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OREM — A member of the Utah Valley University wrestling team who has received several athletic and academic honors has been charged with raping a woman at a music festival in Wasatch County.
Dayton Lee Racer, 22, of Orem, was charged this week in 4th District Court with rape, a first-degree felony.
On June 24, a woman was attending the Bonanza Campout Music Festival near Heber City when she and some friends went into Racer's tent. She said she drank alcohol and took Ecstasy but told Racer she did not want to have sexual intercourse, according to a Wasatch County sheriff's report filed in court.
The next thing the woman said she remembered was waking up in the morning to Racer raping her, the report states.
A deputy attempted several times to contact Racer.
"The first time I spoke with him he hung up on me," the report states. "He did not answer after that."
Police say Racer later called them and said he wanted his attorney present before speaking with detectives.
Racer, who is originally from St. Genevieve, Missouri, was a four-time state finalist and two-time state champion in Missouri. He was also a senior national high school champion before winning an National Junior College Athletic Association national championship while wrestling at Iowa Central Community College during his freshman year in 2017. He then went on to wrestle the 2017-18 campaign at Clackamas Community College in Oregon before deciding to transfer to UVU.
Racer is a two-time junior college dean's list honoree and will compete at 157 pounds for UVU, where he transferred to earlier this year.
