Dec. 1, 2012
LAS VEGAS - The Arizona State University wrestling team wrapped up competition at the 31st Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational on Saturday to the tune of two third-place finishes and a seventh-place finish at the Las Vegas Convention Center.
Redshirt freshman Blake Stauffer (174) and redshirt senior Jake Meredith (197) combined for an 11-2 record overall at their respective weight classes to give ASU its two third-place finishers and help the Sun Devils to a 13th-place finish overall with 52.0 points.
Stauffer opened the day with a defensive struggle against the tournament 3-seed and nationally-ranked No. 11 Daniel Yates of Michigan. Stauffer gave up a takedown and an escape in the second after a scoreless first and could not get another takedown in the third after his escape, dropping the 3-1 decision and falling to the consolation semifinals.
There he fended off a late rally from Wisconsin' Scott Liegel to advance to the consolation finals against No. 4/No. 14 Matt Miller of Navy. However, Miller was forced to take a medical forfeit - thus giving Stauffer the victory and third place overall in the first tournament of his career as a Sun Devil.
Meredith opened the day with a 10-2 major decision over Nebraska's Caleb Kolb, 10-2 to move on to compete against Michigan's No. 6/No.15 Maxwell Huntley. There, Meredith took an early 2-0 lead and racked up two minutes of riding time in the first before Huntley took a injury default, advancing Meredith to the consolation semifinals.
In the semis, Meredith handled Ohio State's Andrew Campolattano pretty handily in an 8-2 decision to advance to a battle against conference foe Taylor Meeks of Oregon State (No. 4/No. 10).
Meredith was never really challenged in the consolation final, shutting out Meeks and posting over two minutes of riding time en route to a 7-0 victory in his return to tournament competition for ASU.
Kevin Radford took care of business to open the day, taking out Nebraska-Kearney's Mark Fiala in the opening round of consolation matches by a score of 5-3. That set up a contest against the tournament No. 5 and national No. 12 Casey Newburg of Kent State, where Radford dropped a 10-5 decision.
Radford earned a seventh place finish following a medical forfeit from Lance Brysom of West Virginia to finish the tournament with a 4-2 record and valuable team points.
Levi Cooper gave up a takedown with 10 seconds left to drop a tough 2-1 decision to Boise State's J.T. Felix and did not earn a chance to compete for a place.
The Sun Devils will now set their sites on next week's away dual against the Nebraska Cornhuskers, set to take place Saturday in Lincoln, Neb.
174 Pounds, Blake Stauffer, 5-1, THIRD PLACE
Stauffer tech fall Travis Mallo (Army), 16-0
Stauffer dec. No. 2/No. 9 Jonathan Fausey (Virginia), 6-4
Stauffer dec. George Pickett (Cornell), 6-2
No. 3/No. 11 Daniel Yates (Michigan) dec. Stauffer, 3-1
Stauffer dec. Scott Liegel (Wisconsin), 10-7
Stauffer medical forfeit No. 4/No. 14 Matthew Miller (Navy)
184 Pounds, No. 8/NR Kevin Radford, 4-2, SEVENTH PLACE
Radford dec. Kenny Courts (Ohio State), 6-4
Radford dec. Collin Wittmeyer (Army), 6-3
No. 1/No. 5 John Ihnen (Nebraska) dec. Radford, 5-4
Radford dec. Mark Fiala (Nebraska-Kearney), 5-3
No. 5/No. 12 Casey Newburg (Kent State) dec. Radford, 10-5
Radford medical forfeit Lance Brysom (West Virginia)
197 Pounds, No. 7/17 Jake Meredith, 6-1, THIRD PLACE
Meredith tech fall Devon Bradley (American), 19-2
Meredith dec. Zach Nye (Virginia), 4-2
No. 2/No. 4 Alfonso Hernandez (Wyoming) dec. Meredith 6-1
Meredith major Caleb Kolb (Nebraska), 10-2
Meredith injury default Maxwell Huntley (Michigan)
Meredith dec. No. 5/NR Andrew Campolattano (Ohio State), 8-2
Meredith dec. No. 4/No. 10 Taylor Meeks (Oregon State), 7-0
HWT, No. 3/No. 13 Levi Cooper, 2-2
Cooper dec. Donny Longendyke (Nebraska), 4-0
Levi Cooper dec. Phillip Mandzik (West Virginia), 1-0
No. 6/No. 15 Peter Capone dec. Cooper, 4-3 (2OT)
J.T. Felix (Boise State) dec. Cooper, 2-1