UVU's Taylor LaMont Named NCAA Wrestler of the Week

INDIANAPOLIS — With 38 percent majority from the NCAA Wrestling Twitter poll, Taylor LaMont of Utah Valley University has been named NCAA Wrestler of the Week. The 125-pound redshirt freshman rightly claimed this award after taking home the 125-pound title at last weekend's Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational.

After his impressive tournament victory in Las Vegas, LaMont has now been named the NCAA Wrestling, USA Wrestling, FloWrestling, and Big 12 Conference Wrestler of the Week.

LaMont, seeded eighth, went 6-0, including four wins over ranked opponents. LaMont's tournament run opened with pins over Harvard's Lukus Stricker and Cal Baptist's Alex Nunez.

Continuing his dominance, he then defeated No. 9 Drew Mattin of Michigan in an 8-5 dual. To finish the first day, LaMont won a 4-3 decision over the No. 1 seed and returning NCAA finalist Ethan Lizak of Minnesota.

In the following day, he proceeded to the championship match with a win over the No. 5 seed Connor Schram, an outstanding Stanford All-American. In a hard fought dual, LaMont secured the title with a 4-3 victory over No. 3 seed Sean Russell of Edinboro. The impressive performance at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational launched LaMont up to No. 6 in the nation for the 125-pound weight class by InterMat, FloWrestling and TheOpenMat.

Prior to beginning his wrestling career at UVU, LaMont was a four-time Utah High School State Champion. He went undefeated in his junior and senior seasons at Maple Mountain High School and is known as a four-time Most Outstanding Wrestling. He finished his high school career with an overall record of 244-9.

In LaMont's first year at UVU, he compiled a 20-5 record while competing unattached with title wins at both the Cowboy Open and the UVU Open by going 4-0 and 5-0, respectively. After winning the Cowboy Open in what was his first collegiate event, LaMont was given the Most Outstanding Wrestling award.

LaMont is also a five-time U.S. World Team member in Greco-Roman. In 2016, he became a Junior World bronze medalist. In his Junior Worlds trip in 2017 LaMont placed sixth at the Greco-Roman World trials, and finished in fourth at the U.S. Senior Nationals in Greco-Roman.

Currently, LaMont's record stands at 18-2 on the season, and his sixth-place ranking is the highest-ever recorded by a Wolverine.