Dec. 5, 2008
TEMPE - Two of Arizona State University’s wrestlers advanced to the semifinals and another remains in contention to place among the Top 8 individually as the first day of action at the 27th Cliff Keen/Las Vegas Invitational came to a close Friday night inside the Las Vegas Convention Center in Las Vegas, Nev. Team scores were not available for the first day of the competition.
At 125 pounds, Anthony Robles, the tournament’s No. 2 seed and the No. 8 nationally ranked competitor, made short work of his first two opponents, needing a combined 1:42 to win twice. Robles opened the day with a pin of Ryker Vandertoolen (Western Wyoming) at 1:10 before moving on to pin Wes Fike (Indiana) in a season-best 32 seconds. In the quarterfinals, Robles knocked off seventh-seeded Frank Perrelli (Cornell) and will now battle sixth-seeded Zachery Sanders (Minnesota) in the semifinals on Saturday morning.
Although not as quickly, Chris Drouin also moved through to the semifinals at 141 pounds by winning three bouts on the day as well. The tournament’s No. 4 seed and the No. 4 nationally ranked wrestler opened his tournament with a 7-3 decision over Jeff Newby (Utah Valley State) before scoring a 4-0 decision over 13th-seeded Chris Daiz (Virginia Tech). In the quarterfinals, Drouin dispatched of 12th-seeded Seth Ciasulli (Cornell) and will now take on ninth-seeded and 20th-ranked Corey Jantzen (Harvard), who upset the weight class’ top-seed, in the semifinals.
Vicente Varela is the third Sun Devil remaining in the tournament as the unseeded entrant at 149 pounds has built a 3-1 record in his first collegiate tournament. After opening the tournament with a 6-2 decision over Grant Daffin (Cornell) in the second round, Varela dropped a 20-5 technical fall to top-seed and third-ranked Darrion Caldwell (NC State) in the third round. In the consolation bracket, Varela opened with a 5-3 decision over conference foe Sam Barnhart (CS Bakersfield) before taking down Chase Smith (Wyoming), 6-1. Varela will face seventh-seeded and 10th-ranked Matt Kyler (Army) on Saturday with the winner assuring his place among the Top 8 in the event.
Three of ASU’s wrestlers won at least two bouts on the day before bowing out of the tournament, including Kyle DeBerry (165), Eric Starks (174) and Jake Meredith (184). DeBerry opened the day with a 5-2 loss to 12th-seeded Paul Young (Indiana) before running off three wins in a row in the consolation rounds. He first stopped Joey Granata (CS Bakersfield), 12-6, before pinning Zach Sevar (San Francisco State) in 6:33. For the second time on the day, a Sun Devil needed less than one minute to pin a foe, this time with DeBerry sticking Thad Zempel (Western Wyoming) in 38 seconds. DeBerry was eliminated with an 11-0 major decision to 13th-seeded Ethan Headlee (Pittsburgh).
Starks won his first two bouts of the day, including a 5-4 decision over Anthony Trongone (Virginia Tech) and 6-1 decision over Jacob Burge (NC State), before falling to third-seeded and 11th-ranked Kurt Brenner (West Virginia), 9-2. Starks rebounded with a 6-4 decision in the tie-breaker over Ryan DesRoches (Cal Poly) before being eliminated by Shane Riccio (Bucknell) in a 7-0 decision.
Meredith dropped a 4-2 decision to unseeded Joe Leblanc (Wyoming), who has advanced to the semifinals, before winning a 6-3 decision over Kenny Moenkediak (North Dakota State). He followed that with a 5-2 decision victory over Eric Begenhagen (Wisconsin) before being eliminated by the same score from Eric Cameron (Indiana).
Four other Sun Devils also competed in the tournament, but went 0-2 on the day and were bounced from the event. Those competitors included Orlando Jimenez (133), Jerrad Trulson (157), Thor Moen (197) and Anthony Morales (285), who was making his collegiate debut.
Action continues in Las Vegas on Saturday.
