The Wolverine wrestling team ended their 2008-09 season with a win, a school record. UVU performed a classic beating against the Air Force Academy 36-6. UVU also broke the school record for the most wins in a season with 11.
The team managed to win eight of the 10 total bouts against Air Force. Three of UV’s victories came by pin fall by true freshman Adam Fager (197 lbs.), No. 19 ranked sophomore Benjamin Kjar (125 lbs.) and sophomore Flint Ray (133 lbs.).
“The guys should be proud of how they wrestled tonight and extremely proud of the season they had,” UVU wrestling coach Greg Williams said. “It was a great year for us and as a young team I feel that we have a lot of upside and that we will continue to grow. Our goal tonight was for our guys to come out in their last match and wrestle with the same intensity that we are looking to have from them every single night and feel that we accomplished that.”
Sophomore Casen Eldredge (184 lbs.) got his team going from the get-go, beating AFA’s Brett Boyce by major decision, 13-2.
“It was definitely awesome to go out with a bang,” Eldredge said. “Our team performed really well. We came out with a lot of intensity and beat a good team (that) beat us last year.”
Second match of the night Adam Fager (197 lbs.) was able to turn his opponent, at the 2:50 mark. With the win, Fager finished the season with the most wins by any Wolverine, finishing with a team-high record of 33-10.
Kjar won his match in the second period by fall, which ended his impressive 29-8 season and ranked in the nation’s top 20. Kjar also became the Wolverines all-time win leader while being only in his second year. He already has accumulated 68 total victories, 39 last year and 29 this season.
After Kjar’s win, Ray tried not to be outdone, winning his match over in the third period by fall to give Utah Valley a commanding 22-3 lead.
UVU continued dominating by winning its next four matches including junior Jeffrey Newby by major decision 12-3, sophomore Justin Morrill by major decision 14-3, freshman Jamison Moss by decision 12-6, and sophomore Jeb Clark finished the winning streak by decision, winning 9-3.
“It was our last match so we wanted to come out and make a statement. They are a close-knit group and I thought they wrestled very well. It was a great match to finish on. It was a great team effort and we are real proud of this team.”
Next year UVU will be fully NCAA certified and eligible for postseason play as Coach Williams has high hopes for his squad with the entire roster returning next season.
