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No. 13 Iowa State at West Virginia cancelled; Utah Valley included in four-team Air Force Round Robin

by Iowa State, West Virginia and Utah Valley Athletic Departments

West Virginia Press release


MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – In accordance with the Big 12 Conference wrestling interruption guidelines, the wrestling match between West Virginia and Iowa State on Friday, Feb. 19, has been canceled.


Fans who purchased tickets for the matchup against Iowa State will receive a refund in the coming week through the Mountaineer Ticket Office.


Looking ahead, West Virginia travels to Tulsa, Oklahoma, for the 2021 Big 12 Wrestling Championship on March 6-7. The 2021 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships will take place on March 18-20, in St. Louis, Missouri.

Iowa State Press release


AMES, Iowa – The No. 13 Iowa State wrestling team's dual at West Virginia Friday night has been canceled. It will not be re-scheduled.


The meet was canceled in accordance with the Big 12 Conference's match interruption guidelines due to Covid-19 protocol in the Cyclone program.


Iowa State will have a break before returning to the mat for Big 12 Championship, March 6-7, in Tulsa, Okla.

Utah Valley press release


OREM, Utah - The Utah Valley University wrestling team will send a contingent of grapplers to USAF Academy, Colorado on Saturday to take part at the USAFA Round Robin. The contest will mark the regular-season finale for the Wolverines.


The non-team scored round robin event will begin at 11 a.m. MT at Air Force's East Gym. Wrestlers from UVU, Air Force, Northern Colorado, and Wyoming are expected to compete at the tournament.


Each mat of Saturday's round robin event will be streamed live on TrackWrestling. Live results can also be followed throughout the duration of the tournament by visiting TrackWrestling.com.


The Wolverines will enter Saturday's round robin with a 2-4 overall dual record and an 0-3 clip in Big 12 Conference duals. After splitting a pair of duals against Pac-12 foes Oregon State and No. 22 Stanford two weeks ago, the Wolverines then dropped two Big 12 duals to North Dakota State and South Dakota State last Saturday. UVU first fell to the host Jackrabbits, 22-11, before falling to the Bison, 25-12, later in the day.


Four Utah Valley grapplers will enter the weekend ranked in the latest national polls. Two-time NCAA qualifiers Taylor LaMont (125) and Romero (174) lead the way by both being ranked as high as fourth in the nation in their respective weight class, while the 133-pounder Smith checks in No. 17 and 149-pounder Hunsaker is ranked 28th. Behind Romero's 12-0 season record, LaMont too is undefeated at 6-0, while Smith follows at 7-2 and Hunsaker is 7-5. As a team, UVU will enter the weekend ranked 17th on the latest InterMat Tournament Ranking, 24th on the TrackWrestling Tournament poll and 29th on the WIN Magazine Tournament poll.


Air Force will enter Saturday's round robin event with a 2-5 overall dual record and a 2-5 clip in Big 12 Conference competition. The Falcons also competed in dual competition against North Dakota State last weekend and fell by a score of 28-19. UVU and Air Force were originally scheduled to face each other last weekend in South Dakota but decided to hold off until this weekend at the USAFA Round Robin.


Air Force is expected to have 26 grapplers in action on Saturday. Of the group, six are currently nationally ranked in No. 13 Jared Van Vleet (133), No. 18 Lenny Petersen (141), No. 20 Wyatt Hendricksen (285), No. 26 Cody Surratt (174), No. 28 Jake Thompson (184) and No. 32 Cody Phippen (125).


Northern Colorado will travel to USAF Academy, Colorado on Saturday with a 4-2 overall dual record and a 3-2 clip in Big 12 Conference competition. The Bears last had their trip to Ames, Iowa canceled last weekend but prior to that picked up a 30-10 win over Fresno State at home on Feb. 6. UNC previously pulled out a tightly contested 19-16 dual over UVU on Jan. 8 in Orem.


UNC is anticipated to send 17 grapplers to the round robin event on Saturday. Of the group, seven are currently nationally ranked in No. 5 Andrew Alirez (149), No. 14 Mosha Schwartz (133), No. 17 Dalton Robertson (285), No. 22 Alan Clothier (184), No. 23 Jacob Seely (197), No. 27 Jackson Hemauer (174) and No. 32 Chris Sandoval (141).


Wyoming will enter Saturday with a 5-3 overall dual record and a 3-1 clip in Big 12 duals. The Cowboys last crowned four champions at Oklahoma State's Cowboy Challenge last weekend in Stillwater. Jacob Wright (157), Hayden Hastings (174), Tate Samuelson (184) and Stephen Buchanan (197) combined to go 11-0 last weekend on their way to each bringing home titles for the Pokes.


Wyoming has not yet released what wrestlers it is planning on sending to Air Force on Saturday but currently has seven grapplers nationally ranked in No. 6 Buchanan (197), No. 7 Samuelson (184), No. 9 Hastings (174), No. 15 Wright (157), No. 15 Brian Andrews (285), No. 16 Job Greenwood (133) and No. 31 Cole Moody (165).


The Wolverines will next head to Tulsa, Oklahoma on March 6-7 for the 2021 Big 12 Wrestling Championships. There, UVU will look to qualify as many grapplers as it can for the 2021 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships. In 2019, Romero became Utah Valley's first Big 12 champion by winning the 165-pound weight class.