UPDATE: Sunday's duals have been moved up and Utah Valley will face Oregon State at 1 p.m. MT/12 p.m. PT and No. 22 Stanford at 5 p.m. MT/4 p.m. PT on Sunday at Gill Coliseum in Corvallis.
OREM, Utah – The Utah Valley University wrestling team will return to dual competition on Sunday, Feb. 7 with matches against Pac-12 foes Oregon State and No. 22 Stanford at OSU's Gill Coliseum in Corvallis, Oregon.
UVU will first face the host Beavers on Sunday at 5 p.m. MT/4 p.m. PT, before taking on the Cardinal in the nightcap at 9 p.m. MT/8 p.m. PT. The Wolverines were also originally scheduled to face CSU Bakersfield on the day, but the Roadrunners won't be making the trip due to COVID-19 protocols.
Sunday's dual against Oregon State will be streamed live on the Pac-12 Oregon State Live Stream (
Pac-12.com). Both the OSU dual as well as the Stanford one will also feature live results by visiting
TrackWrestling.com. A number of extra matches are also slated to be wrestled simultaneously as the duals on a second mat but will not be live streamed.
The Wolverines (1-1, 0-1 Big 12) will enter Sunday's action on the heels of crowning four champions at the UVU Round Robin against grapplers from Wyoming and No. 9 Arizona State at home on Jan. 23. Redshirt junior
Taylor LaMont and freshman
Kase Mauger both shared the title at 125 pounds with identical 2-0 records, while sophomore
Cameron Hunsaker too went 2-0 to win his weight class at 149, and redshirt senior
Demetrius Romero went 3-0 to claim the title at 174.
Prior to Jan. 23's UVU Round Robin event, the Wolverines split a pair of home duals against California Baptist and No. 25 Northern Colorado. After topping CBU 25-16, UVU then split the contest at five bouts apiece against the ranked Bears but bonus points were the different as UNC managed to pull out the tightly contested Big 12 dual by a score of 19-16.
Two-time UVU NCAA qualifiers LaMont and Romero are both currently ranked in the top-five nationally for the Wolverines, as LaMont recently moved up a couple of spots in the latest InterMat poll. Both LaMont and Romero are undefeated on the year and will enter Sunday's action ranked fifth in the nation in their respective weight class. Romero is currently off to a perfect 8-0 mark on the season at 174 pounds, while LaMont is 4-0 at 125.
Freshman
Danny Snediker too is off to a strong start for UVU at 157 pounds on the season, as he holds a 6-1 record. Redshirt freshman 133-pounder
Ty Smith is next with a 4-1 clip, while fellow redshirt freshman
Kekana Fouret and redshirt senior
Koy Wilkinson are 5-2 and 4-2, respectively, at 165 pounds. The freshman 125-pounder Mauger will also head to Corvallis with a 3-0 record.
As a team, UVU will enter Sunday's action ranked 20th in the most recent InterMat Tournament Ranking, 28th in the WIN Magazine Tournament Ranking, and 30th in the TrackWrestling Tournament Ranking.
ABOUT THE COMPETITION
Oregon State will enter Sunday with a 3-4 overall record and a 2-0 Pac-12 dual clip. The Beavers hold wins on the year over Chattanooga, Little Rock and Cal Poly, and last defeated Pac-12 foe Cal Poly by a score of 23-17 on Jan. 14 in San Luis Obispo. Oregon State returns NCAA qualifiers this season in Devan Turner (133) and Grant Willits (141). Turner, who won a 2020 Pac-12 title, was also named a 2020 NWCA Second Team All-American for OSU.
Oregon State will enter Sunday's competition with six grapplers currently ranked in the latest polls. Hunter Willits leads the way by being ranked as high as No. 15 at 157, while his brother Grant Willits is 16th at 141, Turner is 18 at 133, Brandon Kaylor is 24th at 125, Ryan Reyes is 25th at 184, and JJ Dixon is 31st at 197. Hunter and Grant Willits, as well as Kaylor currently lead the team with identical 5-2 season records, while Jason Shaner is 4-0 at 133.
Sunday's opener against OSU will mark the fifth all-time meeting between the Wolverines and Beavers. The all-time series is currently deadlocked at 2-2 and UVU has won each of the last two meetings with a 17-16 victory by criteria on Dec. 15, 2016 in Orem and a 20-19 win over the then-18th ranked Beavers on Nov. 21, 2015 in Corvallis.
