From: Utah Valley Athletics [email protected] Subject: UVU WRE: UVU Wrestling to host No. 9 ASU and Wyoming on Saturday in UCCU Center Date: January 21, 2021 at 5:50 PM To: [email protected] Wrestling to host No. 9 ASU and Wyoming on Saturday in UCCU Center 1/21/2021 | Wrestling OREM, Utah - The Utah Valley University wrestling team will welcome No. 9 Arizona State and Wyoming to town for a three-team round robin event on Saturday, Jan. 23 in the UCCU Center. The UVU Round Robin event will be contested on two mats simultaneously and will begin at 11 a.m. MT. Both mats will also be streamed live on the WAC Digital Network and the GoUVU channel on YouTube, as well as well as on FloWrestling.org and the FloSports App (subscription required). Live scoring/results will also be available throughout the duration of the competition by visiting TrackWrestling.com. Saturday's round robin tournament will not be team scored but will crown a weight class champion in each of the 10 weight classes. The round robin format will give each competing wrestler an opportunity to get in more matches than a traditional dual meet. Each weight class will consist with no more than six competitors, with two or three per weight class from UVU and fellow Big 12 Conference foe Wyoming, and one in a handful of weight classes from the ninth-ranked Sun Devils. "It's always nice to get top teams in here to compete. ASU and Wyoming are both excellent, well coached programs. We are looking forward to wrestling them on Saturday," head UVU coach Greg Williams said. UVU (1-1, 0-1 Big 12) will enter Saturday's home event on the heels of a tri-dual split in Orem on Jan. 8 against California Baptist and No. 25 Northern Colorado. After recording a 25-16 victory over CBU, the Wolverines then split five matches apiece against the ranked Big 12 Bears, but bonus points were the difference as UNC held on to record a 19-16 win. Redshirt junior Taylor LaMont (125 pounds), freshman Danny Snediker (157), redshirt freshman Kekana Fouret (165), and redshirt senior Demetrius Romero (174) led the Wolverines at the home duals on Jan. 8 by all going 2-0 apiece, while sophomore heavyweight Chase Trussell had the win of the day for UVU by knocking off 11th-ranked Dalton Robertson of Northern Colorado by a score of 3-0. Romero and Fouret lead UVU on the season with respective 5-0 records, while Snediker is 4-0, and LaMont is 2-0. Redshirt freshman 133-pounder Ty Smith and senior 165-pounder Koy Wilkinson too have solid records for the Wolverines so far in 2020-21, as they are 4-1 and 3-1, respectively. LaMont and Romero are also both two-time NCAA qualifiers for the Wolverines and are each currently nationally ranked in the top-10 in their respective weight class. Romero leads the way as he will enter the weekend ranked fifth in the country in a couple of different polls at 174 pounds, while LaMont is currently ranked seventh by InterMat at 125. As a team, UVU will enter Saturday's round robin event ranked 25th in the latest InterMat Tournament Ranking, as well as 29th on both the TrackWrestling and WIN Magazine Tournament polls. A total of 21 Wolverines are tentatively scheduled to compete in Saturday's event and can be seen below. The round robin event will mark UVU's final home action of the 2020-21 campaign. ABOUT THE COMPETITION The Wyoming Cowboys, who are currently receiving votes for the latest NWCA Top 25 Coaches Poll, are off to a 1-2 overall start in 2020-21 and 0-1 clip in Big 12 Conference action. UW picked up a 24-11 victory over Central Michigan on Jan. 8, but also holds setbacks to Northern Colorado (24-19) and No. 10 Missouri (29-3). After having a dual meet postponed against Fresno State on Jan. 15, Wyoming then competed in an individual event against competitors from Air Force, UNC and South Dakota State on Sunday in USAF Academy, Colorado. Chase Zollman (141), Darren Green (141) and Cole Moody (165) led the way on the day for the Pokes by each compiling 3-0 outings, while Job Greenwood went 2-0 at 133. Wyoming returns four NCAA qualifiers from last year's squad and will enter Saturday with seven grapplers currently nationally ranked. Returning Big 12 champion