TULSA, Okla. — Evan Bockman became the third Utah Valley University wrestler to earn an automatic bid to the NCAA Championships with a win on Sunday at the Big 12 Championships, joining
Taylor LaMont and
Haiden Drury, who clinched their spots on Saturday.
LaMont (125 pounds) and Drury (133) both placed fifth after winning their final matches of the tournament.
"We're super excited that Evan wrestled a great match to earn his trip. All three of those guys (Bockman, LaMont and Drury) work so hard and are so consistent, so there's no surprise that good things happened for them," head UVU coach
Greg Williams said. "This was good preparation for us as we now turn our attention to nationals. We'll work out some things over the next week or two and be ready to go when we get to Detroit."
Bockman needed to defeat Alan Clothier of Northern Colorado to earn the seventh and final spot at 197 pounds from the Big 12. After a first-period takedown from Clothier, Bockman was in control the rest of the way. Down 2-1 entering the second, Bockman tied it on a quick escape and then took the lead on a takedown with 54 seconds left before riding out Clothier.
The seventh-seeded Clothier made it a 5-3 match with an escape in the third, but Bockman's takedown with 36 seconds left all but clinched it for the Wolverine wrestler. With riding time, the eighth-seeded Bockman earned a 7-4 decision to punch his first ticket to NCAA Nationals with the seventh-place Big 12 finish.
Bockman posted a 2-2 record at his first trip to the Big 12 Championships en route to placing seventh and earning his first trip to nationals.
Both LaMont and Drury fell in tight bouts in the consolation semifinals in their first matches of the day to drop to the fifth-place matches.
In his fifth-place match against the No. 8 seed Jace Koelzer from Northern Colorado, the second-seeded LaMont had a pair of takedowns in the first and built up over two minutes of riding time in the first period. A four-point near fall in the second helped him build a 9-3 lead after two before he earned the major with an escape and four takedowns in the final period to win by a score of 19-6.
LaMont posted a 4-2 record at the Big 12 Championships on his way to placing fifth. By punching a ticket to the NCAA Championships, this marks the fourth time of LaMont's career that he has earned a spot to compete at nationals.
In his fifth-place contest against the No. 7 seed Tony Madrigal of Oklahoma, Drury rode Madrigal for nearly the entire second period and that riding time was the difference in the 2-1 win. Both wrestlers scored on an escape, but Drury was able to get away 18 seconds into the third period to have the riding time he collected in the second stand up.
Drury was the lone UVU competitor to advance to the semifinals at this year's Big 12s and finished with a 2-2 outing and the fifth-place finish to earn his first trip to nationals.
Ty Smith (141) was also in action for UVU on Sunday and placed eighth after dropping his match on Sunday against the five seed Carter Young of Oklahoma State. Young avenged an earlier loss to Smith with a 7-4 decision. Young got a pair of takedowns and four-point near fall in the opening period to give himself a 6-1 lead en route to the win. Smith went 2-3 on the weekend on his way to placing eighth in his weight class.
Smith and a couple of other Wolverine wrestlers will now hope to earn an at-large bid to the NCAA Championships that will be announced by the NCAA on Tuesday, March 8. The official NCAA Championship seeds and brackets will then be released on NCAA.com at 4 p.m. MT on Wednesday, March 9.
Six other UVU grapplers competed for the Wolverines at the 2022 Big 12 Championships but had their runs come to a close during Saturday's opening day of action at the conference tournament.
Danny Snediker (165) led the group by going 1-2, while
Cameron Hunsaker (149),
Jaxon Garoutte (157),
Jacob Armstrong (184), and
Chase Trussell (285) all went 0-2, and
Kekana Fouret (174) finished with an 0-3 showing.
As a team, UVU finished in 12th place with 34 points. Missouri won the 2022 Big 12 Wrestling Championship with 131.5 points, while Oklahoma took second (113) and Iowa State finished third (110). Oklahoma State (107.5) and Northern Iowa (100) rounded out the top five.
The 2022 NCAA Wrestling Championships will then be held March 17-19 at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit, Michigan. A season ago, UVU crowned multiple All-Americans for the first time as LaMont placed fifth and senior
Demetrius Romero finished sixth.
