OREM, Utah – Fresh off a pair Big 12 Conference dual meets away from home last week, the Utah Valley University wrestling team returns to Orem this week for a conference clash against No. 11 Iowa State. The Big 12 dual will be held Thursday, Jan. 9 at 7 p.m. MT at UVU's Lockhart Arena and will mark ISU's first trip to Orem since the 2004-05 season.
 
"Iowa State is a very good team who is loaded throughout their lineup. They are also very well coached, so it is going to be a tough match. But I am super excited to have them coming here to our place so our fans can see that level of wrestling. We'd like to see that more and more as we continue to grow as a program," head UVU coach Greg Williams said. 
 
UVU will enter the contest with a 1-5 overall record and an 0-3 Big 12 clip after falling at both Fresno State and No. 16 Northern Iowa last weekend. After opening the tough New Year's trip with a tightly contested 24-19 loss at Fresno State on Jan. 2, the Wolverines then traveled from Central California to Iowa and fell at the No. 16 UNI Panthers by a score of 32-12 on Jan. 4. 
 
Brothers Tanner and Tate Orndorff as well as junior Taylor LaMont led the Wolverines last week by all going a perfect 2-0 on the trip, while redshirt freshman Will Edelblute posted a 1-1 outing.
 
The sophomore heavyweight and 2019 NCAA qualifier Tate Orndorff continued his strong season by recording two more wins over fellow ranked foes by defeating both No. 12 Josh Hokit of Fresno State and No. 14 Carter Isley of Northern Iowa. After opening the week with a 3-1 decision over the 2019 All-American Hokit, the UVU heavyweight followed that up by racking up a trio of takedowns en route to picking up an 8-2 victory over Isley for his second win of the year over the Panther foe. With the pair of wins, Tate Orndorff improves to a team-best 12-2 on the season and an impressive 7-2 against ranked opponents.   
 
The three-time NCAA qualifier and senior 197-pounder Tanner Orndorff too went 2-0 last week by recording a pair of second period falls. After opening the strong week by pinning Fresno's Danny Salas in 4:38, the Wolverine senior capped his solid week by pinning UNI's Noah Glasser in 4:45 to improve to 8-5 on the year. The 2018 NCAA qualifier and 133-pound junior Taylor LaMont, who recently qualified to compete at April's 2020 U.S. Olympic Team Trial at Greco-Roman wrestling, also went 2-0 by avenging an earlier season loss against UNI's Jack Skudlarczyk (4-2) and picking up a bonus-point win over the 2019 NCAA qualifier Gary Joint of Fresno State (10-1). The 125-pound redshirt freshman Will Edelblute split his two matches last week by recording his first collegiate dual victory with a win by forfeit against Fresno State. 
 
The Wolverines will enter the week ranked 26th in the latest WIN Magazine Tournament Power Index and 28th in the current TrackWrestling poll and a total of four UVU grapplers are currently ranked. Tate Orndorff (12-2) currently leads UVU by being ranked as high as fifth in the nation at heavyweight, while two-time NCAA qualifier and senior Kimball Bastian (7-6) is ninth at 174, and both Taylor LaMont (7-4 at 133) and Tanner Orndorff (8-5 at 197) are ranked 17th. 
 
Thursday's Big 12 Conference dual will be streamed live on both the WAC Digital Network as well as FloWrestling.org. Live results will also be available via TrackWrestling.com. 
 
ABOUT #11 IOWA STATE
Iowa State will enter Thursday's dual with a 2-1 overall record and Thursday will mark ISU's first Big 12 Conference dual. The Cyclones are currently ranked 11th in the latest NWCA Top 25 Coaches Poll, as well as ninth by both InterMat and FloWrestling, 11th by TrackWrestling, and 12th by WIN Magazine. ISU holds wins on the season over Bucknell (24-15) and Chattanooga (26-7), and its lone loss came to No. 2 Iowa (29-6). The Cyclones recently posted a 15th-place finish at the Southern Scuffle and heavyweight Gannon Gremmel led the way by winning the program's first Scuffle title since 2014. 
 
