From: Utah Valley Athletics [email protected] Subject: UVU WRE: Utah Valley heads to Las Vegas for CKLV Invitational Date: November 30, 2017 at 3:02 PM To: [email protected]

Utah Valley heads to Las Vegas for CKLV Invitational 11/30/2017 | CLIFF KEEN LAS VEGAS INVITATIONAL Friday-Saturday, Dec. 1-2 | 10 a.m. MT/9 a.m. PT (each day) Las Vegas Convention Center | Las Vegas, Nev. Live Video (FloWrestling) | Live Results | UVU Notes

WOLVERINE WRESTLING HEADS TO LAS VEGAS FOR CKLV INVITATIONAL OREM, Utah - The Utah Valley University wrestling team will return to action this weekend when it heads to Las Vegas, , for the 36th Annual Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational. The two-day premier tournament will run Friday and Saturday, Dec. 1-2, at the Las Vegas Convention Center.

Live video and live results will be available throughout the duration of the tournament by visiting FloWrestling.org. Action will get underway each day at 10 a.m. MT/9 a.m. PT. The event will then close on Saturday afternoon with the championship finals at 4 p.m. MT/3 p.m. PT.

UVU (4-2, 1-0 Big 12) will enter the tournament off of a 2-1 outing at the Wolfpack Duals and a third-place finish at the Wolfpack Open at NC State on Nov. 17-18. In dual action, UVU defeated both smaller division foes Reinhardt (34-6) and UNC Pembroke (36-9), before falling to the host and seventh-ranked NC State Wolfpack 34-6.

Sophomore 165-Demetrius Romero led the Wolverines at the Wolfpack Duals by going a perfect 3-0 on the day with a pair of bonus-point victories, as well as an upset win over No. 19 Brian Hamann of NC State. After beating both RU's Garett Klinger (17-0) and UNCP's Josh Watts (18-2) by , Romero recorded his best win of the day in a 6-4 overtime decision over No. 19 Hamann of NC State.

At the Wolfpack Open on Nov. 18, Romero was then one of seven Wolverines to earn a podium finish at the event. Romero, Taylor LaMont (125 pounds), Tanner Orndorff (197) and unattached freshman Tate Orndorff (285) led the way for the Wolverines at the tournament by each placing second, while Will Sumner (184) finished third, and Gary Jantzer (184) and Dustin Dennison (285) both placed fifth.

Romero and Tanner Orndorff both posted 4-1 records at the Wolfpack Open, while LaMont, Tate Orndorff, Sumner, and Jantzer all went 3-1, and the senior heavyweight Dennison posted a 5-1 mark.

With the solid outings, the Boise State transfer Romero moves up in the rankings to 20th in the latest FloWrestling poll, while the redshirt freshman and 2016 Junior World Bronze Medalist LaMont is now ranked as high as 10th at 125 pounds in the most recent TrackWrestling poll.

LAST YEAR AT THE CKLV INVITE For the first time since the 2009-10 season, a pair of Wolverines earned podium finishes at the 2016 CKLV Invitational as 174-pounder Kimball Bastian placed seventh and 197-pounder Tanner Orndorff posted an eighth-place finish. The sophomore Bastian recorded a 4-2 record en route to placing seventh, while Orndorff went 3-3 on his way to placing eighth. The two placewinners were UVU's first at the tournament since 2013-14, and matched a program best when All-American Benjamin Kjar (125) took seventh and Flint Ray placed eighth (133) in 2009.

ABOUT THE CLIFF KEEN LAS VEGAS INVITATIONAL Annually recognized as one of the toughest tournaments of the season, this year's Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational will be no exception as 15 this year's Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational will be no exception as 15 of the current USA Today/NWCA Top 25 teams will be in attendance as well as over 100 nationally ranked wrestlers.

A total of 46 teams will be in attendance at the 2017 CKLV Invite. Second-ranked Ohio State leads the way, followed by No. 8 Minnesota, No. 9 Michigan, No. 10 Virginia Tech, No. 12 Arizona State, No. 13 Nebraska, No. 14 Cornell, No. 16 Northern Iowa, No. 18 Wisconsin, No. 19 Central Michigan, No. 20 Purdue, No. 21 Oklahoma, No. 23 Edinboro, No. 24 Pittsburgh, No. 25 Stanford, Air Force, American, Army, Binghamton, Brown, Bucknell, Cal Poly, CSU Bakersfield, Columbia, Drexel, Duke, Eastern Michigan, Fresno State, Harvard, Iowa State, Michigan State, Kent State, Navy, North Carolina, North Dakota State, Northern Colorado, Oregon State, Utah Valley, Virginia, West Virginia, Wyoming, Cal Baptist, Embry Riddle, Nebraska-Kearney, North Idaho, and Western Wyoming.

A pair of top-ranked InterMat wrestlers will also be competing on Friday and Saturday in Arizona State 174-pounder and Ohio State 197-pounder Kollin Moore. A trio of second-ranked grapplers are also scheduled to compete in Michigan's Stevan Micic (133) and Adam Coon (heavyweight), as well as Ohio State's Myles Martin.

UP NEXT FOR UVU Following this weekend's tournament, the Wolverines will return to Orem for their first home dual meet of the season on Dec. 15 when Big 12 foe North Dakota State comes to town. The conference contest is scheduled for a 12 p.m. MT start.

UVU'S PROBABLE LINEUP 125 - #10 Taylor LaMont (12-2) 133 - Durbin Lloren (7-5) 141 - Matt Findlay (0-0) 149 - Matthew Ontiveros (8-5) 157 - Raider Lofthouse (1-5) 165 - #20 Demetrius Romero (14-2) 174 - Kimball Bastian (1-1) 184 - Gary Jantzer (9-5) 197 - Tanner Orndorff (11-4) 285 - Dustin Dennison (13-2) *LaMont's ranking is from TrackWrestling, while Romero's is from FloWrestling.

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS Friday, Dec. 1, 2017 (Times listed in PT) 9:00am: Round 1 Pig Tail Championship, Round 2 of (32) Championship, Round 3 Consolation of (32), Round 4 Championship of (16), Consolation 1st of (16) Round 5 Consolation 2nd of (16) 6:00pm: Round 6 Championship Quarter Finals & Consolation Round 1st of (8)

Saturday, Dec. 2, 2017 9:00am: Round 7 Consolation 2nd of (8) 10:00am: Round 8 Championship Semi-Finals, Round 9 Consolation Semi Finals, Consolation Finals 5th & 6th, 7th & 8th Places 3:00pm: CHAMPIONSHIP FINALS 1st & 2nd, 3rd & 4th Places