Wolverines dominate in home finale
UVU junior Ben Kjar locks up his opponent from South Dakota State in a 38-6 win for the Wolverines. Dave Iba/ UVU Review
After suffering a tough loss at the hands of the number-one ranked Iowa Hawkeyes, the Wolverines exacted revenge on the nearly helpless South Dakota State Jackrabbits last week. UVU cruised to a 38-6 drubbing to get back on the winning track.
“Just like in previous matches, our guys came out and really tried to wrestle their best tonight,” said UVU wrestling coach Greg Williams. “SDSU is really tough at a couple of weights and those were the ones that we had freshman competing at, but I was really pleased with how we competed.”
The Wolverine grapplers jumped all over SDSU early as Jeb Clark manhandled his opponent, Jeff Moe, winning by technical fall, 17-2. As the Jackrabbits forfeited at both 174 and 184, UVU was up 17-0 after three matches.
SDSU won the next match as Tyler Sorenson beat UVU’s Josh Wood at 197 pounds, cutting the Wolverine lead to 17-3. Unfortunately for the Jackrabbits, the Wolverines won the next three matches, taking a commanding 28-3 advantage.
One of those victories marked the first win for 184-pounder Cason Eldredge while competing as a heavyweight. Although significantly undersized, Eldredge defeated Kevin Kelly, 4-2. Eldredge has been wrestling as a heavyweight in order to fill a hole for the Wolverines at that weight class.
In other action, eleventh-ranked Ben Kjar outlasted SDSU’s Aaron Pickrel to continue the Wolverines domination. Other Wolverines that recorded victories were Flint Ray at 133 pounds, Justin Morrill at 149 pounds and Jamison Moss at 157.
“I liked the intensity of most of our guys and I and I felt like we increased the pace in several of the matches,” Williams added. “Now it is time for us to go and work on our flaws for conference.”