Indiana University
Las Vegas Invitational
Hoosiers in Fifth After First Day at CKLV Invitational
12/2/2006 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling
Dec. 2, 2006
PRIMM, Nev. - After one day of the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational, the Indiana wrestling team sits in a tie for fifth place with 59 points with Big Ten foe Wisconsin. No. 2 Missouri holds a commanding 22-point lead over a trio of teams tied for second at 64 points. Four Hoosiers are a perfect 3-0 and have advanced to the semi-finals in their weight classes.
Angel Escobedo (125 pounds), Matt Coughlin (149), Brandon Becker (157) and Max Dean (165) have all knocked off three opponents in the prestigious tournament. Coughlin registered one of the bigger upsets at the tourney, taking a 2-1 overtime decision over Wisconsin's Tyler Turner, the fourth-ranked wrestler in the country in his class.
Marc Bennett (184) remains alive in the wrestleback bracket for the Hoosiers. Bennett, who entered the tournament 10-0 on the season, was defeated in his first match, falling 5-4 to Cal Poly's Yuri Kalika. Since then, Bennett has gone 4-0, and can place if he wins his first match on Saturday.
True freshman Nathan Everhart (197) had a solid debut for the Hoosiers, winning his first match by a 9-1 major decision. He followed that by facing the fourth-ranked wrestler in the nation, Max Askren, but Askren escaped with a 5-4 decision. Everhart won his first match in the wrestleback, but was topped 4-2 by Buffalo's Ricky Scott to end his run at a place.
Maurice Gunn (HWT) opened his weekend with a 5-3 decision over Wisconsin's Jordan Hein in the opening round. In round two, though, Gunn met up with sixth-seeded Zack Hammond, who took a 3-1 decision. Gunn pinned his first opponent, George Mason's Ryan Kittrick, in 33 seconds, but ended his day 2-2 after a 6-3 loss to The Citadel's John Buck.
At 133 pounds, Andrae Hernandez received a first-round bye and followed that up by pinning Eli Huizar of Dickinson State in the second round. Unfortunately, Hernandez followed that with a 7-3 loss in the round of 16 to Pitt's Drew Headlee and a 5-3 loss in the wrestleback to Marques Bravo of Western State.
Trevor Perry (174) opened his tournament with a 5-4, opening-round win over Buffalo's Nate Rock. However, Perry was defeated in his next two matches, 10-2 to Nick Hernandez of Cal Poly and 8-3 to Dan Hospodka of Nebraska-Kearney, to end his run.
After a first round bye, Nick Walpole (141) drew a tough assignment, going up against seventh-ranked Dominick Moyer of Nebraska, who topped the true freshman with an 8-0 major decision. Walpole moved on to the wrestleback, where he faced Derek Francavilla of Columbia University. Walpole kept the match close, but was topped by a 5-3 score.
Day two action at the CKLV Invite will begin at noon EST.
Players Mentioned
