NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS PREVIEW
Coach Adam Hall had an All-American in his first season at the helm of the Utah Valley University program and this year will send five student-athletes to Cleveland, Ohio and Rocket Arena, site of the 2026 NCAA Wrestling Championships, which begin Thursday from Rocket Arena in Cleveland, Ohio. 

Haiden Drury (141), David Evans (149), Caleb Uhlenhopp (184), Kael Bennie (197), and Jack Forbes (285) are the five NCAA qualifiers for the Wolverines. That number matches the second-most the program has sent to the championships. In Pittsburgh in 2019, UVU sent a program record six qualifiers. In 2018, also in Cleveland, the Wolverines had five wrestlers earn spots, which was a record at the time.

Wrestling begins on Thursday at Noon ET (10 a.m. MT) and will air on the ESPN networks. All matches and mats will air on ESPN+. Sessions 1, 3 and 5 will also air on ESPNU, Session 2 and the finals will air on ESPN, and Session 4 (the semifinals) will be on ESPN2 on Friday evening.

UVU AT THE NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS FACTS

• Utah Valley's five qualifiers gives the program 52 all-time during 17 seasons of DI postseason eligibility.
• UVU has had a wrestler reach the NCAA semifinals three times, but never had a finalist. In 2011, Ben Kjar became the program's first All-American after advancing to the semis where he fell to NCAA Champion Anthony Robles. In 2021, both Taylor LaMont and Demetrius Romero advanced to the semis before taking fifth and sixth, respectively.
• Drury is making his second appearance at the NCAA Championships while the other four are making their first. Drury wrestled at 133 pounds in his previous appearance in 2022, and went 1-2. 
• Drury, Evans, and Uhlenhopp received automatic berths with their finish at the Big 12 Championships while Bennie and Forbes both earned at-large bids. 
• Drury is set to become the 14th Utah Valley wrestler to make multiple NCAA appearances.

FIRST ROUND MATCHUPS
Evans is Utah Valley's highest seed, at No. 9, and he'll open with No. 24 Andrew Clark of Rutgers. If he wins he'll face either Big 12 Champion and No. 8 seed Casey Swiderski of Oklahoma State or Michael Gioffre of Illinois. Drury is the 19 seed and will face No. 14 Braeden Davis of Penn State in his opener.

As the 32nd seed, Uhlenhopp has the pigtail match to open and will face Indiana's Sam Goin with the winner getting unbeaten top seed Rocco Welsh of Penn State. Bennie will also get a Big 12 Champion to open in No. 2 seed Rocky Elam of Iowa State for the second time this season. Forbes drew No. 3 seed at Big Ten Champion Taye Ghadiali of Michigan. 

BENNIE ONE OF THREE UTAHNS
Bennie is one of three native Utahns to earn trips to the NCAA Championships. The Layton High School alum is  joined by South Dakota State's Moses Espinoza-Owens (Woods Cross, UT - Viewmont HS) and Nebraksa's Brock Hardy (Brigham City, UT - Box Elder HS).

Evans is one of 50 qualifiers from Pennsylvania, which has nearly double of the 28 qualifiers from Ohio. Forbes is one of eight from Colorado, while Uhlenhopp (Nevada) and Drury (Washington) are the lone qualifiers from their states.