Laramie, Wyo. – Utah Valley wrestling had a successful tournament at the Cowboy Open as eight wrestlers placed. Jack Forbes won the 197 Championship, while Kainalu Estrella (141) and Mahonri Rushton (184) finished third. Five other Wolverines placed in the tournament, with most seeing their first action of the season.

"We felt good about what our wrestlers did today. We have been looking forward to seeing our new freshmen finally compete against opposing schools. It's always exciting for freshmen to compete for the first time. They learned a lot today about what they are able to do in their matches as well as some things to improve upon. The RS Freshmen looked more confident than last year and it was great for their growth and to see Jack win the title. The two veterans on this trip, Kainalu and Tanner, both were able to see some areas where they have drastically improved from last season. Kainalu especially looked in control of his matches. He did a great job of getting to his positions and working to score from them," said UVU head coach Greg Williams. 
 
Forbes finished 3-0 on the day after a 16-5 decision over Gavin Dodge (Northwest Kansas Tech). He advanced to the finals at 197 after Jacob Fuentes (Western Wyoming) had a medical forfeit. In the finals, Forbes picked up a 4-1 decision over Jayshon Hines (Northwest Kansas Tech).
 
Estrella went 4-1 in the day, winning his first two matches over Nash Singleton (Oregon State) by a 5-2 decision and Armando Garcia (unattached) by a 10-3 decision. After dropping his semifinal match to Darren Green (Wyoming) he finished the day with decisions over Deegan Parker (Northeastern) by a 10-6 decision in the third-place match, Estrella defeated Bryce Shelton (Air Force) by a 6-2 decision.
 
Mahonri Rushton finished third at 184, going 4-1 on the day. He started the day with a victory by fall over Garrett Davis (Northwest Kansas Tech) and then a tech fall victory over Drake Buchanan of Air Force 19-4. His only loss came to Quayin Short (Unattached) by a 9-2 decision.  In the consolation semifinal, Rushton beat Jameel Coles (Northwest Kansas Tech) by a 4-2 decision. In his final match, he defeated Donivan Giangregio (Unattached) by a 13-1 major decision.
 
Nico Rodriguez (285) finished in fourth after going 3-2 on the day. He defeated Talmadge Carman (Western Wyoming) 2-0 by decision. He defeated teammate Kort Wilkinson by a narrow 2-1 decision. He dropped his semi-final match to Terren Swartz (Wyoming) by a 5-1 decision before he beat Antonio Ramos (Air Force) 6-1 to advance to the third place bout, where he fell to Kyle Zimmer (Wyoming) 7-1.
 
Tanner Lofthouse (165) finished 3-2 on the day with a victory over Logan Berger (Chadron State) 11-1 before defeating Dean Neff (Chadron State) by tech fall 14-0. He dropped the semifinal match 6-4 to Brett McIntosh (Wyoming) and got his second win over Berger (Chadron State) 12-6. He lost in the third place bout 5-3 to Seamus Casey (Air Force)
 
Kyler Lake had a sixth-place finish after taking two medical forfeits on the day. He went 2-1 in matches. He won by a comfortable margin over Bryce Boumans (NW Kansas State) by a 6-0 decision and Ridge Briggs (Wyoming) by a 9-1 major decision. In the semifinals, he faced last year's NCAA runner-up Ridge Lovett (Nebraska, unattached), who has just entered a redshirt year. Lovett picked up a 22-4 tech fall victory over Lake.
 
Kort Wilkinson also placed sixth after going 3-3. He defeated Dontavius Daniels (Northwest Kansas Tech) by fall in 1:34 and won his next two matches over Rodriguez (UVU) by 2-1 decision and Matt Kaplan (Air Force) by an 11-2 major decision. Wilkinson won his second match of the day by fall over Payton Calico (Western Wyoming) in 2:09. He lost to Zimmer (Wyoming) by a decision 5-0. In his final match, he took a medical forfeit.
 
Yusief Lillie finished fifth while participating unattached in the open. He lost to  Yusef Nelson (Chadron State) by a 4-3 decision and followed it up with a victory by fall over Cole Huber (Northeastern) in 2:34. Later, he defeated Moses Santiago (Unattached) by a 5-3 decision before losing to Garrett Ricks (Wyoming) 3-0 in the consolation semifinals. He won by medical forfeit over Nelson (Chadron State) to claim fifth.
 
The Wolverines had four other wrestlers in the open, with Merrell Morley going 2-2, Luke Van Orden 1-2, Tyler Jones 0-2, and Caleb Uhlenhopp finished 0-2.
 
Utah Valley opens Big 12 Conference play on Nov. 18 with a dual at California Baptist. The Wolverines have won the last two meetings with the Lancers. This will mark the first time they will meet as conference foes. UVU stays in California next weekend for the Roadrunner Open hosted by CSU Bakersfield.