UVU campus briefs

WRESTLING: Utah Valley junior Benjamin Kjar (125 pounds) went 5-1 on Friday at the prestigious two-day Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational at Primm, Nev., and is the only Wolverine still alive looking to place today.

Overall, UVU is currently in 31st place out of 42 teams with 15.5 team points.

Kjar, who is ranked No. 11 nationally and was the four-seed in the tourney, lost his first matchup to Cal State Fullerton's Andre Gonzalez but battled back with a vengeance as he won his next five consecutive matches. Kjar's final win of the day was a big one as the Wolverine junior defeated No. 20 nationally ranked Jason Lara from Oregon State by a 5-4 decision. Kjar will have a tough road ahead of him today on his quest for placement, as he'll face off in his first match with Boise State's Alan Bartelli.

Nine other Utah Valley wrestlers competed at the prestigious early season invitational on Friday, but saw their hopes for placement fall short as they all were eliminated in the double-elimination tournament.

Junior Flint Ray (133) had the second-best day for UVU, as he finished 3-2 against very tough competition on Friday. Ray started well by winning his first match, 1-0, over the No. 9 seed, Pat McCaffrey from Navy, but ended up dropping his second match by the score of 6-5 to the No. 8 seed of the tourney, Ben Ashmore from Arizona State. Ray then battled back by winning his next two matches but then ended up being eliminated by Buffalo's Kevin Smith by the score of 11-9 in his fifth match of the day.

UVU juniors Justin Morrill (149) and Casen Eldredge (184) both picked up victories as Morrill finished 2-2 and Eldredge 1-2. Morrill had a tough draw in his first match as he had to wrestle sixth-seeded Matt Coughlin of Indiana and fell 6-4. Morrill then won his next two matches before dropping his final one to Arizona State's Vincent Varela, 6-4. Eldredge lost his first match but then battled back by beating Michigan's Erich Smith, 4-3, before falling to West Virginia's Matt Ryan, 7-3.

UVU sophomore Brad Darrington (174) and freshmen Monte Schmalhaus (165), Josh Wood (197) and Dylan Stadel (285) also picked up tournament victories as they each finished with 1-2 records. Freshmen Marty Carlson (141) and Richard Winger (157) both finished with 0-2 records.

Kjar, the lone Wolverine survivor, will wrestle again today at 10 a.m. (MST) and will be striving for placement, with the third-place match beginning at 1:30 p.m.