Orndorff went a perfect 3-0 on the day in his weight class to cap his opening weekend 2019-20 season with an unblemished 5-0 record.
"Tate truly dominated his matches today. He went out there and created action and opportunities, and competed from start to finish throughout the day," head UVU coach Greg Williams said. "This was a really great weekend for him and I'm very pleased with how he wrestled."
Orndorff opened his Journeymen Collegiate Classic run with a 16-3 major decision victory over Big 12 Conference foe Connor Webb of Oklahoma. He then followed that up with a 5-2 decision over 2019 All-American and third-ranked Wood of Lehigh to setup the title match against the three-time NCAA qualifier and 2017 All-American Hall of ASU. Scoreless entering the second period against Hall, the second-ranked Sun Devil got on the board first thanks to an escape point but Orndorff quickly responded by being awarded point from Hall's second stall call to tie the match at 1-1. Orndorff then took a 2-1 lead thanks to another stall call on Hall in the third and made it 3-1 after an escape. The 2019 UVU NCAA qualifier then managed to hold the lead down the stretch as he went on to win the 285A bracket with a trio of strong matches on the day.
The Journeymen Collegiate Classic title for Orndorff comes just days removed from competing for Team USA at the U23 World Greco-Roman Championships in Budapest, Hungary. The Wolverine heavyweight finished with a 1-1 outing at last week's U23 World Championships.
A total of 15 Wolverines competed in the Journeymen Collegiate Classic on Sunday and five went undefeated. Besides Orndorff's impressive run, freshmen Will Edelblute (125C), Cameron Hunsaker (141C), Nick Rino (141D), and Chase Trussell (285C) all went a perfect 3-0 en route to winning titles as well. Sophomore Gary Jantzer was also listed as winning the 184B bracket despite going 1-2.
"I thought that the tournament was also helpful for a number of our younger guys, and I was proud of Chase, Cameron, Nick and Willy for all also going undefeated," Williams added. "This was a great opportunity for all of these guys to get matches at their level under their belt. They all did a nice job of working on things to help them improve and it was great to see their confidence gaining out on the mat."
All 15 Wolverines that competed placed in the round-robin style tournament. Senior and 17th-ranked Tanner Orndorff placed second in the 184A bracket with a 1-2 outing, while junior Koy Wilkinson (165C), sophomore Isaiah Delgado (133B) and redshirt freshman Jerry Rubio (157C) also posted second-place finishes by too posting identical 1-2 records.
Redshirt freshman Jayden Woodruff (197B), sophomore Jed Loveless (157B) and Landon Knutzen (149B) followed by all placing third with respective 2-2, 1-2, and 0-3 outings, while senior and 11th-ranked Kimball Bastian placed fourth (174A) and Josiah Nava finished fifth (125B).
The tournament caps a busy weekend for the Wolverines (1-1) in which they opened dual action by splitting a pair of matches on Saturday at the Journeymen Northeast Duals. UVU first defeated Sacred Heart, 40-3, before falling to Purdue, 30-12.
Utah Valley will now return home to welcome South Dakota State and No. 7 Wisconsin to town for its first two home duals of the season in two weeks. The home opener will take place on Friday, Nov. 22 at 11 a.m. in a Big 12 Conference dual against SDSU. Due to a scheduling conflict, the contest will take place at 11 a.m. in the UCCU Center. Then on Saturday, Nov. 23, UVU will host the seventh-ranked Badgers of the Big Ten in Lockhart Arena at 1 p.m.
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