Rawle, Jardine Finish in Top Six at Northern Colorado Open
by Brent Johnson

Greeley, Colo. — Seven Utah Valley State wrestlers competed in their second tournament in as many days as the Wolverines had a pair of top-six finishers at the Northern Colorado Open.

Justin Rawle (149) and Brock Jardine (184) each finished in the top-six of their respective weight classes. Each weight class held an open, 32-man, double elimination bracket. Rawle was also Utah Valley's highest seeded wrestler as the two seed.

"Justin had a pretty good tournament," head coach Greg Williams said. "He is our leader and always competes well for us."

Rawle won his first three matches before that included a pin and a major decision victory before losing to eventual tournament champion Chase Walker (also a product of Utah) by a narrow decision. Rawle came back to beat Kevin Levally before losing to Josh Hensley in the third-place match.

Jardine lost (2-0) his first match to Lars Lueders before winning three consecutive matches. In his third win, Jardine pinned Sean Martinez (4:38) before losing to eventual third-place finisher Chris Kearn.

Marc Fenwick went 4-2 for the Wolverines including a pin (3:18) of Brandon Morris and a 17-7 victory over Mike O'Brien.

"Fenwick had a great tournament," Williams said. "I was also impressed by some of our young guys. Eric McAllister wrestled well. He is learning and getting better in every match."

The true freshman McAllister (197) lost to eventual third-place finisher Dustin Trego before picking up a pair of victories. McAllister finished the tournament
going 2-2. Another freshman, Dustin Olsen (157) finished 2-2 while Alex Smith (133) and Clayton Wolf (149) finished with 1-2 records at the tournament.

Due to a large number of injuries, only seven Wolverines were able to compete. Utah Valley will have a week off before traveling to Las Vegas for the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational.