Mortimer, who competes for Grand Valley State, came into the tournament with a 18-1 record and earned the second seed. McKendree University out of Lebanon, Illinois won the tournament as Iowa was second. Grand Valley State finished fourth.

Mortimer (110 pounds) won her first three bouts by technical fall before losing to top seed Audrey Jimenez of Lehigh by fall.

Several Utah County male wrestlers competed in the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) National Championships in Omaha, Nebraska.

Western Wyoming out of Rock Springs placed second to Indian Hills out of Ottumwa, Iowa. Trevyn Gates, who won a state title Pleasant, placed second at 197 pounds for the Mustangs. His teammate Parker Ballantyne, who prepped at Westlake, placed fifth at 141 pounds while former Maple Mountain and Pleasant Grove wrestler Hixon Canto placed seventh earning, All-American Status helping Western Wyoming’s cause.

Colton Theobald (165), who won three state titles competing for Payson, placed third for North Idaho College.

At the NJCAA Women’s Nationals, former Maple Mountain wrestler Kaylee Young placed fourth at 117 pounds while Inaily Samantha, who prepped at Cedar Valley placed sixth at 138 pounds.

Two valley wrestlers competed at the NJCAA Women’s Championships for Snow College. Jamie Barton (110), who wrestled at Westlake, and former Maple Mountain wrestler Lily Lake (124) took part but neither placed. The Badgers did place sixth as a team out of 29 programs that qualified wrestlers. Their head coach Ross Taylor led the Mountain View boys program for several years.

At the Big 12 Championships hosted in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Utah Valley qualified three wrestlers for the NCAA Division I Championships which will be held March 19-21 in Cleveland, Ohio.

Placing third at 149 pounds was David Evans. His Wolverine teammates Haiden Drury (141) and Caleb Uhlenhopp (184) also punched their tickets to the big tournament by placing seventh.

Utah Valley finished tied for 11th with the Air Force Academy out of 14 competing teams. Oklahoma State won the tournament while Iowa State and Arizona State placed second and third respectively.

At the Big 10 championships held at State College, Penn,, home-standing Penn State is simply dominating the competition. Going into Sunday’s competition, the Nittany Lions clinched the team title by putting eight wrestlers in the championship finals while all 10 of their roster will qualify for the NCAA Championships. Penn State is coached by former Wasatch 4-time state champion Cael Sanderson, who is seeking his 13th team title as the head coach of the Nittany Lion program.

Nebraska’s Brock Hardy, who won the Big 10 title last year at 141 pounds, made the championship finals against top-ranked Jesse Mendez of Ohio State. Hardy was a 4-time state champion at Box Elder High School. In his semifinal bout, Hardy defeated Minnesota’s Vance Vombaur, whose father Ben coached Wasatch winning back-to-back state titles in 2005 and 2006 before moving to Colorado.