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Utah Valley Wrestling Announces its 2009-10 Schedule
Sept. 22, 2009
OREM, Utah - The Utah Valley University 2009-10 wrestling schedule, which was released Tuesday, features a dual with the NCAA National Champion Iowa in Vernal, Utah, three home duals as well as the Third Annual UVU Open. The dual matchup with Iowa is scheduled for Feb. 6 in Vernal because two-time Hawkeye All-American Phillip Keddy prepped at Uintah High School in Vernal. "It will be great to wrestle Iowa and a number of top 10 teams this year," said fourth-year UVU head wrestling coach Greg Williams. "It will be a wonderful opportunity for us and we are excited to see what we can do. Our schedule will help mentally prepare us for the postseason this year." The 2009-10 season marks a new era for Utah Valley wrestling as this is the first year in which the Wolverines are eligible to compete at the NCAA West Regional/Western Wrestling Conference Championships for a chance to qualify for the NCAA Championships after the University became full NCAA Div. I in July. "The whole team is excited for the opportunity to be able to compete in the postseason," Williams added. "It will be great to be able to go to conference and prove ourselves there and also to get some guys to nationals." The Wolverine wrestlers kick off the season Nov. 5 at 7 p.m., in the Shurian Family Activity Center in Orem with the UVU Intrasquad Duals. Two days later, Utah Valley will travel to Powell, Wyo., to take part in the Northwest Open hosted by Northwest College. The following week UVU will travel to Laramie, Wyo., for the first of two trips on the season for the Cowboy Open on Nov. 14. They will return to Laramie Jan. 30 for conference head-to-heads with Wyoming and Northern Iowa. The Wolverines will then have a busy weekend the following week on the East Coast as they will begin their dual slate. On Nov. 19, UVU will wrestle at UNC-Greensboro in Greensboro, N.C., and with Gardner. The next two nights the Wolverines will have a dual with NC State in Raleigh, N.C. and then they will compete at the NC State Open.
Utah Valley will be off for two weeks before traveling to Las Vegas, Nev., Dec. 4-5, to compete at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invite. Following the Las Vegas Invite, Utah Valley will host its first home dual matches of the season on Dec. 12 with Western State at 3 p.m., and the Boise State Broncos, who were ranked 12th last year, at 7 p.m. that same evening. Also, several wrestlers will be competing at the University of Nebraska-Kearney, in Kearney, Neb., that same day. The Wolverines will be off until after Christmas when they will compete at the prestigious Midlands Championships, hosted by Northwestern, in Evanston, Ill., Dec. 29- 30. Following Midlands, Utah Valley will begin the 2010 calendar year by hosting the UVU Open on Jan 9. The following weekend UVU will travel to Arlington, Texas, to compete at the Lone Star Duals on Jan. 16. The Wolverines' opponents have not yet been determined but Oklahoma, Brown, Arizona State, Duke, Northwestern, Harvard, and conference foe Air Force are scheduled to participate. UVU opens WWC action when it travels to Colorado Springs, Colo., to compete against the Air Force Academy on Jan 28. Following their dual with Wyoming and Northern Iowa on Jan. 30 and the dual with Iowa on Feb. 6, the Wolverines will host their lone conference dual, Feb. 12, when South Dakota State comes to Orem. UVU wraps up its conference schedule and regular season by wrestling at Northern Colorado in Greeley, Colo., on Feb. 17. Utah Valley will then head to its first-ever NCAA West Regional/WWC Championships as South Dakota State plays host to the tournament in Brookings, S.D., on March 6. This year's NCAA Wrestling Championships will be held March 18-20 at the Qwest Center in Omaha, Neb. UVU returns nine letterwinners, which includes eight of the 10 starters. The Wolverines also welcome a large highly touted recruiting class that will add much-needed depth to the roster. Utah Valley is coming off of its best season in school history where Williams led them to an 11-3 campaign in 2008-09. In the middle of their breakout season the Wolverines reeled off 10 consecutive wins and also finished in second place in the WWC with a 4-1 record. To access the complete 2009-10 wrestling schedule CLICK HERE. |
