Huskers Fourth at Las Vegas Invite

Las Vegas, Nev.-Behind the solid wrestling of several Huskers, Nebraska is in fourth place with 66.5 team points after the first day of competition on Friday at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational in Las Vegas.

 

The nine Huskers competing in the tournament posted a 25-8 record on Friday, including 15 bonus-point victories. Three NU wrestlers still compete in the winner’s bracket with junior Paul Donahoe and sophomores Stephen Dwyer and Kenny Jordan. Brandon Browne, Jon May, Vince Jones and Jordan Burroughs all fell to the consolation bracket, but are still alive in the competition.

 

Leading the way for NU was Kenny Jordan, who notched four victories on the day. He began the day with a 15-0 technical fall of Columbia’s Jerome Greco, pinned Kyler Hutter of Old Dominion in 3:51 and recorded a 13-2 major decision over Rick Rappo of Penn. He earned a 2-1 decision over Filip Novachkov of Cal Poly to secure his spot in Saturday’s semifinals.

 

Not to be outdone was Dwyer, who also went 4-0 on the day. Dwyer started with two major decisions over Chris Musser of Brown and Byron Sigmon of UNC-Greensboro, 11-3 and 17-4, respectively. He ended with an 8-1 decision over Bryan Tice of Cal State-Fullerton and beat Old Dominion’s Chris Brown 9-3.

 

Donahoe, who won this tournament last year, advanced to the semifinals with three straight decisions. He notched 4-1 wins over Mitch Fenton of Rider and Jake Gonzales of OregonState and concluded the day with an 8-5 victory over Borislav Novachkov of Cal Poly.

 

Juniors Vince Jones and Brandon Browne both won their first three matches, but lost in the quarterfinals. Jones pinned his first three opponents in 52, 47 and 29 seconds, but lost a 6-4 decision in his final match of the day. Browne notched three straight major decisions, but fell into the same trap as he lost a 5-2 match to end the day.

 

Junior Robert Sanders went 2-2, picking up wins over Brandon Nice of MissouriValley and Nexi Delgado of California-Davis. Fellow junior Chris Oliver won his first match, but a minor injury forced him to withdraw from the tournament.

 

Action kicks off at 11 a.m. CT on Saturday as the Huskers seek their first team championship at the Las Vegas Invite since 2003.

 

2007 CliffKeenLas VegasInvitational
Las Vegas Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nev.
TEAMSCORES
1.OhioState ? 82

2. Missouri ? 77.5
3. Michigan ? 71.5
4. Nebraska ? 66.5
t5. Illinois ? 62.5

t5. Wisconsin ? 62.5
7. Edinboro ? 60.5
t8. Cal State-Fullerton ? 51.5
9. Pittsburgh ? 49.5
10. Penn - 44

 

Match Results
125 Pounds
Paul Donahoe (NU) by dec. over Mitch Fenton (Rider), 4-1

Paul Donahoe (NU) by dec. over Jake Gonzales (OregonState), 4-1

Paul Donahoe (NU) by dec. over Borislav Novachkov (Cal-Poly), 8-5

 

133 Pounds

Kenny Jordan (NU) by tech. fall over Jerome Greco (Columbia), 15-0

Kenny Jordan (NU) by fall over Kyler Hutter (Old Dominion), 3:51

Kenny Jordan (NU) by major dec. over Rick Rappo (Penn), 13-2

Kenny Jordan (NU) by dec. over Filip Novachkov (Cal-Poly), 2-1

 

141 Pounds

Robert Sanders (NU) by major dec. over Brandon Nice (MissouriValley), 14-2

Sal Tirico (Columbia) by dec. over #9 Robert Sanders (NU), 8-3

Robert Sanders (NU) by dec. over Nexi Delgado (Cal-Davis), 7-3

Torsten Gillespie (Edinboro) by dec. over Robert Sanders (NU), 9-7

 

149 Pounds

Jordan Burroughs (NU) by major dec. over Cody Chipperfield (Wyoming), 19-7

Jordan Burroughs (NU) by dec. over Adam Hall (BoiseState), 7-5

Lance Palmer (NU) by dec. over Jordan Burroughs (NU), 6-5

 

157 Pounds

Chris Oliver (NU) by tech. fall over Tom Timothy (Penn), 15-0

Ben Fiacco (UNC) by injury default over Chris Oliver (NU)

Justin Gaethje (Northern Colorado) by forfeit over Chris Oliver (NU)

 

165 Pounds

Stephen Dwyer (NU) by major dec. over Chris Musser (Brown), 11-3

Stephen Dwyer (NU) by major dec. over Bryron Sigmon (UNC-Greensboro), 17-4

Stephen Dwyer (NU) by dec. over Bryan Tice (Cal State-Fullerton), 8-1

Stephen Dwyer (NU) by dec. over Chris Brown (Old Dominion), 9-3

 

174 Pounds

Brandon Browne (NU) by major dec. over Ryan Johnson (Northern Colorado), 15-4

Brandon Browne (NU) by major dec. over Tyler Bernacchi (Cal-Davis), 10-1

Brandon Browne (NU) by major dec. over Bran Crudden (Brown), 24-12

John Dergo (Illinois) by dec. over Brandon Browne (NU), 5-2

 

184 Pounds

Vince Jones (NU) by fall over Tommy Spellman (Virginia Tech), 0:52

Vince Jones (NU) by fall over Charlie Gibbs (MissouriValley), 0:47

Vince Jones (NU) by fall over Ryan Goodman (North CarolinaState), 0:29

Loius Caputo (Harvard) by dec. over Vince Jones (NU), 6-4

 

285 Pounds

Jon May (NU) by dec. over Travis Ewart (MissouriValley), 8-2

Justin Dobies (North Carolina) by fall over Jon May (NU), 2:21

Jon May (NU) by fall over Brady Punt (South DakotaState), 1:10

Jon May (NU) by dec. over Jason Marshall (Ohio), 5-2