It’s been a pretty good year for UVU freshman wrestler Haiden Drury.

The 133-pound wrestler heads into the final home dual match of the season against Big 12 foes Wyoming and No. 13 Missouri at the Lockhart Arena in Orem on Saturday with a solid 14-4 record.

He is ranked 13th in his weight class in the most recent NCAA Coaches’ Panel ranking and 15th in the latest InterMat and FloWrestling rankings.

“It’s been really eye opening,” Drury said in an interview on Thursday. “Last year with the COVID stuff I was really limited on the stuff I could do. This year, the season has really opened up and I’ve been allowed to go to tournaments and stuff. ‘ve been trying to take advantage of that, so it’s been pretty good.”

But Drury’s successes become even more impressive when you consider that just over a year ago, he found himself in wrestling limbo.

“I committed to Fresno State during my senior year in high school,” Drury said. “I arrived their in August of 2020 but I think it was in November that they cut the program. It was shocking. I think everyone was shocked. It was pretty devastating for everyone.”

One of the coaches for the Bulldogs was former Springville wrestling star Jason Chamberlain.

“Being at Fresno was hard just because that community really, really loves wrestling,” Chamberlain said. “There are kids in that community that were planning their whole life to wrestle at Fresno State and now you take that away and they’re going to have to go to another school. I know there’s a lot of decisions that are made and there’s a lot that goes into it. I know all the universities have been hurting financially just through the COVID situation. But I’m an advocate for wrestling. It’s been my life my pretty much my whole life so anytime a program drops it’s going to hurt just the whole wrestling community. So it’s tough.”

He said there was talk about how Fresno State might reinstate the program but he didn’t want the wrestlers stuck if things didn’t work out.

“As a coach who cares about the guys, you don’t want them to miss out on an opportunity,” Chamberlain said. “I was pretty vocal about trying to help the guys get new places to go. Now we’ve got Fresno State wrestlers all over the country, many of which are doing really well.”

Chamberlain had an opportunity to join Greg Williams and the Wolverine coaching staff, and Drury chose to come to UVU as well.

“I went in the transfer portal and tried to keep my options open,” Drury said. “It’s different here than Fresno but it reminds me of home (in Washington). I’ve got good training partners and I like the coaching staff. Having the connection with Chamberlain has been good as well.”

Chamberlain said Drury is the type of wrestler who will thrive wherever he is at.

“He’s just a really really good kid who works really hard,” Chamberlain said. “He’s really quiet. He just does what you tell him to do. He’s like the athlete that a coach always dreams about because he just doesn’t ever talk back. He’ll do anything for you to try to win matches.”

Williams said Drury has been an excellent addition to the program.

“Our first hope was that he could come and be comfortable because this isn’t where he chose to go at first,” Williams said. “I think he’s happy here and things are going well. We are super-excited to have him. He has a great work ethic and is very focused. He takes care of business but his ceiling is super-high. He has so much room to improve but he is competing at a very high level early on in his career.”

Drury said his on-the-mat highlight this year was at the Cliff Keen Invitational in Las Vegas in December (where he took third) but said it was just one step toward achieving some big goals.

“I’m looking at being an All-American this year,” Drury said. “That’s obviously the goal. I want to be a national champ eventually but realistically I can be an All-American this year. I just need to fix a few things here and there.”

Williams said Drury has the athleticism to reach those goals but will face tough competition down the road.

“Right now my biggest concern with where he will end up is that he has a few things that he likes a lot that other schools will scout,” Williams said. “He needs to continue to grow. The biggest difference in years to come is adding things that are harder to scout against, so it will be harder to wrestle him.”

Chamberlain said he loves seeing Drury aim high.

“If you aren’t shooting for a national championship in college wrestling, you’re wasting your time,” Chamberlain said. “You don’t just participate. You’re trying to win. I know Haiden has those goals.”

Drury said he looks forward to being a part of a young but talented UVU squad for years to come.

“I think you could expect us to be on top in the next few years,” Drury said. “We still have a lot of guys growing and figuring things out themselves. Once we get it all together, I think we will be pretty solid.”

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