Stanford will come to Corvallis ranked 22nd in the latest NWCA Top 25 Coaches Poll and holds a 4-2 overall record and a 3-0 mark in Pac-12 duals. The Cardinal holds wins over CSU Bakersfield, California Baptist, Cal Poly and Little Rock, and last fell to both South Dakota State and Oklahoma in Little Rock last weekend. Stanford welcomes back five returning NCAA qualifiers and a trio of 2020 NWCA All-Americans in Real Woods (141), Shane Griffith (165) and Nathan Traxler (197). Despite the recent success—which includes winning the Pac-12 championship in 2019—Stanford University administration announced this past summer that the 2021 season will be the wrestling program's last, as the school will drop the sport of wrestling after the conclusion of the season.
A total of eight Stanford grapplers are currently ranked led by Woods and Griffith both coming in a No. 3 in their respective weight class. Requir van der Merwe is next by being ranked 10th at 157, while Jaden Abas is 12th at 149, Jason Miranda is 18th at 133, Traxler is 22nd at heavyweight, Jackson DiSario is 26th at 125 and Tyler Eischens is 27th at 165.
Sunday's contest between UVU and Stanford will mark the ninth all-time meeting on the mat. The Cardinal will enter with a 6-2 series advantage and having won six straight meetings. The Wolverines previously defeated Stanford, 25-10, on Feb. 3, 2012 in Palo Alto and Feb. 1, 2013 18-15 in Orem.
ON DECK FOR UVU
The Wolverines will next head to Brookings, South Dakota on Saturday, Feb. 13 for a trio Big 12 duals against South Dakota State, North Dakota State and Air Force. UVU will then close its regular season by sending a number of grapplers to the USAFA Round Robin on Saturday, Feb. 20 in USAF Academy, Colorado.
PROBABLE LINEUPS
Utah Valley (1-1, 0-1 Big 12)
125: #5
Taylor LaMont, RJr. (4-0) OR
Kase Mauger, Fr. (3-0)
133:
Ty Smith, RFr. (4-1),
Kainalu Estrella, RSo. (2-3) OR
Tyson Humpherys, Fr. (0-2)
141:
Nick Rino, RFr. (1-2) OR
Stockton O'Brien (2-2)
149:
Cameron Hunsaker, So. (4-4) OR
James Emmer, RFr. (0-5)
157:
Danny Snediker, Fr. (6-1)
165:
Koy Wilkinson, RSr. (4-2) OR
Kekana Fouret, RFr. (5-2)
174: #5
Demetrius Romero, RSr. (8-0) OR
Spencer Heywood, RJr. (0-3)
184:
Hunter Morse, Fr. (1-4)
197:
Jacob Armstrong, RSo. (3-3)
285:
Chase Trussell, RSo. (3-4)
Oregon State (3-4, 2-0 Pac-12)
125: #24 Brandon Kaylor, RSo. (5-2) OR Kade Uyesaka, RFr. (0-0)
133: #18 Devan Turner, RSr. (3-3) OR Jason Shaner, RJr. (4-0)
141: #16 Grant Willits, RJr. (5-2) OR Russel Stigall, RFr. (0-0)
149: Lane Stigall, RJr. (3-4) OR Riley Gurr, RSo. (3-1)
157: #15 Hunter Willits, RJr. (5-2)
165: Matthew Olguin, RFr. (0-0) OR Aaron Olmos, RJr. (2-2)
174: Colton Beisley, RJr. (2-5) OR Brad Kata, Sr. (0-0)
184: #25 Ryan Reyes, So. (3-3), Adam Rateb, RSr. (0-0) OR Jackson McKinney, RSo. (4-1)
197: #31 JJ Dixon, RSo. (4-3)
285: Brian Barnes, RJr. (1-4) OR Hayden Still, RJr. (0-0)
#22 Stanford (4-2, 3-0 Pac-12)
125: #26 Jackson DiSario, So (5-1)
133: #18 Jason Miranda, Fr. (4-0) OR Kyle Rowan, Fr. (1-1)
141: Luciano Arroyo, So. (2-4)
149: #12 Jaden Abas, RFr. (5-1)
157: #10 Requir van der Merwe, RSr. (5-0)
165: #3 Shane Griffith, RSo. (1-0)
174: #27 Tyler Eischens, RSo. (5-2) OR Jared Hill, RSr. (1-4)
184: Nick Addison, So. (1-2)
197: Haydn Maley, RJr. (2-1) OR Nick Stemmet, Fr. (3-1)
285: #22 Nathan Traxler, RSr. (3-1) OR Peter Ming, Fr. (4-1)
Additional Stanford Wrestlers for Extra Matches
149: Dawson Sihavong, So. (1-3)
149: Fabian Santillan, So. (1-1)
149: Elijah Cleaver, Fr. (1-1)
157: Charlie Darracott, Fr. (5-1)
184: Ethan Woods, RJr. (1-4)
285: Seamus O'Malley, So. (0-3)
*Individual rankings listed are the highest ranking taken from the latest InterMat, FloWrestling, TrackWrestling, WIN Magazine and The Open Mat polls.
