MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The West Virginia University wrestling team will make its 2017-18 debut in Clarion, Pennsylvania, this weekend.
 
West Virginia will kick off its 2017-18 campaign with a neutral site match vs. Big 12 Conference foe Utah Valley on Friday, Nov. 3, at 4 p.m. ET. Following Friday's action, the Mountaineers will then compete in the Clarion Open on Sunday, Nov. 5. Live action is set to begin at 8 a.m., as wrestlers from Bloomsburg, Clarion, Cleveland State, Kent State, Lock Haven, Utah Valley and West Virginia are all expected to take part in the open tournament. The event will be streamed live on FloWrestling (for free).
 
"We're ready to go," said fourth-year coach Sammie Henson. "It was a good chance for us to wrestle Utah Valley because I found out that they were going to compete in the Clarion Duals. I thought that would be a great chance for us to get a Big 12 dual in before our first tournament."
 
The Mountaineers kicked off the preseason with a pair of wrestlers nationally ranked, as senior Jacob A. Smith and junior Zeke Moisey appeared in the top 10 of their respective weight classes. Smith appears at No. 6 according to FloWrestling and is ranked No. 7 via Intermat and Open Mat at 197 pounds. Moisey is ranked No. 7 by FloWrestling at his weight of 125 pounds. He also comes in at No. 8 in both the Intermat and Open Mat preseason polls.
 
"I love our guys," Henson added. "I love what we have been doing. They have wrestled hard all summer. We have two seniors on the team and both of them are in the lineup this year: Parker VonEgidy and Jake Smith. We also have Zeke returning, which is a huge asset to us. We are glad to have him back as a junior. Joe Wheeling and Christian Monserrat are both juniors. We have several older guys, but we also have a couple redshirt freshmen that cracked the lineup along with some true freshmen. It should be interesting to see how things pan out."
 
WVU finished the 2016-17 season with a 4-13 record and a 1-3 mark against Big 12 opponents. The Mountaineers earned their first Big 12 win in program history last season, as now-sophomore heavyweight Brandon Ngati pinned Iowa State's Joe Scanlan to claim a thrilling comeback win over the Cyclones, 22-20, on Feb. 12 inside the WVU Coliseum. Dylan Cottrell also became the first-ever WVU wrestler to win a Big 12 title, as he defeated Oklahoma State's Chandler Rogers in the 165-pound finals of the 2017 Big 12 Wrestling Championships at the BOK Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on March 5.
 
Friday's match marks the first-ever meeting between the two squads. Previously competing in the Western Wrestling Conference, Utah Valley joined five other schools as affiliate members of the Big 12 during the 2015-16 academic year. Last season marked the Wolverines' second season in the Big 12, as the squad posted a 5-6 overall dual record and a 2-3 mark in league play.
 
The Wolverines return eight starters and a total of nine letterwinners, which include 2017 Big 12 runner-up Dustin Dennison (HWT) and fellow 2017 NCAA qualifier Tanner Orndorff (197). Dennison, Orndorf and Kimball Bastian (174) enter the season nationally ranked by TrackWrestling. Dennison comes in at No. 16, while Orndorff and Bastian sit at No. 21 and No. 25, respectively.  
 
Of note, the Big 12 Conference also added Fresno State and Northern Iowa in July of 2017 as affiliate members to give the league a 12-team field. The new additions will join Air Force, Iowa State, Northern Colorado, North Dakota State, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, South Dakota State, Utah Valley, West Virginia and Wyoming.
 
Looking ahead, the Mountaineers will remain in Pennsylvania for the Clarion Open on Sunday, Nov. 5, starting at 8 a.m. ET.
 
Friday's Probable Lineup:
125: No. 7/8/8* Zeke Moisey -OR- Devin Brown (WVU) vs. Taylor LaMont (UVU)
133: Matthew Schmitt (WVU) vs. Durbin Lloren (UVU)
141: Joe Wheeling (WVU) vs. Matt Findlay -OR- Jarod Maynes (UVU)
149: Kyler Rea -OR- Christian Monserrat (WVU) vs. Grant LaMont -OR- Matthew Ontiveros (UVU)
157: Zachary Moore -OR- Ryan Lopez (WVU) vs. Raider Lofthouse (UVU)
165: Nick Kiussis (WVU) vs. Demetrius Romero -OR- Kieffer Taylor (UVU)
174: Parker VonEgidy (WVU) vs. No. 18* Kimbell Bastian (UVU)
184: Brenden McRill (WVU) vs. Gary Jantzer -OR- Will Sumner (UVU)
197: No. 6/7/7* Jake Smith -OR- Hunter DeLong (WVU) vs. No. 21* Tanner Orndorff (UVU)
HWT: Brandon Ngati (WVU) vs. No. 16* Dustin Dennison (UVU)
 
*Moisey's rankings are FloWrestling/Intermat/The Open Mat
*Smith's rankings are FloWrestling/Intermat/The Open Mat
*Bastian's ranking are from FloWrestling
*Orndorff and Dennison's are from TrackWrestling
 
For more information on the Mountaineers, visit WVUsports.com and follow WVUWrestling on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.