Nov.
21, 2004: Deseret Morning News
UVSC Drops Three Matches
by Drew Daniels
For the Deseret Morning News
OREM — The Utah Valley State College
wrestling team came up against some major competition
Saturday as it hosted national powerhouse Iowa State, the
No. 5 team in the nation, as well as Boise State and Adams
State in the Wolverine Duals at the Activity Center.
The Wolverines struggled throughout the
day and ended up dropping all three of their matches.
Adams State defeated UVSC 22-19 in its first match of the
day. Boise State handed the Wolverines a 30-12 loss before
Iowa State dropped them 24-9.
"Against Iowa State, we fought, but we
just got beat by a better team," said coach Cody
Sanderson. "That is a tough team. If Oklahoma State wasn't
so stacked this year, I would say they're the number one
team in the country."
Iowa State looked like the top-ranked team
that it is as the Cyclones dominated the Wolverines in all
but two matches. UVSC's two wins were by Matt Ripplinger (ISU
forfeit) and Talon Vickers who won his second match of the
day in a tough battle with ISU's Ben Hanisch, 5- 3.
"Talon Vickers in the last few months has
really made a lot of improvement," said Sanderson. "He's
had some struggles personally, but he came back and he's
doing a great job."
Coach Sanderson's brother, Cael, was in
attendance as a new assistant coach for ISU. Cael won an
Olympic Gold Medal in the Athens Olympics over the summer.
"It was fun," said Cael. "I was looking
forward to watching Cody and see how he's doing as a
coach."
UVSC's best opportunity for a win was
against the Division II, Adams State, in its first match
of the day, but the Wolverines came out flat. "We wrestled
terrible," said Sanderson. "It was the worst performance
I've seen here as a coach. I don't know what happened. I'm
going to take the videotape and throw it in the garbage."
Despite the team loss against Adams State, Ivan Bigney
(184), Darren Cooper 197), Dugan Wightman (Heavyweight),
and Talon Vickers (125) all came away winners in their
weight classes.
"The guys came back against Boise State
and wrestled well," said Sanderson. "I was really happy."
Against Boise State, Darren Harris,
Clayton Wolf, and Tanner Cowan all came away with wins in
the 174, 141, and 157 pound weight classes, respectively.
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