Utah Valley wrestling: Wolverines take care of Cal Poly and Stanford

Deseret News

PALO ALTO, Calif. — Utah Valley snapped a five-match losing streak with a bang Friday night by defeating two solid Pac-12 wrestling programs at Burnham Pavilion in Palo Alto, Calif. The Wolverines (5-7, 0-3 WWC) started the night with a 19-17 win over Cal Poly and followed it up with a 25-10 victory over Stanford.

"I was very pleased with how well we fought. We did a much better job in some areas as a team than we have done in the past," UVU head coach Greg Williams said. "I told the guys before the matches that a lot of them were ready to start turning the corner in some areas and I saw that tonight."

In the nightcap against the Cardinal (8-7, 3-1 Pac-12), the Wolverines jumped out to an early 16-0 lead after they won the first four matches of the contest and didn't look back as they went on to win seven of the 10 bouts.

UVU 125-pounder Colby Christensen started off the scoring by receiving a forfeit victory. Blake Mangum (133 pounds) then followed it up with an 11-3 major decision win over Stanford's Jordan Bryan. Wolverine 141-pounder Avery Garner and 149-pounder Josh Wilson, who is currently ranked 12th nationally, then came through with 8-2 and 9-4 respective wins over Alex Manley and Timmy Boone.

Garrett Schaner then got the Cardinal on the scoreboard with a 7-1 victory over Napoleon Aniciete (157) but UVU's Ethan Smith (165) responded by pulling off a 2-1 win over Stanford's Bret Baumbach with a late third period reversal to give the Wolverines a commanding 19-3 lead.

Top-ranked Nick Amuchastegui, who was the NCAA runner-up a year ago, and Spence Patrick then cut into the deficit for Stanford with consecutive victories over UVU's Monte Schmalhaus (174) and David Prieto (184) to cut the team score to 19-10. But two more wins by the Wolverines helped Utah Valley cruise to the win.

Wolverine 197-pounder Brian Chamberlain and heavyweight Dustin Dennison sealed the victory with 6-4 and 4-2 respective wins over Stanford's Alan Yen and Brendan Ter Wee.

In the opening dual of the evening, the Wolverines and Cal Poly (5-6, 3-2 Pac-12) each won five bouts apiece but a first period win from Smith over Paul Woodman was the difference, as Utah Valley pulled out the contest by two points.