2021 Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational champion Clay Carlson (Photo/Sam Janicki; SJanickiPhoto.com)Friday 12/3-Saturday 12/4
California Baptist, Northern Oklahoma, South Dakota State, Utah Valley, Wyoming at Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational, Las Vegas, NV
125-Jake Svihel-6th place
157-Jacob Wright-3rd place
174-Hayden Hastings-7th place
184-Tate Samuelson-4th place
197-Stephen Buchanan-1st place
149-Mitch Moore-6th place
157-Jusin Thomas-7th place
184-Darrien Roberts-5th place
197-Jake Woodley-4th place
141-Clay Carlson-1st place
174-Cade DeVos-4th place
285-AJ Nevills-6th place
133-Hayden Drury-3rd place
184-Jacob Armstrong-8th place
197-Evan Bockman-8th place
141-Andrew Alirez-2nd place
Air Force DEF Western Colorado 44-3
Saturday 12/4
Missouri DEF Northern Iowa 25-16
Virginia Tech DEF Northern Iowa 39-3
Virginia Tech DEF Missouri 18-16
North Dakota State DEF Augustana (S.D.) 28-10
Sam Wolf-Air Force wins Junior Pan Am Gold
Sunday 12/5
Ohio DEF West Virginia 30-9
Iowa DEF Iowa State 23-11
Best Dual: Missouri-Virginia Tech.
I hate that this seemed to not be as talked about as it should have. I think this is partially due to it being so early in the season and competing alongside the Cliff Keen finals and college football conference championships. But this was a great dual! There were big upsets on both sides, with Mizzou's Noah Surtin getting a fall at 125 and Virginia Tech getting an upset at 157. There was a down-to-the-wire match at 174, where an NCAA champion was nearly knocked off, and everything came down to HWT, where Virginia Tech's Nathan Traxler upset Mizzou's Zach Elam to win the dual for the Hokies.
Standout Performance: Clay Carlson wins Cliff Keen
On paper, this tournament looked like it could be a bit of a preview of the Big 12 at 141. It had Oklahoma who featured returning champion Dom Demas and the top two wrestlers with Clay Carlson of South Dakota State and Andrew Alirez from Northern Colorado.
Demas didn't wrestle here, but Carlson and Alirez flew the flag for the Big 12 and both knocked off a few ranked wrestlers to make the finals. Carlson was up late 8-7 in a very close match when he pinned Alirez. We haven't seen Demas yet this year, but Carlson may still be the top guy in the Big 12 at 141. Even when Demas is in top form after U23's.
Most Insane: Chaos at the end of Iowa-Iowa State
The Cy-Hawk dual had some great matchups, though it was never really in doubt that Iowa would come out with a win. The story of the dual, though, was the near melee that ensued at the end of the match. I wasn't there and the video on ESPN cut off as things were brewing, but before too much really happened, so I can't speak to what exactly went down. But both benches cleared, and some shoving started before ESPN cut away. I'm sure others that were in attendance will have some more detail on what exactly happened in the coming days.
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