Fresh off a strong performance at the Southern Scuffle, the Utah Valley University wrestling team returns to Orem to host the 10th annual UVU Open on Saturday, Jan. 7. The all-day open tournament begins at 9 a.m. MT, at UVU's newly named Lockhart Arena (PE Building) and will feature competitors from more than 10 schools and clubs around the West.
Saturday's competition will take place on four mats and live results can be followed throughout the duration of the tournament by visiting TrackWrestling. The tournament will wrestle straight through until completion, as four placewinners will be crowned at each weight class.
Besides 14 grapplers from UVU, wrestlers from Boise State, Wyoming, Cal Poly, CSU Bakersfield, Colorado Mesa, Clackamas, Embry-Riddle, Western State Colorado and Western Wyoming are slated to compete at Saturday's tournament.
Of the 14 Wolverines set to compete at Saturday's Open, five are scheduled to compete for UVU, while the other nine are redshirting the 2016-17 season and slated to wrestle unattached. The five grapplers set to wrestle for the Wolverines are juniors Dustin Dennison (heavyweight), Abel Gomez (184 pounds) and Jordan Karst (heavyweight), as well as sophomores Dalton Harmon (165) and Tyler Scott (125). The nine unattached UVU grapplers are freshmen Benjamin Andrew (heavyweight), Gary Jantzer (174), Taylor LaMont (125), Durbin Lloren (133), Michael Milliner (174), Austin Trapp (133) and Heston Woolsey (125), along with sophomore Kieffer Taylor (165) and junior Matthew Ontiveros (149).
UVU crowned a record six champions at last year's UVU Open. All-American Jade Rauser won a title at 133 pounds, while Trevor Willson took one home at 141, Jacob Armstrong at 174, Will Sumner at 184, Tanner Orndorff at 197 and Karst at heavyweight. Of the group, Karst will be the lone Wolverine looking to become a repeat champion in his weight class, while fellow Utah Valley grapplers Ontiveros and Scott will also be looking to earn a podium finish for the second-straight season after placing third and fourth, respectively, a season ago.
The Wolverines enter Saturday's tournament with a 2-2 dual meet record and coming off a solid showing at the 2017 Southern Scuffle earlier this week in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Karst and Orndorff led the way for UVU at the Scuffle by going a combined 7-4 en route to each advancing to the grueling tournament's second day of action and finishing just one match shy of placement.
The heavyweight Karst went 4-2 at the Southern Scuffle with wins over Campbell's Jere Heino (5-3), Lehigh's Christian Colucci (5-3), Oklahoma State's Tanner Allen (2-1, TB-2) and Missouri's Austin Myers (6-4, SV-1), while Orndorff went 3-2 with victories over Gardner-Webb's Drew Barrett (10-0), Virginia's Jay Aiello (11-9, SV-1) and Chattanooga's DJ Smith. Five other Wolverines posted 2-2 records at the premier holiday tournament, as juniors Dustin Dennison (heavyweight) and Jarod Maynes (133), redshirt freshman Grant LaMont (149) and unattached freshmen Taylor LaMont (125) and Durbin Lloren (133) too posted solid outings at the Scuffle.
Karst tops UVU with a 21-5 record on the year, while Orndorff holds a 15-10 clip and redshirt freshman Kimball Bastian (174) is 14-9.
Up next for UVU
The Wolverines will return to dual action on Friday, Jan. 13, when Big 12 Conference foe Air Force comes to town for a league dual at 7 p.m. Following the Big 12 dual meet against the Falcons, UVU will step out of conference action to host CSU Bakersfield of the Pac-12 Conference on Thursday, Jan. 19.
James Warnick is an assistant sports information director at Utah Valley University. For more information about Wolverine athletics, visit WolverineGreen.com.