What: Utah Valley University 1-5 (0-1) vs #9 Iowa State 2-1 (0-0)
Where: Orem, Utah
When: Thursday – January 9, 2020 8:00 PM CT
Watch: Flowrestling (Subscription required)
The Iowa State Cyclones are about to hit the road beginning their four dual week by heading to Utah to take on a conference foe, Utah Valley University in Orem. After that the Cyclones will continue their western roadshow by stopping in Arizona for the Sundevil Duals where they will face Harvard, Campbell, and Arizona State on Saturday.
It was a relatively quiet winter break for the Clones as head coach Kevin Dresser opted to send a lighter squad to the Southern Scuffle tournament in Chattanooga with only three weights sending true starters. Of that group only one wrestler came away with hardware, but that medal happened to be of the gold variety with Gannon Gremmel capturing the heavyweight crown.
Other starters that made the trip included Chase Straw at 165 and the duo battling for starting time at 197 Joel Shapiro and Francis Duggan. The team also sent Ryan Leisure at 149 who filled in for Jarrett Degen in the back half of 2019 while the All-American was recovering from injury.
Based on previous comments from Dresser it sounds as though Austin Gomez has been cleared to resume training on the mat, but expecting him back right away is unlikely as he starts accumulating mat time for the first time in several months.
The two biggest matches for the dual will occur at 133 and heavyweight with one of those being a top ten matchup.
At 133 Todd Small will take on Taylor LaMont in what should be a good lightweight battle. LaMont has a tremendous background in Greco-Roman where he has represented the United States on multiple occasions at the Cadet, Junior, and U23 levels and he has also made the Senior National team.
After winning a Scuffle title for the Cyclones its safe to say Gremmel is certainly looking to be in top form, and he will hope to continue that momentum against the #8 ranked Tate Orndorff. This will be the first of three ranked heavyweight matches for Gremmel this week and one of two where he enters as the underdog.
The rest of the Utah Valley lineup comes into this dual unranked, which should give the Cyclones plenty of matches where they are not only favored to win, but potentially accumulate bonus. The team was without their #12 ranked Kimball Bastian for last weekend’s dual against UNI. If he manages to return the 174-pound matchup with Marcus Coleman will certainly get more interesting.
Utah Valley vs #9 Iowa State
125: Will Edelblute or Josiah Nava (Utah Valley) vs #12 Alex Mackall (Iowa State)
133: Taylor LaMont (Utah Valley) vs #14 Todd Small (Iowa State)
141: Cameron Hunsaker or Nick Rino (Utah Valley) vs #5 Ian Parker (Iowa State)
149: Landon Knutzen or Brigg Hoopes (Utah Valley) vs #8 Jarrett Degen or Ryan Leisure (Iowa State)
157: Jerry Rubio (Utah Valley) vs #3 David Carr (Iowa State)
165: Koy Wilkinson (Utah Valley) vs Chase Straw (Iowa State)
174: Grant LaMont(Utah Valley) vs Marcus Coleman (Iowa State)
184: Ashton Seely or Jacob Armstrong (Utah Valley) vs #9 Sammy Colbray (Iowa State)
197: Tanner Orndorff (Utah Valley) vs Joel Shapiro or Francis Duggan (Iowa State)
285: #8 Tate Orndorff (Utah Valley) vs #9 Gannon Gremmel (Iowa State)
Intermat rankings used