Dec. 2, 2011
CLIFF KEEN UPDATED BRACKETS (AFTER DAY ONE)
LAS VEGAS – Levi Cooper advanced to the semifinals and Kevin Radford advanced to the consolation quarterfinals for the Arizona State wrestling team after one day of competition at the 30th Annual Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational in Las Vegas on Friday.
As the top seed, Cooper has his worked cut out for him in the first round as he squared off against Kevin Barrett of Nebraska-Kearney (ranked No. 2 in the Division II West Region in Chris Basford’s weekly rankings). A well-timed escape plus a riding time point held off the upset as Cooper would 7-5 and advance to the Round of 16 where he squared off against Stanford’s Dan Scharer en route to a 5-0 decision.
In the quarterfinal, Cooper faced #18 Kyle Frey of Drexel – the tournament’s #8 seed – and managed a takedown with the score knotted at one with about a minute left in the match. Despite Frey’s escape that made the score 3-2, Cooper was able to hold off a several late shot attempts to take the decision and advance to tomorrow’s quarterfinal where he will face the tournament's 12th-seeded Peter Capone of Ohio State.
Cooper’s three victories increased his winning streak to 13 straight matches and increase his record to 12-1 (two of his victories came in matches that don’t count towards official records).
Levi Cooper's quarterfinal victory at the Cliff Keen Invite.
Redshirt freshman Kevin Radford bounced back from a tough loss in the first round to rip off three victories in the consolation bracket and advance to tomorrow consolation quarterfinals.
Radford dropped his first match to the No. 7 seed in #19 Ben Clymer of Hofstra to drop to the consolation bracket right of the bat. From there he would go on to a major decision over Stanford’s Spence Patrick, 14-6, before upsetting #18 Max Thomusseit, 5-2. In his final match of the day, Radford pinned Cody McAninch in 2:16 to advance to tomorrow’s consolation quarterfinals.
One of the bright spots of the day was true freshman Jacob Graham earning his first career start and being the first true freshman to start this season while filling in for senior Eric Starks at 174 pounds.. Graham went 2-2 on the day and earned his first collegiate victory after just 43 seconds with a pin of Shawn Seppala of Western Wyoming.
Graham went on to face #5 Nick Heflin of Ohio State in the round of 16 and wrestled him tough, despite the final score of 11-3. Graham stayed alive in the consolation bracket with a major of North Idaho’s Kyle Sweedman before falling on the short-side of a decision against Ryan Leblanc of Indiana to wrap up his first collegiate competition.
The competition will enter its second and final day tomorrow beginning at 9 a.m. PST. Check thesundevils.com for updates throughout the day.
Las Vegas Invite Results – Day One
#=Tournament Seed; (#)=National Ranking
David Prado - 125 Pounds - DNP
Round of 32: Prado (ASU) major Joe Barbato (Harvard), 13-2
Round of 16: #7/(#14) Michael Martinez (Wyoming) major Prado (ASU), 12-3
Conso Second: Britain Longmire (Cal Poly) dec. Prado (ASU), 5-3
Shane McGough – 133 Pounds – DNP
Round of 32: Jose Mendoza (CSUB) tech McGough (ASU), 15-0
Conso First: Sam Bauer (Northen Colorado) dec. McGough, 12-7
Nathan Hoffer – 141 pounds – DNP
Round of 32: Hoffer (ASU) major Christian Franks (Menlo), 12-3
Round of 16: #3/(#5) Michael Mangrum (Oregon State) dec. Hoffer (ASU), 9-3
Conso Second: Avery Garner (Utah Valley) pinned Hoffer (ASU), 4:05
Joel Smith – 149 pounds – DNP
Round of 32: #9 David Habat (Edinboro) tech Smith (ASU), 17-2
Conso First: Smith (ASU) dec. Joe Locksmith (Navy), 10-4
Conso Second: Justin Accordino (Hofstra) major Smith (ASU), 11-1
Victor De Jesus – 157 pounds - DNP
Round of 32: Joshua Kreimier (Air Force) dec. DeJesus (ASU), 4-2
Conso First: #3/(#14) Josh Demas (Ohio State) dec. DeJesus (ASU), 4-3
Kyle DeBerry – 165 pounds – DNP
Round of 32: Kyle Kiss (North Carolina) dec. DeBerry (ASU), 5-2
Conso First: DeBerry (ASU) dec. Cody Weishoff (Oregon State), 9-8
Conso Second: DeBerry (ASU) pinned Wilhelm Viljoen (North Idaho), 1:29
Conso Third: #6/(#20) Daniel Yates (Michigan) dec. DeBerry (ASU), 4-0
Jacob Graham – 174 pounds - DNP
Round of 32: Graham (ASU) pinned Shawn Seppala (Western Wyoming), :43
Round of 16: #2/(#5) Nick Heflin (Ohio State) major Graham (ASU), 11-3
Conso Second: Graham (ASU) major Kyle Sweedman (North Idaho), 10-2
Conso Third: Ryan Leblanc (Indiana) dec. Graham (ASU), 7-4
Kevin Radford – 184 pounds – Advances to Conso Quarters
Round of 32: #7/(#19) Ben Clymer (Hofstra) dec. Radford (Arizona State), 7-2
Conso First: Radford (ASU) major Spence Patrick (Stanford), 14-6
Conso Second: Radford (ASU) dec. #8(#18) Max Thomusseit (Pittsburgh), 5-2
Conso Third: Radford (ASU) pinned Cody McAninch (Northern Colo.), 2:16
Chace Eskam – 197 Pounds - DNP
Round of 32: Alfonso Hernandez (Wyoming) major Eskam (ASU), 15-3
Conso First: Alan Yen (Stanford) dec. Eskam (ASU), 8-1
Levi Cooper – HWT - Advances to Semifinals
Round of 32: #1/(#5) Cooper (ASU) dec. Kevin Barrett (Nebraska-Kearney), 7-5
Round of 16: #1/(#5) Cooper (ASU) dec. Dan Scherer (Stanford), 5-0
Quarterfinals: #1/(#5) Cooper (ASU) dec. #8/(#18) Kyle Frey (Drexel), 3-2