Richfield, Utah – Utah Valley wrestling dominated at the Snow College Open in Richfield, Utah, on Saturday. The Wolverines crowned nine champions on the day and had one place second in the field. UVU entered 10 grapplers into the round-robin tournament and saw a total of 17 pins in the tournament.
"We felt the guys all wrestled well. We pushed them to try to get to more situations we have been working in the room, and they responded really well," said UVU head coach Greg Williams.
Nico Rodriguez (285) and
Caleb Uhlenhopp (184) both finished 5-0. Rodriguez used pins in three matches to stay undefeated heading to the final, while adding two decisions in other matches, including a 10-3 decision over Snow's David Herring in the final. Uhlenhopp recorded three pins and two major decisions.
James Emmer (141), Tyson Humphreys (149), and
Tanner Lofthouse (165) all went 4-0 in the tournament, finishing in first place in the respective weight classes. Emmer started and ended his day with first-period falls (1:35, 2:26) and mixed in a 19-3 tech fall victory.
Humphreys won three of his four matches by fall with both matches lasting less than one period. Humphreys picked up an 11-6 decision over his teammate,
Sam Edelblute, before pinning Rhett Miner of Snow in just 36 seconds.
Lofthouse used two tech falls, and a pin to go 3-0 before a 16-6 major decision moved Lofthouse into first in his pool. He outscored his opponents by a combined 52-11 on the day.
Other than in his match against Humpherys, Edelblute went 3-0 with two tech fall victories while also picking up quick fall, pinning BYU's Colton Hopkins in just 27 seconds.
A quartet of Wolverines were in smaller round-robin tournaments.
Yusief Lillie (125),
Stockton O'Brien (141),
Mark Takara (174), and
Jack Forbes (197) all took first, going 2-0 on the day. Lillie used a fall (1:39) and a 24-6 tech fall victory. O'Brien picked up a 20-5 win via tech fall before a pin in 33 seconds for the 133 title. Takara defeated a pair of wrestlers from Snow College when he beat Kaden Kirk by 16-6 major decision, and Zack Johnson by fall in 1:03.
Forbes won his second title of the year at 197 after winning at the Cowboy Open in November. Today he won by fall (2:32) and then picked up a 16-1 tech fall victory in the final.
Utah Valley will gear up for Big 12 duals inside the Lockhart Arena against No. 14 Northern Iowa on Friday, Jan. 13 at 6:00 p.m. and No. 3 Iowa State on Saturday, Jan. 14 at 8:00 p.m. Tickets are still available for both matches.
