Of the five, four of them reached the semifinals in their respective weight class. Four of the five also competed in the elite division on the day. Only redshirt-freshman Avery Garner wrestled in the amateur bracket.
Wolverine sophomore 141-pounder Wyatt Ray was UVU's next highest finisher as the grappler placed second in his weight's elite division. Ray won his first four bouts before falling in the title match to Cole VonOhlen from conference-rival Air Force. In Ray's first match of the open he defeated host-Wyoming's Chase Smith by fall only a mere 0:53 into the bout.
UVU redshirt-freshman 157-pounder Abner Cook also had a good showing at the open as he wrestled back to place third. Cook finished going an impressive 6-1 and won his third place match by fall (2:35) over CSU-Pueblo's Levi Jutila. Sophomore heavyweight Eric McAllister ended up placing fourth for UVU in the elite division as he went 2-2.
In the amateur bracket, Garner too placed fourth at 141-pounds as he went 4-2 at the tournament.
The No. 11 ranked 125-pounder in the country, Kjar, ended up going a perfect 3-0 for UVU as he won his weight bracket. In the finals, Kjar defeated Northern Colorado's Sam Bauer by decision, 3-1, to. Kjar won his other two matches by major decision (14-5) and decision (11-4).
Two other wrestlers ended up placing at the open that were competing unattached for Utah Valley. Freshman 125-pounder Colby Christensen ended up winning the amateur lightweight bracket, while junior 184-pounder Brad Darrington placed fourth in the elite bracket. Christensen went a perfect 4-0 en route to his title, while Darrington finished 4-2 for his fourth place finish.
The Wolverines will take the mat again next weekend, Nov. 20, when they head to Omaha, Neb., to compete in the Kaufman-Brand Open. Following the Kaufman-Brand, UVU will then head to Vegas on Dec. 3-4, to take part in the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational.
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