UVU NCAA AUTOMATIC QUALIFIERS
125 -
Taylor LaMont
133 -
Haiden Drury
197 -
Evan Bockman
UTAH VALLEY RESULTS
125 - #2
Taylor LaMont (4-2) - 5th Place
#2
Taylor LaMont (UVU) DEC Tanner Jordan (SDSU), 3-1 (SV-1)
#7 Joey Prata (OU) DEC #2
Taylor LaMont (UVU), 7-5
#2
Taylor LaMont (UVU) FALL Jake Svihel (WYO), 2:03
#2
Taylor LaMont (UVU) FALL #6 Kysen Terukina (ISU), 1:39
#4 Trevor Mastrogiovanni (OK State) DEC #2
Taylor LaMont (UVU), 5-3 (SV-1)
5th Place: #2
Taylor LaMont (Utah Valley) MAJOR DEC #8 Jace Koelzer (NC), 19-6
133 - #6
Haiden Drury (2-2) - 5th Place
#6
Haiden Drury (UVU) DEC Connor Brown (Mizzou), 6-2
#2 Kyle Biscoglia (UNI) DEC #6
Haiden Drury (UVU), 7-5, (SV-1)
Sidney Flores (AF) FALL
Haiden Drury (UVU), 5:58
5th Place: #6
Haiden Drury (UVU) DEC #7 Tony Madrigal (OU), 2-1
141 -
Ty Smith (2-3) - 8th Place
Ty Smith (UVU) DEC #5 Carter Young (OK State), 6-2
#4 Allan Hart (Mizzou) DEC
Ty Smith (UVU), 9-2
Ty Smith (UVU) DEC Cody Phippen (AF), 7-5
Jacob Butler (OU) DEC
Ty Smith (UVU), 9-5
7th Place: #5 Carter Young (OK State) DEC
Ty Smith (UVU), 7-4
149 -
Cameron Hunsaker (0-2)
#4 Josh Edmond (Mizzou) TECH FALL
Cameron Hunsaker (UVU), 19-4 (7:00)
Jeffrey Boyd (WVU) MAJOR DEC
Cameron Hunsaker (UVU), 12-4
157 - #8
Jaxon Garoutte (0-2)
#1 David Carr (ISU) 19-0 TECH FALL #8
Jaxon Garoutte (UVU), 18-3 (7:00)
Kenny O`Neil (SDSU) DEC #8
Jaxon Garoutte (UVU), 4-2
165 -
Danny Snediker (1-2)
Danny Snediker (UVU) DEC #6 Tanner Cook (SDSU), 9-4
#3 Austin Yant (UNI) DEC
Danny Snediker (UVU), 4-1
Nick Knutson (NC) DEC
Danny Snediker (UVU), 3-2
174 -
Kekana Fouret (0-3)
#6 Peyton Mocco (Mizzou) MAJOR DEC
Kekana Fouret (UVU), 13-4
#5 Hayden Hastings (WYO) TECH FALL
Kekana Fouret (UVU), 19-2 (6:50)
Sam Wolf (AF) INJ DEFAULT
Kekana Fouret (UVU), 5:13
184 -
Jacob Armstrong (0-2)
#7 Keegan Moore (OU) DEC
Jacob Armstrong (UVU), 7-6
#8 DJ Parker (NDSU) DEC
Jacob Armstrong (UVU), 13-6
197 - #8
Evan Bockman (2-2) - 7th Place
#1 Stephen Buchanan (WYO) MAJOR DEC #8
Evan Bockman (UVU), 12-4
#8
Evan Bockman (UVU) MAJOR DEC Kayne Hutchison (AF), 12-4
#5 Rocky Elam (Mizzou) DEC #8
Evan Bockman (UVU), 4-2 (SV-1)
7th Place: #8
Evan Bockman (UVU) DEC #7 Alan Clothier (NC), 7-4
285 -
Chase Trussell (0-2)
#4 AJ Nevills (SDSU) DEC
Chase Trussell (UVU), 3-2
#6 Brandon Metz (NDSU) DEC
Chase Trussell (UVU), 3-1 (SV-1)
*Big 12 Championship seeds listed not national rankings
FINAL 2022 BIG 12 CHAMPIONSHIP TEAM STANDINGS
1. Missouri - 131.5
2. Oklahoma - 113
3. Iowa State - 110
4. Oklahoma State - 107.5
5. Northern Iowa - 100
6. South Dakota State - 66
7. North Dakota State - 62
7. West Virginia - 62
9. Wyoming - 57.5
10. Air Force - 45
11. Northern Colorado - 35.5
12. Utah Valley - 34
