Salem, Va. – Utah Valley wrestling had 16 competitors open their 2023-24 season today at the Southeast Open. Two-time NCAA qualifier Evan Bockman won the 197-weight class at the Southeast Open as five other Wolverines earned podium spots at the opening season tournament.
 
"This was a good competition for our team to begin the season. We saw a lot of top-level wrestlers throughout the day. Evan wrestled very solid in every match and looks ready to improve upon his previous two seasons' accolades," said UVU head coach Greg Williams.
 
Bockman started his journey towards his third NCAA tournament with a 4-0 record en route to winning the Southeast Open at 197. He was dominant over his opponents on the day, winning his first two matches by tech fall over VMI's Travis Fridley. He followed it up with a victory over Colden Dorfman (Virginia) by a major decision. He wrapped up the day with a pair of wins over ranked foes first with a 17-3 major over No. 30 John Crawford of Franklin and Marshall, and capped his title run with a 7-2 decision over No. 27 Levi Hopkins of Campbell.
 
Jack Forbes, competing at heavyweight, finished 3-2 on the day and was pushed to the consolation rounds after a loss to No. 17 Michael Wolfgram (West Virginia) in the semifinals before a loss in the consolation rounds moved him into the fifth-place match, where he won by tech fall over VMI's Tyler Mousaw.
 
Two other Wolverines finished fifth in the tournament as James Emmer finished 4-1; on the day after losing in the round of 16, he came up with four victories, including a win in the fifth-place match over Franklin and Marshall's Pat Phillips. Tanner Lofthouse at 165 went 3-1 on the day after losing in the quarterfinals. He bounced back with a tech fall victory over West Virginia's Trey Johnson, and his fifth place was declared a no-contest.
 
Mark Takara fell in the quarterfinals in a hard-fought battle with Oklahoma State transfer and No. 9 Travis Wittlake (Oregon State) by a 2-0 decision before beating a pair of UVU teammates, Merrell Morley and Caleb Uhlenhopp. He fell in a close battle by a 5-4 decision to Riley Smucker (Life University) for a sixth-place finish.
 
149-pounder and one-time NCAA qualifier Ty Smith picked up two victories via fall after he pinned Elijah White (Unaffiliated) in his first matchup and later Luca Errico (Virginia). Smith fell in the sixth-place match to Tom Crook (Southeast RTC), a 2023 NCAA qualifier. Kase Mauger finished sixth after losing in his first match to two-time All-American and four-time NCAA qualifier No. 4 Sam Latona (Virginia Tech). He returned and won his next three matches, two by fall and one by major decision, before losing in the fifth-place match.
 
No. 15 Haiden Drury wrestled his first match before suffering a concussion and was not cleared for his second match. The new NCAA rule for this year is that if you don't injury default during your previous match, and you can't wrestle the next match, then it counts as a loss against your record.
 
Others competing in the field today were No. 15 Drury (0-2), No. 28 Isaiah Delgado (1-2), No. 32 Jayden Woodruff (0-1), Kobe Nelms (1-2), Tyson Humphreys (1-2), Kyler Lake (2-2), Jaxon Garoutte (2-2), Caleb Uhlenhopp (2-2), Merrell Morley (1-2), and Hunter Morse (0-2)
 
Williams said, "As a staff we saw many areas of improvement from last season. We also saw some areas we need to get better. We had matches that we didn't hand fight or finish shots as well as we need in order to be successful in the postseason".
 
Utah Valley will compete on Nov. 5 at the Mines Rookie Open. The starters will have a dual on Nov. 19 at 5:00 p.m. MT at American University. They will also compete on Nov. 19 at the Penn Keystone Open.