Wrestling looks ahead to championships
Senior Ben Kjar waves to the crowd after winning his final home match.
Kira Terry/UVU Review
“We’re excited about the upcoming conference,” said Coach Greg Williams. “We feel like our guys can do well, and we’re positive mentally and we’re fresh and ready to go.”
The UVU wrestling team finished up their regular season Feb. 18-19 as they made a trip to the Dakotas to take on South and North Dakota State.
The South Dakota match saw a big 40-6 win for the Wolverine grapplers, as nine Wolverines not only got individual victories, but added to the team score to put them over South Dakota.
North Dakota State the next night was a different story.
Although 133-pounder Flint Ray, 141-pounder Justin Morrill and 149-pounder Josh Wilson picked up individual wins, the North Dakota Bison took the match 25-10.
The Wolverines finished the season 5-4 overall and 3-2 in the conference.
“In reality, a 5-4 record with the injuries that we’ve had was an accomplishment, and I feel good about it,” said Williams. “I’m not disappointed in our record. I feel like the record’s really not what matters. What matters to me going into the season is ‘what can we do to help each of these individuals progress and take care of them as individuals,’ because the team pretty much takes care of itself’.”
Williams has nothing but kind words for his athletes and the season that they had, saying, “There’s not one kid on our team right now that I’m not proud of. They are all hard workers; they do what we ask, and a lot of them are doing extra. It’s a good team; we have a good situation here.”
Just last week, the NCAA announced that Utah Valley had four wrestlers who were named in the final Coaches Panel Rankings and Rating Percentage Index (RPI) for this season. Those wrestlers are four of UVU’s five seniors: Ben Kjar (125), Ray (133), Morrill (141), and Jeb Clark (165).
After traveling to the WWC Championships and NCAA West Regional on Mar. 6 and depending on the results, some Wolverines may be traveling to the NCAA Championships, which are held Mar. 17-19 in Philadelphia.
Last season, Kjar, Ray and Brad Darrington all represented Utah Valley at the NCAA Championships.