OREM, Utah – Utah Valley wrestling returns home for a pair of duals against Snow College and Air Force as part of a tri-dual. Snow and Air Force will wrestle at 2:30 p.m. MT before Utah Valley, and Snow will wrestle at 4:15 p.m. MT. The final dual of the night will feature Big 12 squads Utah Valley and Air Force at 6:00 p.m. MT.
 
All duals will be streamed on Youtube.com/GoUVU, with live results available via TrackWrestling.  
 
Utah Valley is currently 1-7 on the season in duals and is coming off a pair of Big 12 losses to No. 16 South Dakota State and No. 14 North Dakota State. UVU had some highlights of the weekend. 125-pounder Kase Mauger pinned both his opponents on the weekend. Ty Smith defeated No. 8 Clay Carlson of South Dakota State in a 7-6 decision. Jack Forbes (197) went 1-1 with a victory over Spencer Mooberry (North Dakota State). Chase Trussell picked up a ranked win over No. 28 Juan Mora in overtime to close the weekend on a high note.
 
SMITH WINS BIG 12 WRESTLER OF THE WEEK
Smith's victory over Carlson earned him the Big 12 Wrestler of the Week Award. Carlson took a 5-4 lead in the match before Smith responded with three points to take a 7-5 lead, and he held on for a tight 7-6 win. It is his first Wrestler of the Week Award and the first Wolverine to win the recognition since Taylor LaMont won during the 2020 season.
 
ROMERO TIES RAY FOR THIRD ALL-TIME
Romero's victory on Friday over No. 13 Cade DeVos moved Romero into a third-place tie with Flint Ray with his 86th career win. Dustin Dennison is second all-time with 90 career victories and Benjamin Kjar holds the all-time UVU record with 129 wins.
 
WELCOME BACK KIMBALL
Snow College head coach Kimball Bastian returns to UVU for this dual. The former UVU grappler was a three-time NCAA qualifier for the Wolverines. The Maple Mountain product won 77 matches in his UVU career and is sixth all-time.
 
SCOUTING THE BADGERS
Snow College is in Ephraim, Utah, but the wrestling program is housed in Richfield. The wrestling program was just formed in the fall of 2022. Head Coach Kimball Bastian was a three-time NCAA qualifier at UVU and a four-time NWCA Scholar All-American. Snow is coming off the NJCAA Coaches Duals, where they finished 2-4 with victories over Otero Junior College and Cowley County Community College.
 
SCOUTING THE FALCONS
Air Force enters Orem on a three-dual winning streak after getting victories over Cal Poly and CSU Bakersfield from the Pac-12 before earning a 38-3 Big 12 victory over California Baptist. The Falcons are led by No. 5 Wyatt Hendrickson (285), who is 17-1 on the season with 11 falls. No. 21 Sam Wolf enters Orem at 9-1 and will be tested by No. 7 Demetrius Romero in the featured matchup of the night.  Air Force has won the last three meetings. The last UVU victory came in 2017 as UVU edged out an 18-15 victory.
 
NEXT UP
Utah Valley has two remaining duals on the 2022-2023 schedule. The Wolverines will travel to Wyoming on Feb. 4 for a 1:00 p.m. MT match. UVU will close out the regular season when No. 19 Northern Colorado enters Orem on Feb. 10.