Dec. 2, 2011
Day One Results
LAS VEGAS, Nev. – Four members of the Wisconsin wrestling team will continue to wrestle at the 30th annual Cliff Keen Invitational at the Las Vegas Convention Center tomorrow. No. 11 seed redshirt junior Tom Kelliher (133 lbs.), No. 4 seed senior Ben Jordan (165 lbs.), redshirt freshman Frank Cousins (174 lbs.) and No. 9 seed redshirt freshman Timmy McCall are all vying for third place after day one.
No. 6 Ohio State finished on top after day one with 69 points and No. 9 Michigan finished second with 63.5 points. Not far behind are No. 3 Cornell (61) and No. 15 Wyoming at third and fourth place, respectively.
Kelliher is still in contention for third place and wrestles Harvard’s Steven Keith tomorrow at 133 lbs. Kelliher won his first match by a 4-2 decision over Cal Poly, but then fell too Navy’s No. 6 seed Aaron Kalil, knocking him down to the consolation bracket. In the consolation bracket, Kelliher went 2-0, defeating Nebraska-Kearney’s Kazuhiro Fujinawa by a 7-3 decision and Cal State-Bakersfield’s Jose Mendoza by a 4-0 decision.
Jordan is still in contention for third place and wrestles Nebraska-Kearney’s Joey Wilson tomorrow at 165 lbs. Jordan went 2-1, defeating Oregon State’s Cody Weishoff by a 7-5 decision in the first round and North Carolina’s Kyle Kiss by a 11-0 major decision in the second. Jordan then lost to Drexel’s No. 5 Joe Booth in the quarterfinal rounds by a 3-1 sudden victory decision.
Cousins is also still competing for third place at 174 lbs. and wrestles Indiana’s No. 10 Ryan Leblanc. Couins went 2-1 on the day, defeating Kent State’s Brandonn Johnson by a 7-4 decision and upset Navy’s No. 5 seed Peter Huntley by a 5-3 decision. Cousins then fell to Michigan’s No. 4 seed Justin Zeerip by an 11-1 major decision in the quarterfinals.
McCall started out with two-straight byes and wrestles Brown’s Ophir Bernstein at 184 lbs. McCall won his first match against Pittsburgh’s No. 8 seed Max Thomusseit by an 8-4 decision in the round of 16 and then fell to Cornell’s No. 1 seed Steve Bosak by an 11-0 major decision.
Junior Shane McQuade was eliminated from competition today after going 1-2 at the Cliff Keen Invitational at 125 lbs. McQuade won his first match of the day against Northern Colorado’s Jesse Meis by an 11-6 decision, but lost to No. 4 seed Pittsburgh’s Anthony Zanetta by a 20-5 tech fall, dropping him down to the consolation bracket. McQuade then fell to Boise State’s Isaac Romero by a 9-1 major decision.
No. 8 seed redshirt sophomore Shawn Perry was also bumped out of the Cliff Keen Invitational after posting a 1-2 record at 157 lbs. Perry defeated Edinboro’s Casey Fuller in the first round by a 5-2 decision, but lost to Michigan’s No. 9 seed Brandon Zeerip by a 3-2 decision knocking him down to the consolation bracket. Perry was then eliminated from the tournament after falling to Ohio State’s No. 3 seed Josh Demas by a 5-4 decision.
Redshirt freshman Thomas Glenn is also out of the competition after losing both of his matches at 141 lbs. Glenn first lost to Navy’s No. 10 seed Nathan Pennesi by a 9-0 major decision, and was then pinned by Navy’s Raymond Borja at 4:57.
Wrestling resumes at 11 a.m. (CT) Saturday with the finals scheduled for 5 p.m. (CT). The Olympic Trials qualifier in freestyle also starts at 11 a.m. (CT).
