The Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational has been everything that was expected and then some for all 35 teams that participated.
Round one brought a copious number of upsets at every single weight class. Every single member of the Iowa State lineup won their first match, going 10-0.
Kysen Terukina was the lone Cyclone to not move onto the Session II after going 1-2 in the tournament. The Cyclones quickly moved on from their heartbreaking duel loss to Iowa since nearly all Cyclones went 2-0 to start the tournament.
Seven Cyclones advance to quarterfinals: Third place after Session I
Iowa State’s seven quarterfinalists were the most of any team in the tournament. Those seven gave Iowa State a total team score of 41 points trailing Ohio State (46.5) and Nebraska (45).
At 133 pounds, true freshman Evan Frost continues to shine and impress. He went 3-for-3 on Friday winning convincingly 5-0, 14-3 and 16-3 respectively. He will enter Saturday battling for first place in his division.
Anthony Echemendia, Casey Swiderski, David Carr, MJ Gaitan, WIll Feldkamp and Yonger Bastida all went 2-0 to start.
Cody Chittum and Julien Broderson lost their Round of 16 matches, but advanced on the back side into Session II.
Echemendia continues to keep ‘letting it fly’ as he got another ranked win over No. 9 Cleveland Belton. He lost a close match to No. 1 Lachlan McNeil, 9-6 but is still alive for third place in his class.
Swiderski and Gaitan also go into Saturday on the back side of the bracket but look to get third place as well.
Carr enters 100-win club
The No. 1 ranked wrestler in the 165-pound bracket, David Carr, continues to stay undefeated in this early season and does not show any signs of slowing down.
He went 3-0 winning his matches 19-2, 20-3 and 15-3 respectively. He added another ranked win to his belt when he defeated No. 8 Garrett Thompson.
That signature win secured Carr’s 100th victory of his NCAA career. He is now the 39th member of the Iowa State 100-win club.
Carr will take on No. 4 Julian Ramirez of Cornell University. The winner will move on to the first-place bout. Carr looks to get his 101st and 102nd wins tomorrow and secure his first-ever Cliff Keen Invitational first-place finish.
Iowa State sits in first place after day one
Four Cyclones are still alive to win first place in their respective weight classes. Three can still win the back side of their brackets and get third place. Thanks to these seven wrestlers, Iowa State found itself sitting alone at the top of the total team points with 88.5 points.
Ohio State and Nebraska are right behind with 86 and 82.5 points each.
Frost, Carr, Feldkamp and Bastida will all try to end strong and come home in first place while Echemendia, Swiderski and Gaitan will attempt for third.
Iowa State’s best finish at this invitational came in 2014 when it finished fourth. A first-place victory this year would not only be the program’s best ever, but it would also put every other team on notice early on.
Day two of the Cliff Keen Invitational will begin at 2 p.m. Saturday, starting off with the semifinals. Coverage of the event can be streamed with FloWrestling.