Nine of ISU's 10 potential starters for Thursday are currently individually ranked. Freshman David Carr (8-1) leads the way by being ranked No. 3 at 157, while Ian Parker (8-2) is fifth at 141, Jarrett Degen (7-2) is seventh at 149, Sam Colbray (6-4) is eighth at 184, Alex Mackall (9-3) is ninth at 125, Gremmel (12-4) is ninth at heavyweight, Todd Small (10-4) is 10th at 133, Marcus Coleman (4-4) is 14th at 174, and Chase Straw (6-6) is 33rd at 165. Seven of the nine ranked Cyclones were NCAA qualifiers a season ago and Degen is the lone returning All-American, as he placed seventh at 149 in 2019. 
 
ALL-TIME SERIES VS. ISU
Thursday's dual will mark the sixth all-time meeting between the Wolverines and Cyclones but just the second held in Orem. Iowa State will enter the contest holding to an unblemished 5-0 series lead that includes a 53-0 shutout in Ames last February. Including Thursday's dual meet, ISU has been nationally ranked in all six contests. 
 
#14 ISU 53, UVU 0 - Ames, Iowa (2/3/19)
#16 ISU 39, UVU 4 - Boise, Idaho (11/14/14)
#2 ISU 39, UVU 0 - Ames, Iowa (11/13/08)
#7 ISU 33, UVU 9 - Ames, Iowa (11/11/05)
#5 ISU 41, UVU 15 - Orem, Utah (11/20/04)
 
SATURDAY'S UVU OPEN CANCELLED
The annual UVU Open tournament that was scheduled for Saturday, Jan. 11 has been cancelled due to low attendance and scheduled participation. The event will not be made up. 
 
ON DECK FOR UVU
Following Thursday's dual, the Wolverines will remain home and will next welcome No. 23 Stanford of the Pac-12 Conference to town on Friday, Jan. 24 at 7 p.m. UVU will then return to conference action that Sunday, Jan. 26 for a 2 p.m. contest against Wyoming at Green River High School in Green River, Wyoming.
 
PROBABLE LINEUPS FOR THURSDAY
Utah Valley (1-5, 0-3 Big 12)
125: Will Edelblute, RFr. (7-8 overall, 1-2 duals) OR Josiah Nava, RFr. (1-9, 0-3)
133: #17 Taylor LaMont, RJr. (7-4, 3-1)
141: Cameron Hunsaker, Fr. (5-9, 1-5) OR Nick Rino, RFr. (3-0, 0-0)
149: Landon Knutzen, RJr. (1-5, 1-3) OR Brigg Hoopes, Fr. (7-6, 0-1)
157: Jerry Rubio, RFr. (5-10, 0-2) OR Spencer Heywood, RSo. (2-4, 0-0)
165: Koy Wilkinson, RJr. (6-10, 0-4)
174: Grant LaMont, RSr. (0-2, 0-2)
184: Jacob Armstrong, RFr. (4-3, 0-1) OR Ashton Seely, RSo. (2-7, 0-1)
197: #17 Tanner Orndorff, RSr. (8-5, 5-1)
285: #5 Tate Orndorff, RSo. (12-2, 5-1) OR Chase Trussell, RFr. (7-1, 0-0)
 
#11 Iowa State (2-1, 0-0 Big 12)
125: #9 Alex Mackall, RJr. (9-3 overall, 2-1 duals)
133: #10 Todd Small, RJr. (10-4, 1-2)
141: #5 Ian Parker, RJr. (8-2, 3-0)
149: #7 Jarrett Degen, RJr. (7-2, 1-1) OR Ryan Leisure, RSo. (1-4, 0-1)
157: #3 David Carr, RFr. (8-1, 3-0)
165: #33 Chase Straw, RSr. (6-6, 1-2) OR Isaac Judge, RFr. (12-9, 0-0)
174: #14 Marcus Coleman, RSo. (4-4, 2-1) OR Mac Southard, RSo. (17-6, 0-0)
184: #8 Sam Colbray, RJr. (6-4, 2-1) OR Hank Swalla, RSr. (2-2, 0-0)
197: Joel Shapiro, RFr. (8-7, 0-2) OR Francis Duggan, RFr. (6-9, 0-1)
285: #9 Gannon Gremmel, RJr. (12-4, 1-2)
 
*Individual rankings listed are the highest ranking taken from the latest InterMat, FloWrestling, TrackWrestling, The Open Mat, and WIN Magazine polls.