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A UVU wrestler has been suspended after being charged with rape

A Utah Valley University wrestler has been charged with rape and suspended from the team.

Dayton Lee Racer, 22, has been charged with first-degree felony rape after a 20-year-old woman reported on June 24 that he sexually assaulted her at the Bonanza Campout Music Festival at River’s Edge Resort in Heber.

According to the probable cause statement, the woman told police she was attending the event with friends when she entered Racer’s tent. She told him “multiple times that she was not there for anything sexual.” She said the two of them took the drug Molly and drank alcohol, and “the next thing she remembered was waking up in the tent in the morning” with Racer sexually assaulting her.

A UVU spokesman confirmed that Racer is a student there and joined the wrestling team this season. He spent the previous two seasons wrestling at Iowa Central Community College, where he won a NJCAA national championship in 2017, and Oregon’s Clackamas Community College.

UVU said in a statement that Racer has been suspended from the team, adding, “We are aware of the allegations, but can’t comment on a pending investigation.”

Racer’s initial court appearance is scheduled for Nov. 7.

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