Utah Valley - Tolbert leads UVU with sixthplace finish at Reno TOC RENO, Nev. Utah Valley University 125-pound senior Chasen Tolbert led the way for the Wolverine wrestling team on Sunday by placing sixth in his weight class at the 21st annual Reno Tournament of Champions. Tolbert wrestled his way to a 3-2 record on Sunday en route to earning a spot on the Reno TOC's podium. After opening the tournament -- which is dubbed as the "toughest tournament in the USA" -- with back-to-back shutout victories in his first two bouts, Tolbert advanced to the semifinals with a 6-3 decision over Eastern Michigan's Armando Torres in his quarterfinal match. The Wolverine senior, who entered the competition as the top seed at 125 pounds and is currently ranked 11th nationally, then suffered his first setback of the tournament with a 11-9 sudden victory defeat to the fourthseeded freshman from Oklahoma State Nick Piccinnini. With Piccinnini holding to a late 9-7 advantage at the end of regulation, Tolbert managed to force overtime with a last-second escape coupled with a riding time point to send the contest to sudden victory. Piccinnini then managed to take the semifinal bout, however, with a quick takedown in the first sudden victory frame to drop Tolbert to the consolation semifinals. In the consolation semis, Tolbert then matched up with a familiar foe in North Dakota State's Josh Rodriguez who is currently ranked 14th in the country and entered the Reno TOC seeded second in his weight class. With Tolbert trailing 4-1 late in the opening period, the official stopped the bout and declared Rodriguez the winner as he took the contest via injury default to send the Wolverine senior into the fifth-place match. Tolbert then dropped the fifth-place bout by medical forfeit to Clackamas' Michael Knoblauch to finish the tournament with a sixth-place finish. Redshirt sophomore Jarod Maynes too wrestled well for the Wolverines at Sunday's tournament by tallying a 3-2 record at pounds. Following a 5-4 decision over Colorado Mesa's Brett Kasprzyk and a 2-0 setback to the No. 3 seed from CSU Bakersfield Ian Nickell, Maynes then responded with a pair of consecutive falls in the consolation bracket to face the No. 4 and 2015 NCAA qualifier Mitch Bengston of North Dakota State. In a tightly contested bout, Bengston managed to get the best of Maynes in the end by a score of 4-2. Utah Valley heavyweights Dustin Dennison and Jordan Karst also fared well for the Wolverines on Sunday as each compiled identical 2-2 records.
Both won their first two matches before dropping their final two against tough opponents. In his season debut, junior Trevor Willson also put up a 2-2 record for UVU at pounds, while Tyler Scott (125 pounds), Matthew Ontiveros (149), Raider Lofthouse (157) and Will Sumner all went 1-2, and senior 197-pounder Derek Thomas finished 1-1 after having to take a medical forfeit in the final match on Sunday. True freshman Grant LaMont, who competed unattached at Sunday's tournament, too had a strong showing at the 2015 Reno TOC by putting up a 4-2 record at 149 pounds with two of his four victories coming by fall. As a team, UVU placed 15th out of 27 teams with a total of 29.5 points. Also in action over the weekend, Wolverine assistant coach Erkin Tadzhimetov had an impressive outing himself at the U.S. Senior Nationals in Las Vegas, Nevada, as he placed fourth at 57 kilos to earn a spot at the U.S. Olympic Trials in April. The unseeded former UVU standout grappler went 5-2 with four wins over seeded foes en route to his fourth-place finish. After suffering an opening round loss, Tadzhimetov then managed to string together a five-match winning streak, which included three by technical fall and one by fall. Utah Valley will now be off for the holiday break but will return to action on Jan. 9 for the ninth annual UVU Open. Following the UVU Open, the Wolverines will return to dual competition the following weekend at Stanford (Jan. 15) and CSU Bakersfield (Jan. 16). 2015 Reno Tournament of Champions Results 125 Round of 32: #1 Chasen Tolbert (UVU) over Mikel Perales (Arizona St.), TF 16-0 (2:58) Round of 16: #1 Chasen Tolbert (UVU) over Troy Lakin (Menlo), Dec. 6-0 Quarterfinals: #1 Chasen Tolbert (UVU) over Armando Torres (EMU), Dec. 6-3 Semifinals: #4 Nick Piccinnini (OK State) over #1 Chasen Tolbert (UVU), Dec. 11-9 (SV-1) Conso. Semis: #2 Josh Rodriguez (NDSU) over #1 Chasen Tolbert (UVU), Inj. Default 5th-Place Match: Michael Knoblauch (Clackamas) over #1 Chasen Tolbert (UVU) M. For. 125