Arizona State at the 27th Cliff Keen/Las Vegas Invitational
Day One (Friday, December 5) Results - ASU Only
##/## indicates tournament seeding/national ranking
125 - #2/#8 Anthony Robles (3-0)
1st Round - Robles BYE
2nd Round - Robles pinned Ryker Vandertoolen (W. Wyoming), 1:10
3rd Round -Robles pinned Wes Fike (Indiana), 0:32
Quarters - Robles decision #7/nr Frank Perrelli (Cornell), 8-6
Semifinal - Robles vs. #6/nr Zachery Sanders (Minnesota)
133 - ns/nr Orlando Jimenez (0-2, DNP)
1st Round - Jimenez BYE
2nd Round - #3/#9 Andrew Hochstrasser (Boise State) major Jimenez, 8-0
Conso 3rd - Whitt Dunning (Army) decision Jimenez, 6-3
141 - #4/#4 Chris Drouin (3-0)
1st Round - Drouin BYE
2nd Round - Drouin decision Jeff Newby (Utah Valley St.), 7-3
3rd Round - Drouin decision #13/nr Chris Daiz (Virginia Tech), 4-0
Quarters - Drouin decision #12/nr Seth Ciasulli (Cornell), 7-3
Semifinal - Drouin vs. #9/#20 Corey Jantzen (Harvard)
149 - ns/nr Vicente Varela (3-1)
1st Round - Varela BYE
2nd Round - Varela decision Grant Daffin (Cornell), 6-2
3rd Round - #1/#3 Darrion Caldwell (NC State) tech fall Varela, 20-5
Conso 4th - Varela decision Sam Barnhart (CS Bakersfield), 5-3
Conso 5th - Varela decision Chase Smith (Wyoming), 6-1
Conso 6th - Varela vs. #7/#10 Matt Kyler (Army)
157 - ns/nr Jerrad Trulson (0-2, DNP)
1st Round - Aaron Hynes (Michigan) major Trulson, 16-6
Conso 2nd - Colton Salazar (Purdue) major Trulson, 17-8
165 - ns/nr Kyle DeBerry (3-2, DNP)
1st Round - DeBerry BYE
2nd Round - #12/nr Paul Young (Indiana) decision DeBerry, 5-2
Conso 2nd - DeBerry decision Joey Granata (CS Bakersfield), 12-6
Conso 3rd - DeBerry pinned Zach Sevar (SF State), 6:33
Conso 4th - DeBerry pinned ns/NJCAA #8 Thad Zempel (W. Wyoming), 0:38
Conso 5th - #13/nr Ethan Headlee (Pittsburgh) major DeBerry, 11-0
174 - ns/nr Eric Starks (3-2, DNP)
1st Round - Starks decision Anthony Trongone (Virginia Tech), 5-4
2nd Round - Starks decision Jacob Burge (NC State), 6-1
3rd Round - #3/#11 Kurt Brenner (West Virginia) decision Starks, 9-2
Conso 4th - Starks decision Ryan DesRoches (Cal Poly), 6-4 tb
Conso 5th - Shane Riccio (Bucknell) decision Starks, 7-0
184 - ns/nr Jake Meredith (2-2, DNP)
1st Round - Meredith BYE
2nd Round - Joe Leblanc (Wyoming) decision Meredith, 4-2
Conso 3rd - Meredith decision Kenny Moenkediak (ND State), 6-3
Conso 4th - Meredith decision Eric Begenhagen (Wisconsin), 5-2
Conso 5th - Eric Cameron (Indiana) decision Meredith, 5-2
197 - ns/nr Thor Moen (0-2, DNP)
1st Round - Moen BYE
2nd Round - ns/NCAA D-II #2 Donovan McMahill (Western State) major Moen, 15-6
Conso 3rd - #5/#20 Cody Gardner (Ohio State) pinned Moen, 1:31
285 - ns/nr Anthony Morales (0-2, DNP)
1st Round - Morales BYE
2nd Round - Steve Franklin (SF State) major Morales, 8-0
Conso 2nd - Jacob Scharbrough (Wyoming) decision Morales, 7-4