ST. LOUIS – For the first time in program history Utah Valley University wrestling had two NCAA Championship semifinalists, but both
Taylor LaMont and
Demetrius Romero ended up dropping tightly contested semifinal bouts on Friday evening at the 2021 NCAA Championships at Enterprise Center in St. Louis.
Both the redshirt junior and seventh-seeded 125-pounder LaMont and the second-seeded redshirt senior 174-pounder Romero will now continue their 2021 NCAA Championship runs in the consolation semis on Saturday morning to determine if they will wrestle for third or fifth place. No matter the outcome, both LaMont and Romero have locked up All-American finishes for the first time in their respective careers. It also marks the first time in program history that UVU will have multiple All-American finishers in the same season.
LaMont dropped a hard fought 2-1 overtime battle to the No. 3 seed and two-time Pac-12 champion Brandon Courtney of Arizona State in the tiebreakers in his 125-pound national semifinal bout, while Romero fell to the No. 3 seed and 2021 Big Ten runner-up Carter Starocci of Penn State in another tightly contested contest by a score of 2-0 in the 174-pound semis.
In the first tightly contested semifinal bout of the evening for UVU, the 2021 Big 12 finalist for Wolverines LaMont and the two-time Pac-12 champion Sun Devils Courtney found themselves tied at zeros after a scoreless opening period of action. The third-seeded Courtney then picked up a quick escape in the second to take a 1-0 advantage. LaMont then responded in the third with an escape point of his own in the early stages of the opening period to tie the bout at 1-1. The two then both looked to gain the winning takedown, but neither could manage to secure the two as the match headed to overtime.
In the first sudden victory OT period, Courtney got in on late shot with the clock winding down but LaMont did a nice job of fighting it off to send the contest to the tiebreakers. Courtney then managed to ride LaMont out in the first 30-second tiebreaker period to keep the score tied at 1-1. In the second 30-second tiebreaking period, LaMont then elected to give Courtney an intentional release escape to start the period in the neutral position. With Courtney now ahead 2-1 and with the clock winding down, LaMont did everything he could to try and get the winning takedown, but he couldn't get it as he ended up dropping the overtime semifinal battle by a score of 2-1.
With the setback, LaMont now heads to the consolation semifinals on Saturday morning against the No. 15 seed Patrick McKee (13-7) of Minnesota. The match will determine if LaMont wrestle for third of fifth place (the winner advances to the third-place bout while the loser will wrestle for fifth).
LaMont advanced to his first NCAA Championship semifinal match after opening his 2021 NCAA run with three straight victories. After starting with a dominant 18-1 technical fall over the No. 26 seed Jackson DiSario of Stanford, LaMont then capped his Thursday action off with a hard fought 2-1 decision over the No. 23 seed Robert Howard of Penn State to advance to the quarterfinals. Then in the quarters, LaMont earned a 7-4 upset win over the 2021 ACC champ and No. 2 Sam Latona of Virginia Tech to move on to Friday night's semifinal bout.
With the 3-1 outing so far on the weekend, LaMont now holds a 12-2 record on the season.
In another tightly contested semifinal contest, Romero found himself on the wrong end of a 2-0 contest to the No. 3 seed Starocci of Penn State. After a scoreless first period, the 2021 Big Ten runner-up Starocci was able to record a quick escape in the second stanza to take a 1-0 advantage. With Romero later in the bottom position in the third, Starocci managed to ride the two-time UVU Big 12 champion out throughout the final period to earn an additional riding time point and take the semifinal bout by a score of 2-0 and send Romero to the consolation semis.
Romero will enter Saturday's action with a 19-1 record on the year, as Friday's evening's setback marked his first loss of the season. He'll also open in the consolation semis on Saturday morning against the now three-time All-American and No. 4 seed Mikey Labriola of Nebraska (15-2) with a chance to wrestle for third on the line.
Romero also advanced to his first NCAA Championship semifinal bout after too winning his first three matches at the 2021 NCAAs. The three-time UVU NCAA qualifier opened his run with a 9-6 decision over No. 31 Jake Logan of Lehigh. He then followed it up with an 11-5 victory over No. 18 Dustin Plott of Oklahoma State to move on to the quarterfinals. Then in the quarters, Romero shut out the No. 7 seed Kaleb Romero of Ohio State, 6-0, to reach the semis.
A pair of other Wolverine grapplers also took part in the 2021 NCAA Championship but both
Ty Smith (133) and
Cameron Hunsaker (149) had their inaugural runs cut short on Thursday. The 33rd-seeded Hunsaker led the two by going 1-2 with a 5-1 win over No. 32 Greg Gaxiola of Hofstra, while Smith finished with an 0-2 outing.
In the team score race, Utah Valley sits in a program-best 20th place with 20.5 total points. Iowa leads the championship with 109 points, while Penn State is in second (94.5) and Oklahoma State is in third (86.5). By being in the top-20, UVU is currently the third-highest Big 12 Conference team in the tournament.
The medal rounds of the 2021 NCAA Championships will get underway on Saturday at 9 a.m. MT/10 a.m. CT and will be televised live on ESPN2 as well as streamed online on ESPN3. The championship finals will then close the three-day national championship event on Saturday at 5 p.m. MT/6 p.m. CT live on ESPN.
UTAH VALLEY 2021 NCAA CHAMPIONSHIP RESULTS
125 - #7
Taylor LaMont (3-1)
#7
Taylor LaMont (UVU) TF #26 Jackson DiSario (STAN), 18-1 (5:37)
#7
Taylor LaMont (UVU) DEC #23 Robert Howard (PENN ST), 2-1
#7
Taylor LaMont (UVU) DEC #2 Sam Latona (VT), 7-4
#3 Brandon Courtney (ASU) DEC #7
Taylor LaMont (UVU), 2-1 (TB-1)
174 - #2
Demetrius Romero (3-1)
#2
Demetrius Romero (UVU) DEC #31 Jake Logan (LEH), 9-6
#2
Demetrius Romero (UVU) DEC #18 Dustin Plott (OKST), 11-5
#2
Demetrius Romero (UVU) DEC #7 Kaleb Romero (OHIO ST), 6-0
#3 Carter Starocci (PENN ST) DEC #2
Demetrius Romero (UVU), 2-0
133 - #28
Ty Smith (0-2)
#5 Micky Phillippi (PITT) MD #28
Ty Smith (UVU), 14-3
#21 Jared Van Vleet (AF) DEC #28
Ty Smith (UVU), 4-1
149 - #33
Cameron Hunsaker (1-2)
#33
Cameron Hunsaker (UVU) DEC #32 Greg Gaxiola (HOF), 5-1
#1 Sammy Sasso (OHIO ST) FALL #33
Cameron Hunsaker (UVU), 6:34
#16 PJ Ogunsanya (ARMY) DEC #33
Cameron Hunsaker (UVU), 5-3