Round of 32: Quintel Fuchs (MSU Northern) over Tyler Scott (UVU), MD 13-2 Conso. Round of 16 #1: Tyler Scott (UVU) over Kyle Anderson (CSUB), Dec. 8-4 Conso. Round of 16 #2: Sergio Mendez (CSUB) over Tyler Scott (UVU), Dec. 11-8 Round of 32: Jarod Maynes (UVU) over Brett Kasprzyk (Colo. Mesa), Dec. 5-4 Round of 16: #3 Ian Nickell (CSUB) over Jarod Maynes (UVU), Dec. 2-0 Conso. Round of 16 #2: Jarod Maynes (UVU) over Sean Cannon (UNC), Fall 6:17 Conso. Round of 8 #1: Jarod Maynes (UVU) over Trevor Willson (UVU), Fall 5:55 Conso. Round of 8 #2: #4 Mitch Bengston (NDSU) over Jarod Maynes (UVU), Dec. 4-2 Round of 32: #1 Bryce Meredith (Wyoming) over Trevor Willson (UVU), MD 14-1 Conso. Round of 16 #1: Trevor Willson (UVU) over Trevor Hancock (Southern Ore.), MD 10-1 Conso. Round of 16 #2: Trevor Willson (UVU) over Mitchell Friedman (NDSU), Dec. 3-2 Conso. Round of 8 #1: Jarod Maynes (UVU) over Trevor Willson (UVU), Fall 5:55 Round of 32: Devin Poppen (Southern Ore.) over Bracken Nipko (UVU), Fall 1:40 Conso. Round of 32: Izaak Tobin (Oregon St.) over Bracken Nipko (UVU), Dec. 12-6 149 Round of 64: Christopher Garcia (Clackamas) over Matthew Ontiveros (UVU), Dec. 10-9 Conso. Round of 32 #2: Matthew Ontiveros (UVU) over Ryan Nantuna (Arizona St.), Fall 2:11 Conso. Round of 16 #1: #6 Coleman Hammond (CSUB) over Matthew Ontiveros (UVU), TF 16-0 (2:54) 149 Round of 64: Alex Butler (Missouri) over Brayden Humpherys (UVU), Dec. 3-2
Conso. Round of 32 #2: Branson Ashworth (Wyoming) over Brayden Humpherys (UVU), MD 10-2 157 Round of 64: Blake Kastl (Cal Poly) over Raider Lofthouse (UVU), Dec. 6-3 Conso. Round of 32 #2: Raider Lofthouse (UVU) over Jacob Thalin (CSUB), MD 15-5 Conso. Round of 16 #1: Jacob Danishek (Indiana) over Raider Lofthouse (UVU), Dec. 8-4 165 Round of 32: Joseph Jauregui (Menlo) over Kieffer Taylor (UVU), Dec. 8-3 Conso. Round of 16 #1: Chaz Polson (Wyoming) over Kieffer Taylor (UVU), Fall 2:52 174 Round of 32: #5 Ben Stroh (Wyoming) over Ross Taylor (UVU), Dec. 6-3 Conso. Round of 16 #1: Austin Dewey (Boise St.) over Ross Taylor (UVU), Dec. 10-4 184 Round of 32: Will Sumner (UVU) over Ryan Anderson (Cal Poly), MD 10-2 Round of 16: #2 Austin Severn (CMU) over Will Sumner (UVU), Dec. 10-3 Conso. Round of 16 #2: Danny Hicks (Illinois) over Will Sumner (UVU), Dec. 8-6 197 Round of 32: #3 Derek Thomas (UVU) over Nate Shaw (Wyoming), Fall 4:25 Round of 16: Preston Weigel (OK State) over #3 Derek Thomas (UVU), Inj. Default Conso. Round of 16 #2: Boomer Fleming (Stanford) over #3 Derek Thomas (UVU), M. For. 197 Round of 32: #5 John Morin (Clackamas) over Aryton Almberg (UVU), MD 8-0 Conso. Round of 16 #1: Augie Desantis (CSU Pueblo) over Aryton Almberg (UVU), Fall 7:00 285 Round of 32: Dustin Dennison (UVU) over Taylor Kornoely (MSU Northern), MD 14-6 Round of 16: Dustin Dennison (UVU) over Cortes Morales (Cal Poly), MD
8-0 Quarterfinals: #3 Tanner Harms (Wyoming) over Dustin Dennison (UVU), Dec. 7-3 Conso. Round of 8 #2: Matt Williams (CSUB) over Dustin Dennison (UVU), MD 9-0 285 Round of 64: Jordan Karst (UVU) over James Millea (Oregon St.), Dec. 10-3 Round of 32: Jordan Karst (UVU) over Steven Wood (CSUB), Dec. 7-2 Round of 16: Adam Robinson (CMU) over Jordan Karst (UVU), Dec. 11-7 Conso. Round of 16 #2: Gage Hutchison (EMU) over Jordan Karst (UVU), Dec. 5-2 125 (Unattached) Round of 32: Brian Rossi (Stanford) over Josh Temple (UVU), Fall 1:45 Conso. Round of 16 #1: Mason Sauseda (Simpson) over Josh Temple (UVU), Fall 6:55 (Unattached) Round of 32: Chase Call (UVU) over Hans Rockwell (Oregon St.), Fall 1:32 Round of 16: #5 Tristen Moran (OK State) over Chase Call (UVU), Fall 0:59 Conso. Round of 16 #2: Jake Valarde (Boise St.) over Chase Call (UVU), Dec. 3-2 149 (Unattached) Round of 64: Grant LaMont (UVU) over Killian Vendler (Cal Poly), Fall 0:54 Round of 32: Jake Elliott (Wyoming) over Grant LaMont (UVU), Fall 6:21 Conso. Round of 32 #2: Grant LaMont (UVU) over Tanner Canaday (Southern Ore.), Fall 1:23 Conso. Round of 16 #1: Grant LaMont (UVU) over Ben Griffin (EMU), Dec. 3-2 Conso. Round of 16 #2: Grant LaMont (UVU) over #9 Christian Pagdilao (Arizona St.), M For. Conso. Round of 8 #1: #6 Coleman Hammond (CSUB) over Grant LaMont (UVU), Dec. 6-2 JamesWarnick Utah Valley University