Brian Andrews (heavyweight) leads the way by being ranked as high as No. 10 in the nation, while Hayden Hastings is 14th at 174, Stephen Buchanan is 15th at 197, Fresno State transfer Jacob Wright is 16th at 157, Tate Samuelson is 17th at 184, Greenwood is 21st at 133, and Moody is 24th at 165. Wyoming is scheduled to also send a total of 21 grapplers to compete on Saturday. ASU is currently ranked ninth in the country in the latest NWCA Top 25 Coaches Poll and off to a 2-0 overall record and a 1-0 start in Pac-12 competition. The Sun Devils had last weekend's scheduled duals against No. 9 Missouri, No. 10 Iowa State, and No. 20 Northern Iowa in Ames, Iowa wiped out due to COVID-19, but holds wins on the year over No. 19 Oklahoma (20-12) and Little Rock (39-3). Arizona State won its third Pac-12 title in the past four seasons last spring. The Sun Devils return four 2020 NWCA All-Americans in Brandon Courtney (125), Jacori Teemer (157), Anthony Valencia (165), and Kordell Norfleet (197) and currently have a total of nine grapplers nationally ranked. Due to contract tracing and adhering to the Pac-12's COVID protocols, ASU is slated to only send five wrestlers to Saturday's event. Two of those grapplers are ranked in 10th-ranked heavyweight Cohlton Schultz and No. 31 Cory Crooks at 149 pounds. Cohlton Schultz and No. 31 Cory Crooks at 149 pounds. UP NEXT FOR UVU Following Saturday's home finale, the Wolverines will next travel to Corvallis, Oregon on Sunday, Feb. 7 to compete against a trio of Pac-12 foes in host Oregon State, No. 21 Stanford, and CSU Bakersfield. The Wolverines are then scheduled to conclude their regular season on Feb. 13 in Brookings, South Dakota with Big 12 duals against South Dakota State, North Dakota State and Air Force. FAN AND TICKET INFORMATION FOR SATURDAY Only a limited number of family members that are listed on the team's official pass lists will be allowed into the UCCU Center for Saturday's event due to COVID-19. Utah Valley (1-1, 0-1 Big 12) 125: #7 Taylor LaMont, RJr. (2-0); Kase Mauger, Fr. (1-0); Dawson Collins, Fr. (1-1) 133: Kainalu Estrella, RSo. (2-1); Tyson Humpherys, Fr. (0-0); Sammy Heywood, Fr. (0-0) 141: Nick Rino, RFr. (0-0) 149: Cameron Hunsaker, So. (2-4); Jaxon Garoutte, Fr. (2-2); James Emmer, RFr. (0-3) 157: Danny Snediker, Fr. (4-0); Brigg Hoopes, So. (0-0) 165: Kekana Fouret, RFr. (5-0); Koy Wilkinson, RSr. (3-1) 174: #5 Demetrius Romero, RSr. (5-0); Spencer Heywood, RJr. (0-0) 184: Ashton Seely, RJr. (2-3); Hunter Morse, Fr. (1-3) 197: Jacob Armstrong, RSo. (2-2) 285: Chase Trussell, RSo. (2-2); Payson Anderton, RFr. (0-0) Wyoming (1-2, 0-1 Big 12) 125: Brendan Garcia, So. (2-5); Darrick Stacey, So. (0-3) 133: #21 Job Greenwood, RSo. (3-2); Jake Svihel, So. (1-4) 141: Chase Zollmann, RSo. (3-1); Darren Green, Fr. (3-3) 149: Warren Carr, Fr. (0-2); Ridge Briggs, Fr. (0-0) 157: #16 Jacob Wright, RJr. (3-2); Logan Jensen, RSo. (1-2); Cooper Voorhees, Fr. (0-3) 165: #24 Cole Moody, RSo. (6-1); Brett McIntosh, Fr. (1-2) 174: #14 Hayden Hastings, RJr. (4-0); Guillermo Escobedo, Fr. (2-1); Nate Moore, RJr. (0-0) 184: #17 Tate Samuelson, Jr. (2-2) 197: #15 Stephen Buchanan, So. (2-1); Tucker Tomlinson, Jr. (1-2) 285: #10 Brian Andrews, Sr. (2-2); Brooks Baker, So. (0-3) #9 Arizona State (2-0, 1-0 Pac-12) 125: - 133: - 141: Julian Chlebove, RFr. (1-1); Ethan Pickren, RFr. (0-0) 149: #31 Cory Crooks, RSr. (2-1) 157: - 165: - 174: Zane Coleman, RFr. (0-1) 184: - 197: - 285: #10 Cohlton Schultz, RFr. (3-0) *Individual rankings listed are the highest ranking taken from the latest InterMat, FloWrestling, TrackWrestling, The Open Mat and WIN Magazine polls. GETTING TO KNOW DEMETRIUS ROMERO GETTING TO KNOW DANNY SNEDIKER Utah Valley University Communications contacts: Clint Burgi (MSOC, WBB, SB) Assoc. AD/Comms. & Mktg. | [email protected] | 801-863-8644 | @clintburgi Jason Erickson (MBB, WSOC, MGO) Asst. AD/Communications | [email protected] | 801-863-5451 | @jasonerickson_ James Warnick (BSB, WRE, CC, WGO) Asst. Sports Info. Dir. | [email protected] | 801-863-6231 | @james_warnick Kevin Lucas (VB, T&F) Asst. Sports Info. Dir. | [email protected] | 512-954-7428 | @kevlucas12.