Preseeds Announced for Big 12 Wrestling Championship

IRVING, Texas — The preseeds have been announced for the 2022 Big 12 Wrestling Championship set to take place this weekend, March 5-6, at the BOK Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and Utah Valley has four of its 10 competing wrestlers pre-seeded in the top-eight of their respective weight class.

Reigning All-American and three-time NCAA qualifier Taylor LaMont leads the way for the Wolverines as he has been preseeded No. 2 at 125 pounds. Second-year freshman Haiden Drury is next by being preseeded sixth at 133, while freshman Jaxon Garoutte (157) and sophomore Evan Bockman (197) have both been pre-seeded eighth.

The UVU redshirt junior LaMont earned a runner-up finish at the 2021 Big 12 Championships a season ago and will enter this year with a 6-2 record on the season. Drury leads the Wolverines in 2021-22 with a 17-4 clip, while Garoutte is 6-7, and Bockman is 12-7. Six other UVU grapplers will enter the Big 12 Championships unseeded in 2021 NCAA qualifiers Ty Smith (141) and Cameron Hunsaker (149), as well as Danny Snediker (165), Kekana Fouret (174), Jacob Armstrong (184), and Chase Trussell (heavyweight).

Iowa State led the Big 12 as its entire lineup received selections, highlighted by top-seeded Ian Parker (141) and David Carr (157). Missouri, North Dakota State, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State each had nine seeds and Northern Iowa followed with eight.

Mizzou's Keegan O'Toole locked in the top seed at 165 pounds while Northern Iowa's Parker Keckeisen will wrestle as the No. 1 in the 184-pound weight class. Oklahoma State rounded up three top seeds in Daton Fix (133 pounds), Kaden Gfeller (149 pounds), and Dustin Plott (174 pounds). West Virginia's Killian Cardinale received the No. 1 selection at 125 pounds, while Wyoming's Stephen Buchanan and Air Force's Wyatt Hendrickson were named the top seeds in the 197 and heavyweight classes, respectively.

Tickets to the Big 12 Wrestling Championship can be purchased at TicketMaster.

This is the seventh neutral-site conference championship for the sport and the sixth in Tulsa. Last year, the Oklahoma State Cowboys and Oklahoma Sooners split the title, posting 124 points each. The Wolverines posted a pair of finalists last season in LaMont and redshirt senior Demetrius Romero and Romero went on to win the second Big 12 Conference title of his career.

Big 12 Now on ESPN+ will broadcast the first three sessions of the event while the championship round will air on ESPN2 at 7 p.m. Sunday. The conference championship will get underway on Saturday at 10 a.m. MT/11 a.m. CT.