Dec. 9, 2011

OREM, Utah - The Utah Valley University wrestling team will take to the mat for the final time before Christmas when it heads to Grand Junction, Colo., this weekend to compete at the Colorado Mesa University Open. The open will begin Saturday at 9 a.m. and will take place at Colorado Mesa's Brownson Arena.

The Colorado Mesa Open will feature teams from all around the region including Western Wresting Conference foes Wyoming and Northern Colorado. Division II members and RMAC rivals Colorado Mesa, Western State, Adams State and Grand Canyon will also be in competition.

The tournament will feature five mats and all NCAA weight classes will be wrestled out to sixth place. Real-time results from Saturday's open can be found by visiting TrackWrestling.com.

Utah Valley is coming off of a solid performance at last weekend's Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational. There UVU 149-pounder Josh Wilson turned some heads by knocking off three ranked wrestlers to place fifth in his weight class. His performance earned him his first national ranking of his career, as he is now ranked 14th by InterMat. Behind Wilson, Colby Christensen (125 pounds), Avery Garner (141), Napoleon Aniciete (157), Ethan Smith (165) and Dustin Dennison (Hwt.) each picked up multiple wins at the prestigious tournament.

As a team the Wolverines placed 23rd out of 34 squads with 25 total points. UVU finished ahead of Stanford, Wisconsin, Northern Colorado, Army, Brown and CSU Bakersfield to name a few.

Following Saturday's open UVU will be off until the coveted Midlands Championships on Dec. 29-30. After Midlands, the Wolverines will then come home for the first time in the 2011-12 season when they host the UVU Open on Jan. 7. The Wolverines will then welcome Boise State to Orem on Jan. 12.