CLEVELAND — Four Utah Valley University wrestlers remain alive at the 2026 NCAA Wrestling Championships after Jack Forbes and Caleb Uhlenhopp both notched upset wins to stave off elimination. Haiden Drury also prevailed in a must-win situation, while David Evans is also still alive after splitting two matches on the opening day of the championships.

"Our guys battled today! I'm proud of our effort," said head coach Adam Hall. "We faced some adversity and persevered through it. We had four out of five advance to day two. I'm excited for Haiden, Dave, Caleb, and Jack to continue on their journey to become an All-American tomorrow. Go Wolverines!"

Forbes notched two impressive wins during the second session, pinning his first opponent in 23 seconds before scoring a major decision win over No. 19 Nate Schon of Drexel. In his first match, against Mason Rebuck of Bloomsburg in the consolation preliminary match at 285 pounds, Forbes recorded the fastest pin of the season for a Wolverine. He got in on Rebuck's right leg and secured a cradle and fall just 23 seconds into the match.

Against Schon, Forbes jumped out to a quick 7-0 lead with a takedown and four-point near fall. It was 8-4 after an escape and takedown from Schon, but Forbes kept the pressure on with a six-point second period that included a two-point near fall and a 14-5 lead after two en route to an 18-4 major decision.

Uhlenhopp, who won his opener in the pigtail match earlier Friday before falling to top seed and unbeaten Rocco Welsh of Penn State, took out No. 17 Ian Bush of West Virginia with a 4-1 sudden victory on Thursday evening. Uhlenhopp fought off a pair of deep shots from Bush to end both the second and third periods before getting the decisive takedown midway through the sudden victory period.

Drury rebounded in session two after a narrow 2-0 loss to PSU's Braeden Davis earlier Thursday. He defeated Princeton's Matthew Martino in the second session to stay alive. Drury got the first takedown in the opening period but a reversal and locked hands, following a Princeton video challenge, tied it at 3-3 after one. Drury got an escape in the second before a second takedown gave him a 7-3 lead after two. Drury was tough on top to start the third, flipping net minus riding time to exactly one minute before Martino got an escape. Drury then held off Martino over the final 45 seconds, eating a stall warning before winning 8-4.

Evans opened the championships earlier on Thursday with an 11-5 win over Andrew Clark of Rutgers, but fell in the round of 16 to No. 8 Casey Swiderski (OKST) in a match that featured three coaches' reviews. Evans took what looked to be a shot to the side of his head after Swiderski secured the first takedown of the match, leading to a delay. It was 3-1 near the end of the first when the Oklahoma State corner challenged a takedown. That was successful, as was a challenge from Hall that netted Evans a penalty point to make it 6-2 after one.

It was 6-3 after two before Swiderski pulled away in the third behind two more takedowns to move into the quarterfinals where the Cowboy will face No. 1 Shayne Van Ness. Up next for Evans will be a Big 12 Tournament rematch against Max Petersen of North Dakota State. Evans won that match in Tulsa, 10-4.

Kael Bennie saw his first NCAA Championship berth come to an end with his loss late Thursday night to Brown's Andrew Reall, 2-0. Reall was able to ride out Bennie in the third to add a riding time point and secure the win. Bennie finishes his redshirt sophomore campaign at 15-18 with 22 of his 33 matches coming against NCAA qualifiers.

Friday's Session 3 begins at noon ET (10 a.m. MT).

(Day 1 Results – Session 1 & Session 2)
141 | vs (14) Braden Davis (PSU) over (19) Haiden Drury, dec. 2-0
141 | (19) Haiden Drury over (32) Matthew Martino (Princeton), dec. 8-4

149 | (9) David Evans over (24) Andrew Clark (RUT), dec. 11-5
149 | (8) Casey Swiderski (OKST) over (9) David Evans, major dec. 14-4

184 | (32) Caleb Uhlenhopp over (33) Sam Goin (IND), dec. 4-1
184 | (1) Rocco Welsh (PSU) over (32) Caleb Uhlenhopp, TF 19-4 (6:32)
184 | (32) Caleb Uhlenhopp over (17) Ian Bush (WVU), dec. 4-1 (SV-1)

197 | (2) Rocky Elam (ISU) over (31) Kael Bennie, dec. 9-3
197 | Andrew Reall (BRWN) over (31) Kael Bennie, dec. 2-0

285 | (3) Taye Ghadiali over (30) Jack Forbes, TF 17-2 (5:59)
285 | (30) Jack Forbes vs (33) Mason Rebuck (BLOOM), Fall (0:23)
285 | (30) Jack Forbes over (19) Nate Schon (DREXEL), major dec. 18-5