OREM, Utah – Utah Valley wrestling will wrestle in two groups this coming week. They will close out the December schedule with the non-starters competing in the Reno Tournament of Champions on Dec. 18. The starting lineup will be at the Purdue Duals against Campbell, Drexel, and the host Purdue on Dec. 20.
Sunday's Reno Tournament of Champions will feature a double-elimination tournament from the Reno Events Center. The day-long tournament starts at 10:00 a.m. MT, and will be streamed live on FloWrestling, with live results available at Arena.FloWrestling.org.
Tuesday, UVU will compete at the Purdue Duals in West Lafayette, Ind. The Wolverines will wrestle against Campbell, Drexel, and Purdue in separate duals. Utah Valley will enter the three duals with a 1-0 dual meet record this year after winning 29-9 in the Big 12 opener against California Baptist last month. The match with Purdue will be available for purchase on Big Ten Network+, and live results will be available on TrackWrestling. The matches against Campbell and Drexel will be streamed on the GoUVU Youtube page. No live results will be available.
LAST TIME OUT
Utah Valley earned 36.5 points as a team at the prestigious Cliff Keen Invitational in their last time on the mat. UVU had two wrestlers earn podium spots as
Evan Bockman (197) finished fourth after going 6-2 in the tournament. Bockman went 3-1 on the first day of the tournament, with his only loss coming by fall to Andy Smith (Virginia Tech) that put him into the consolation rounds. On day two, he got his second win over a ranked opponent on the weekend with a 7-4 decision over No. 24 Jake Koser (Navy). Bockman fell in the third-place match by a narrow 4-3 decision to No. 11 Tanner Sloan (South Dakota State).
No. 5
Demetrius Romero went 3-0 in the tournament before taking medical forfeits on day two. Romero was tough on his opponents, winning by a combined scored of 15-3 over Sam Barnes (Bucknell) and Gage Musser (Air Force). In his final match of the day, Romero won by injury default over No. 12 Phillip Conigliaro (Harvard).
RANKED WOLVERINES
Utah Valley currently has five in the national rankings.
Demetrius Romero leads the way at No. 5 by both InterMat and FloWrestling. UVU has two others ranked in both polls, with
Haiden Drury (133) coming in at 22 and 24, and
Evan Bockman (197) is currently 20 and 23 in the two polls.
Ty Smith (141) and
Jacob Armstrong (184) were both ranked honorable mentions by FloWrestling.
ABOUT THE RENO TOURNAMENT OF CHAMPIONS
No. 14 Oklahoma State will join Utah Valley, No. 23 Stanford, California Baptist, Indiana, Michigan State, and Wyoming. Several non-D1 schools will have grapplers in the field.
Isaiah Delgado led the way for UVU last year in Reno by going 4-1 en route to a 3rd-place finish.
Chase Trussell went 4-2 last year at the tournament and came up one win short of a spot on the podium.
ABOUT THE PURDUE DUALS
CAMPBELL
Utah Valley and Campbell have not met on the mat since 2012 when UVU came out victorious by a 32-6 final score. Campbell enters the dual with a 2-4 overall record in duals, with losses coming against No. 14 Iowa State, No. 5 Michigan, and No. 16 North Carolina. The Camels are led by their three nationally ranked wrestlers, with No. 28 Gabe Hixenbaugh (133), No. 21 Caleb Hopkins (184), and No. 22 Taye Ghadiali (285).
DREXEL
The Dragons enter the Purdue Duals 0-3 on the year. This will mark the first time UVU and Drexel meet on the mat in dual competition. 174-pounder No. 9 Michael O'Malley is the highest-ranked competitor. No. 27 Evan Barczak at 165 and No. 29 Luke Nichter at 149 will look to earn dual points for the Dragons.
PURDUE
UVU and Purdue are currently tied 1-1 in the all-time series. It will be the first time they have met for a dual on a campus site, as the previous team duals have been on neutral sites. Purdue last defeated UVU 30-12 in 2019. The Wolverines won 2018 by a 28-11 margin. Purdue has two Top-10 ranked grapplers, with No. 3 Kendall Coleman (157) and No. 8 Matt Ramos (125). No. 12 Thomas Penola (197), No. 16 Parker Filius (141), and No. 32 Ben Vanadia (184) round out the ranked lineup for Purdue.
NEXT UP
Utah Valley will send non-starters to compete in the Snow College Open on Jan. 7, 2023, before opening the home schedule with No. 16 Northern Iowa on Jan. 13 at 6:00 p.m. MT inside Lockhart Arena. No. 6 Iowa State will visit on Jan. 14 for an 8:00 p.m. MT start.
