University of Missouri
Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational Session I
Missouri Wrestling Looks For Lady Luck
12/5/2003 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling
Dec. 5, 2003
Six Tigers will advance to the semi-finals and consolation rounds of competition tomorrow at the Las Vegas Convention Center beginning at 11 a.m. (CT), with championship finals starting at 7 p.m. (CT).
"It was a long day of competition," head coach Brian Smith said. "We won some good matches and lost some tough ones. This is a grind of a tournament, and we're using it as a measuring stick to see where we stand as a team. I know that we'll walk away from the tournament thinking of areas and ways that we can improve and prepare for the rest of the season."
With perfect records on the day, senior captains Kenny Burleson (157) and Jeremy Spates (149) along with redshirt freshman Ben Askren (174) will head back to the hotel for a night of rest before returning to the mats in the Saturday morning matchups.
Burleson of Neosho, Mo., started his day with a major decision over Trent Leichleiter of Dana College, advancing to a face-off with Matt Nagel of Minnesota. In a dual between 8th-ranked Burleson and 17th-ranked Nagel, Burleson won out with an 8-2 decision. The 157-pound wrestler found his final meeting of the day in fourth-ranked Phil Simpson of Army. In a battle to the end, Burleson won with a 7-5 decision.
Eighth-ranked Spates (Norman, Okla.) recorded two major decisions on the day over Kevin Jones (Cal-Davis, 14-5) and Deonte Penn (Edinboro, 12-4). Spates' only other match was won with a 9-2 decision over West Virginia's Mike Torriero.
Weighing in at 174-pounds is Hartland, Wis., native Askren. Askren scored one of Missouri's four pins at session one of the invitational. In a time of 1:41, Askren dropped Danny Dahl of San Francisco State before defeating Jason Tapia of Central Oklahoma in a 6-4 decision.
Chalking up four wins was junior All-American Tyron Woodley. With one loss on the day in the first round of competition to J.J. Holmes of Eastern Michigan, Woodley will face fierce competition in tomorrow's matchup at 165 pounds. Woodley recorded two pins during his time on the mat, the fastest coming at 5:20 over Kurt Pryor of Army.
Tenth ranked senior J.P. Reese (141) entered the day as the No. 1 seed at the tournament, earning wins over Pacifica Garcia (San Fransisco State, 7-1 decision) and Derek Kipperberg (North Idaho, pin 4:56) before falling to Matt Murray (Nebraska, 4-4, 2OT) in the quarterfinals. With Reese's mid-afternoon fall, he now stands tied with former MU heavyweight Rick Romeo (1977-82) for career-pins (36).
Junior Jeff Foust (197) and redshirt freshman Matt Pell (184) closed out the day 2-1. No. 18 Foust lost in the quarter-finals to No. 13 B.J. Padden of Nebraska with a 9-2 decision. Pell held his ground against wrestlers from Edinboro and Minnesota with a 13-4 major decision and 3-2 decision, respectively. In the end, it was third ranked Brian Glynn of Illinois who defeated Pell in a 3-2 decision.
Filling in for junior transfer Paul Collum was freshman Brett Watkins (133) of Grandview, Mo. Watkins began his day with an early morning loss to Quincy Osborn of Minnesota, but returned with a solid 10-6 decision over Brian Tsutsumi of Dana College. Kortney Lake of Adams State had the final word of the day, defeating Watkins in an 8-0 major decision during the third wrestlebacks of 133-pounds.
Once again wrestling at heavyweight was junior Clint Freeman. The Kanopolis, Kan., native recorded a 12-2 major decision in the pigtail rounds, but lost to Carl Jones of Harvard in an 8-3 decision. Rounding out the day, Freeman split with a win over Portland State's Eric Mustoe (2-1 decision) and a loss to Ray O'Connor of Augstana (5-2).
"Brett and Clint turned in some big wins for us today," Smith said. "I'm really proud and pleased with the way both gentlemen wrestled. Brett really stepped up as a true freshman to get his first colleigate win, while Freeman weighed in at 197-pounds and managed two wins in the heavyweight division. Those three wins helped us in the team point standings, and I'm impressed with their drive to succeed."
Columbus, Kan., native and 125-pound Missouri wrestler Austin DeVoe suffered an uncharacteristic and disappointing day. Ninth-seeded DeVoe lost his first match to Tony Franco of Cal Poly (7-5 decision), later dropping to West Virginia's Brandon Brewster in a 3-1 wrestleback decision.
Competing at the 2002 Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational, Minnesota won the team title with 131 points, while Missouri finished in 10th with 73.5.
For full results visit www.wrestlingmall.com or copy and paste http://www.wrestlingmall.com/htmls/tournamentresults.asp?TournamentID=4375.
-MU-
