OREM, Utah – Utah Valley University wrestling will step out of dual competition this weekend to take part at the 38th annual Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational on Friday and Saturday, Dec. 6-7, at the Las Vegas Convention Center in Las Vegas, Nevada. 
 
The prestigious tournament will begin on Friday at 10 a.m. MT/9 a.m. PT and will be streamed live on FloWrestling.org (for a fee). The quarterfinals will then take place on Friday evening at 7 p.m. MT/6 p.m. PT, while the semifinals will be held on Saturday at 11 a.m. MT/10 a.m. PT and the championship finals will follow on Saturday at 4 p.m. MT/3 p.m. PT. 
 
The Wolverines (1-3, 0-1 Big 12) will head to Las Vegas currently ranked 17th by Win Magazine, 21st by FloWrestling, 22nd in the InterMat Tournament Rankings, 24th by TrackWrestling, and just outside of the NWCA Top 25 Coaches Poll. A total of five UVU grapplers are currently ranked with sophomore heavyweight Tate Orndorff leading the way by being ranked fourth in the nation in his weight class. Junior Taylor LaMont, who recently decided not to take an Olympic redshirt year this season, is ranked as high as seventh at 133 pounds, while junior Matt Findlay is ranked 10th at 149, senior Kimball Bastian is ranked as high as 12th at 174, and three-time NCAA qualifier and senior Tanner Orndorff is ranked 15th at 197. 
 
Tate Orndorff currently leads Utah Valley on the season with a 6-1 record, which includes wins over No. 2 Tanner Hall of Arizona State and No. 3 Jordan Wood of Lehigh. His lone loss was an overtime setback in his last match to No. 2 Trent Hillger of Wisconsin. Tanner Orndorff follows with a 4-3 clip, while Bastian is 3-4, LaMont is 1-1, and Findlay is yet to compete so far this season.
 
PRE-SEEDS
The pre-seeds have been released for this weekend's tournament and four Wolverines will enter the event pre-seeded. Tate Orndorff leads the way by being pre-seeded second in his weight class, while LaMont is pre-seeded third, Tanner Orndorff is eighth, and Bastian is 14th. 
 
LAST YEAR AT THE CKLV INVITE
Utah Valley posted its best finish in program history at the 2018 CKLV Invite by placing eighth out of 43 teams with a total of 70 points. UVU also recorded a program record with four individual podium finishes at the event a season ago led by a second-place finish from Tate Orndorff (heavyweight), a third-place finish from Demetrius Romero (165), and eighth-place finishes by both Bastian (174) and Tanner Orndorff (197). The podium finishes at the premier tournament were the second for both Bastian and Tanner Orndorff, and the first for Tate Orndorff and Romero. 
 
LaMont became UVU's first CKLV Invitational champion the previous year by going a perfect 6-0 at the 2017 tournament with four wins over top-20 ranked grapplers and a trio of victories over former All-Americans. At his impressive 2017 CKLV outing, LaMont knocked off No. 18 Drew Mattin of Michigan, No. 3 Ethan Lizak of Minnesota in the quarterfinals, No. 11 Connor Schram of Stanford in the semifinals, and No. 8 Sean Russell of Edinboro in the title match. LaMont then missed last year's tournament with an injury but will look to return to the top of the podium at the event this season.
 
ALL-TIME AT THE CKLV INVITATIONAL
UVU has recorded a total of 13 placewinners at the CKLV Invite in program history and has registered multiple podium finishers on three occasions.
 
2018 - Tate Orndorff, 2nd (285)
2018 - Demetrius Romero, 3rd (165)
2018 - Kimball Bastian, 8th (174)
2018 - Tanner Orndorff, 8th (197)
2017 - Taylor LaMont, 1st (125)
2016 - Kimball Bastian, 7th (174)
2016 - Tanner Orndorff, 8th (197)
2013 - Adam Fager, 4th (285)
2012 - Jade Rauser, 8th (125)
2011 - Josh Wilson, 5th (149)
2010 - Benjamin Kjar, 7th (125)
2009 - Benjamin Kjar, 7th (125)
2009 - Flint Ray, 8th (133)
2003 - Erkin Tadzhimetov, 6th (133)
 
THIS YEAR'S CKLV INVITATIONAL FIELD
A total of 31 teams are scheduled to compete at this weekend's Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational and over 100 nationally ranked wrestlers are slated to be in action. Besides the Wolverines, No. 2 Nebraska, No. 4, Arizona State, No. 5 Virginia Tech, No. 6 NC State, No. 7 Ohio State, No. 11 Iowa State, No. 14 Northwestern, No. 16 Northern Iowa, No. 17 Cornell, No. 22 Michigan, No. 23 Purdue, No. 24 Virginia, Binghamton, Cal Poly, Clarion, CSU Bakersfield, The Citadel, Edinboro, Fresno State, Harvard, Hofstra, Kent State, Maryland, North Dakota State, Northern Colorado, Oklahoma, Sacred Heart, South Dakota State, Wyoming, and Nebraska-Kearney are all scheduled to take part in the two-day event.   
 
UP NEXT FOR UVU
Following the CKLV Invite, UVU will head to Reno to take part at the Reno Tournament of Champions on Sunday, Dec. 15. The team will then be off for the Christmas holiday before returning to dual action on Jan. 2 at Fresno State. 
 
UTAH VALLEY'S 2019 CKLV INVITE LINEUP
125: Will Edelblute, RFr. (3-3)
133: #7 Taylor LaMont, RJr. (1-1)
141: Cameron Hunsaker, Fr. (4-5)
149: Brigg Hoopes, Fr. (7-3)
157: Jed Loveless, RSo. (3-4)
165: Koy Wilkinson, RJr. (4-6)
174: #12 Kimball Bastian, RSr. (3-4)
184: Ashton Seely, RSo. (0-2)
197: #15 Tanner Orndorff, RSr. (4-3)
285: #4 Tate Orndorff, RSo. (6-1)
 
The individual rankings listed are the highest ranking taken from the latest InterMat, Flo, Track, The Open Mat, and WIN Magazine polls.
 
SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
Friday, Dec. 6 (All Times PT)
9:00am: Round 1 Pig Tail Championship, Round 2 of (32) Championship, Round 3 Consolation of (32), Round 4 Championship of (16), Consolation 1st of (16) Round 5 Consolation 2nd of (16)
6:00pm: Round 6 Championship Quarter Finals & Consolation Round 1st of (8)
 
Saturday, Dec. 7
9:00am: Round 7 Consolation 2nd of (8)
10:00am: Round 8 Championship Semi-Finals, Round 9 Consolation Semi Finals, Consolation Finals 5th & 6th, 7th & 8th Places
3:00pm: CHAMPIONSHIP FINALS 1st & 2nd, 3rd & 4th Places
 
Awards will be presented at the conclusion of each championship final match on Saturday afternoon.