With all the hype around our wrestling team right now I thought it would be a good idea to take a look at the next event our Hokies will be taking place in. The Cliff Keen Las Vegas Open (to which I'll now be abbreviating to CKLV Open) is quite possibly one of the biggest mid-season tournaments in the country right on par with the Southern Scuffle and Midlands. This event is taking place on December 5 & 6 and with many top teams in the country being there. The participating teams(the rankings are from the NWCA/Coaches Poll) are:
Air Force
American University
Army
Arizona State University
Boise State University
Brown University
Bucknell
Cal Poly
Cal State Bakersfield
California Baptist University
Citadel
Colorado State University Pueblo
Columbia
#3 Cornell University
Grand Canyon University
Harvard University
Hofstra
Indiana
#15 Iowa State
#16 University of Michigan
#2 Minnesota
Navy
#23 NC State
#8 Nebraska
Nebraska-Kearney
Northern Colorado
#22 Northern Iowa
North Dakota State
North Idaho College
#7 Ohio State University
#19 Oklahoma
#18 Oregon State
Purdue
Rutgers University
San Francisco State University
Utah Valley University
#12 Virginia
#6 Virginia Tech
Western State Colorado University
West Virginia
Western Wyoming
Wyoming
Here's a list of some of the top wrestlers(Flowrestling Rankings) in each bracket our Hokies could face:
#4 Joey Dance: #2 Nahshon Garrett(Cornell), #6 Dylan Peters(UNI), #7 David Tera(American), #8 Josh Martinez(Air Force), #9 Tyler Cox of Wyoming, #10 Tim Lambert(Nebraska), #11 Nathan Tomasello(tOSU), #14 Josh Rodriguez(NDSU), #15 Sam Brancale(Minn), #16 Paul Petrov Bucknell), # 19 Zeke Moisey(WVU). Needless to say 125 is a pretty stacked bracket.
Kevin Norstrem: #2 Chris Dardanes(Minn), #3 Cody Brewer(OU), #6 Johnni DiJulius(tOSU), #9 Rossi Bruno(UM), #11 Earl Hall(ISU), #13 George DiCamillo(UVA), #17 Danny Sabatello(Purdue), #18 Levi Wolfensperger(UNI)
He hasn't technically been ranked yet because he hasn't made the weight but there is only one 141 better, #2 Devin Carter: #3 Nick Dardanes(Minn), #4 Stephen Dutton(UM), #7 Joe Spisak(UVA), #9 Mark Grey(Cornell), #11 Todd Preston(Harvard), #13 Anthony Abidin(Nebraska), #14 Sam Speno(NCSU), #17 Mitch Bengston(NDSU), #18 Nick Lawrence(Purdue), #19 Anthony Ashnault(Rutgers)... oh yeah #1 Logan Stieber(tOSU) expect a DC-Stieber final and don't expect it to look anything like the NCAA final except in the end result.
Sal Mastriani: #7 Chris Villalonga(Cornell), #17 Cody Ruggirello(Hofstra), #18 Ken Theobold(Rutgers), #19 Gabe Moreno(ISU)
#5 Nick Brascetta: #1 Dylan Ness(Minn), #2 James Green(Nebraska), #4 Brian Realbuto(Cornell), #6 Anthony Perrotti(Rutgers), #7 Josh Demas(tOSU), #9 Brian Murphy(UM), #13 Markus Scheidel(Columbia), #14 Justin DeAngelis(OU)
Chris Moon: #2 Nick Sulzer(UVA), #3 Michael Moreno(ISU), #4 Dylan Palacio(Cornell, #9 Taylor Massa(UM), #13 Cooper Moore(UNI), #14 Jesse Stafford(Air Force), #15 Austin Wilson(Nebraska), #17 Nick Wanzek(Minn), #19 Dakota Friesth(Wyoming)
#8 Zach Epperly: #1 Logan Storley(Minn), #2 Robert Kokesh(Nebraska), #6 Tanner Weatherman(ISU), #7 Blaise Butler(UVA), #10 Kurtis Julson(NDSU), #12 Bryce Hammond(CSUB), #13 Dominic Kastl(Cal Poly), #14 Mark Martin(tOSU), #19 Davonte Mahomes(UM), #20 Raymond Waters(ASU)
Austin Gabel: #1 Gabe Dean(Cornell), #7 Dominic Abounader(UM), #8 Kenny Courts(tOSU), #9 Blake Stauffer(ASU), #10Taylor Meeks(OSU), #13 Hayden Zillmer(NDSU), #14 Tim Dudley(Nebraska), #15 Brett Pfarr(Minn), #16 Lelund Weatherspoon(ISU), #17 Ben Stroh(Wyoming)
Jared Haught: #1 Scott Schiller(Minn), #3 Kyven Gadson(ISU), #7 Braden Atwood(Purdue), #9 Kyle Snyder(tOSU), #15 Max Huntley(UM), #16 Shane Woods(Wyoming), #17 Jace Bennett(Cornell), #18 James Fox(Harvard), #19 Bryce Barnes(Army)
#12 Ty Walz: #2 Nick Gwiazdowski(NSCU), #4 Adam Coon(UM), #9 Billy Smith(Rutgers), #10 Adam Fager(UVU), #11 Ross Larson(OU), #13 Nick Tavanello(tOSU), #15 Joe Stolfi(Bucknell), #17 Blaize Cabell(UNI), #18 Collin Jensen(Nebraska), #19 Michael Kroells(Minn)
This should be a very good preview of NCAA's and just how good the University of Minnesota truly is. Honestly I also wouldn't be surprised to see 2-3 titles brought home by our Hokies that weekend. Also a lot of UVA's starters appear to be hurt right now but may be back before Vegas so I left them out along with Ohio State's Bo Jordan and Hunter Stieber who won't be back wrestling until after the new year.
Comments
Great stuff! Thanks for digging around and putting all this up on TKP.
What is going on with the schedule this year? No national duels?
You're not really losing anything by not being there this year. If it anything it should actually help our guys come NCAA's less familiarity with their different styles can prove beneficial but it's kind of a double-edged sword in that case. Other than that you're going to see schools that probably don't belong in the conversation there this year with the likes of American, George Mason, Drexel on top of the norm that is Iowa, Cornell, OU, tOSU. Iowa does wrestle UVa in the first round though so if you want to see them get stomped for shits and giggles there is always that.
Tech wrestlers went 8-2 in the first round. Devin Carter and Sal Mastriani had pins.
Dance, Norstrem, Carter, Epperly, Haught, and Walz all made the quarters.
Dance, Carter, and Walz in the finals. Carter faces Stieber from tOSU, a rematch of last years NCAA finals match.
Team scores going in finals:
1. Minnesota 137. Three wrestlers in finals
2. VT 110. Three wrestlers in finals. We are underdogs in all 3
3. tOSU 107. One wrestler in the finals.
Dance, Carter, and Walz all take second. Epperly and Haught take fifth. Norstrem takes seventh. Mastriani and Gabel take eighth. Overall that's a damn good result for our Hokies who finished third in the Tran race behind Minnesota and Ohio State.