a strong outing by going 2-1 in the 285-A bracket. 
 
UP NEXT FOR THE WOLVERINES
Following this weekend's action, UVU will return home to welcome South Dakota State and No. 7 Wisconsin to town for its first two home duals of the season in two weeks. The home opener will take place on Friday, Nov. 22 at 11 a.m. in a Big 12 Conference dual against SDSU. Due to a scheduling conflict, the contest will take place at 11 a.m. in the UCCU Center. Then on Saturday, Nov. 23, UVU will host the seventh-ranked Badgers of the Big Ten in Lockhart Arena at 1 p.m.
 
UTAH VALLEY'S (RV) PROBABLE LINEUP (0-0, 0-0 Big 12)
125 - Josiah Nava, RFr. (1-2) OR Will Edelblute, RFr. (0-2)
133 - Isaiah Delgado, So. (4-2)
141 - Cameron Hunsaker, Fr. (0-2) OR Nick Rino, RFr. (0-0)
149 - Landon Knutzen, RJr. (0-0)
157 - Jed Loveless, RSo. (0-0)
165 - Koy Wilkinson, RJr. (3-2)
174 - #11 Kimball Bastian, RSr. (0-0)
184 - #17 Tanner Orndorff, RSr. (0-0)
197 - Jayden Woodruff, RFr. (1-1) OR Ashton Seely, RSo. (0-2)
285 - Chase Trussell, RFr. (0-0)
 
SACRED HEART'S PROBABLE LINEUP (0-0, 0-0 EIWA)
125 - Kyle Randall, Fr. (0-0) OR Sean Faraon, Fr. (0-0) 
133 - Hunter Chin, Fr. (0-0) or Raf Lievano, So. (0-0) 
141 - Gerard Daly, Gr. (0-0) or Will Bianchi, So. (0-0)
149 - Nick Palumbo, Jr. (0-0) or Shaun Williams, Jr. (0-0)
157 - TJ Calas, Jr. (0-0) or Will Schmidt, Jr. (0-0) 
165 - Brandon Levesque, Gr. (0-0)
174 - Joe Accousti, Jr. (0-0)
184 - Kyle Davis, So. (0-0) OR Chris Zaccaria, Jr. (0-0)
197 - Robert Hetherman, So. (0-0) OR Nick Fierro, Jr. (0-0)
285 - Connor Fredericks, So. (0-0) OR Dante DelBonis, So. (0-0)
 
PURDUE'S (RV) PROBABLE LINEUP (0-0, 0-0 Big Ten)
125 - #11 Devin Schroder, RJr. (5-1) OR Nate Cummings, RFr. (0-2)
133 - Marshall Craig, RSo. (0-2) OR Travis Ford-Melton, Fr. (4-1)
141 - Parker Filius, RSo. (2-1)
149 - #12 Griffin Parriott, RJr. (1-0) OR Nate Limmex, RSr. (3-2)
157 - #6 Kendall Coleman, RFr. (5-0)
165 - #19 Emil Soehnlen, RFr. (4-1)
174 - #8 Dylan Lydy, RSr. (2-0) OR Tanner Webster, RSo. (1-2)
184 - #18 Max Lyon, Jr. (4-2) OR Jared Florell, RSo. (3-2)
197 - Thomas Penola, RFr. (2-2)
285 - David Eli, RSo. (2-2)
 
*Individual Rankings listed are the highest ranking from the most recent InterMat, FloWrestling, TrackWrestling and The Open Mat polls.