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NCAA Berths Up for Grabs for Wrestling Team Saturday at NCAA West Regional
March 3, 2010
Complete Release in PDF Format
2010 NCAA Wrestling West Regional Tournament Website OREM, Utah - Ten Utah Valley University wrestlers will be looking to secure spots for the NCAA National Championships by qualifying at the NCAA West Regional, the Western Wrestling Conference's qualifying tournament, this Saturday, March 6, in Brookings, S.D. It will also be only the second time in UVU school-history that any sport will compete at a NCAA Regional after the men's and women's cross country teams were the first to do so this past fall. The Wolverine wrestling team will be looking to become the first sport in school-history to have athletes qualify for the NCAA Championships. This season marks Utah Valley's first year that it is eligible for postseason tournaments and awards since the school recently completed a seven-year provisional jump from junior college athletics directly to Div. I. The event will be held in Frost Arena on the South Dakota State University campus. Matches will start at 9 a.m. (MT), with the finals slated for 4 p.m. Live Video will be available for the finals, visit GoJacks.com to watch it or CLICK HERE for a direct link. Last week, 14 automatic qualifier spots were allocated to the NCAA West Regional based on a combination of the final Coaches' Panel Rankings and Rating Percentage Index (RPI). The breakdown per weight class were as follows: 125 pounds (2), 133 (1), 141 (3), 149 (1), 157 (1), 165 (1), 174 (2), 184 (1), 197 (1) and Heavyweight/285 (1). Crowned champions at the event will receive an automatic bid to the national tournament and subsequent places will be handed out to the place equal to the number of allocated spots for a spot at the National Tournament. UVU junior 125-pounder Benjamin Kjar (ranked 9th by InterMat) has the best shot to qualify as he is the top-ranked wrestler in the conference in his weight division and will be the one-seed at the regional. Juniors Flint Ray (133), Jeb Clark (165) and sophomore Brad Darrington (174) are all currently ranked second in the conference in their respective weight divisions and all also have great chances of making nationals as well. Last season, the NCAA West Regional Tournament, at which all WWC institutions currently compete to qualify for nationals, was awarded 13 automatic qualifiers as well as one at-large selection. The Western Wrestling Conference is comprised of seven schools including the Air Force Academy, North Dakota State, Northern Colorado, Northern Iowa, South Dakota State, Utah Valley and Wyoming. After all of the qualifying events have concluded, the NCAA Division I Wrestling Committee will meet in-person to select the remaining 46 at-large qualifiers, which will be announced on March 10. This year's, three-day, NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships will be held in Omaha, Neb., March 18-20 at the Qwest Center. UVU finished the regular season with a 10-3 overall record and a 4-1 conference clip. At 4-1, the Wolverines finished in second place in the WWC, trailing only the No. 25 Wyoming Cowboys (11-3, 6-0). In its final dual of the year UVU downed conference-foe Northern Colorado in Greeley, 25-10. All three of UVU's losses on the season came by the hands of then ranked of ranked opponents as then No. 22 Arizona State, now No. 25 Wyoming and the No. 1 Iowa Hawkeyes. Wrestlers competing for UVU at the regional are listed below. To view more information regarding the 2010 NCAA Wrestling West Regional click on the link at the top of this page. Weight Class: Wrestler, Year, (Season Record) Coaches' Panel/RPI Rankings
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