AKRON, Ohio-This past weekend, a pair of Utah Valley wrestlers excelled at the 2018 UWW Cadet and U-23 nationals. Both placing on the podium for the Wolverines were Tate Orndorff and Kimball Bastian.
Orndorff, a freshman out of Spokane, Wash., led the way by wrestling his way to a pair of podium finishes, earning the runner-up finish at 130 kilos and placed fourth at 125 kilos in the U-23 freestyle event.
Orndorff was 3-1 in the U-23 Greco-Roman tournament, earning a second-place finish as well.
Bastian, a sophomore from Mapleton, Utah, earned a place on the podium in the U-23 freestyle competition with a third place finish at 79 kilos. His sole loss in the tournament came at the hands of David McFadden of Virginia Tech, suffering a 6-2 defeat in the semifinals to the Hokies’ standout.
Among Bastian’s attainments at this tournament were a pair of victories over Oklahoma State’s Joe Smith, a multiple times All-American for the Cowboys.
