In what many consider the top early tournament in collegiate wrestling, Onufer placed third at 165 pounds this past weekend at the 28th Annual Las Vegas Invitational. In doing so, he beat All-American Andy Rendos from Bucknell twice. Onufer finished the tournament with a 5-1 record, 14-4 so far this year, and helped the Wyoming team to a 10th-place finish in the stacked field.
On Friday, Onufer opened the event with a major decision victory over Cody Hutcheson from Cornell. He then beat P.J. Gillespie from Hofstra (4-1), setting up a quarterfinal bout with No. 6-ranked and the event's No. 2-seed Rendos. Onufer knocked off Rendos by a score of 5-3 to advance to Saturday's semifinals.
He then lost by a slim margin in the semifinals to No. 8 Colt Sponseller from Ohio State (6-4), before winning two straight to finish the tournament. He beat Gillespie again by a score of 3-2, before getting his second victory in as many days over 2009 All-American Rendos in the consolation final. Onufer was aggressive from the start and stuck Rendos' shoulders to the mat at 2:15 in the first period to bring his weekend to an exciting end.
The Western Wrestling Conference is comprised of seven schools including the Air Force Academy, North Dakota State, Northern Colorado, Northern Iowa, South Dakota State, Utah Valley and Wyoming.
Other Nominees:
Air Force - Derek Gillespie, Jr., 141 lbs., Chesapeake, Va. (Great Bridge)
Northern Colorado - Justin Gaethje, Jr., 157 lbs., Safford, Ariz. (Safford HS)
Utah Valley - Flint Ray, Jr., 133 lbs., Roy, Utah (Roy HS)
,b>2009-2010 WWC Standings
Utah Valley 3-0 1.000
UNI 3-3 .500
Wyoming 1-1 .500
South Dakota State 1-5 .167
Air Force 0-0 .000
North Dakota State 0-0 .000
Northern Colorado 0-4 .000
2009-10 WWC Wrestlers of the Week
Nov. 10 – Tyler Sorenson (South Dakota State)
Nov. 17 – Michael Martinez (Wyoming)
Nov. 24 – Ben Kjar (Utah Valley)
Dec. 1 – Kenny Hashimoto (Northern Colorado)
Dec. 8 – Shane Onufer (Wyoming)
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