Wrestling: Mountaineers Head to Vegas
December 01, 2010 10:18 PM | General
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia University wrestling coach Craig Turnbull’s resolve to provide his team with as much exposure as possible to top-notch wrestling programs across the country will again be put to the challenge as his team heads to Las Vegas to compete at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational on Friday and Saturday.
The Mountaineers will participate in a bracket tournament at the Las Vegas Convention Center to wrestle against grapplers from the likes of No. 1 Cornell, No. 2 Boise State, No. 4 Wisconsin, No. 8 Oklahoma, No. 11 Cal Poly, No. 14 Central Michigan and several other ranked schools. In all, wrestlers from 36 schools will compete at the meet to contend for placements within their respective weight classes.
“We’re trying to put the guys in the best position that we can to help them have success on a national level,” Turnbull says. “There are probably only three tournaments outside of the NCAA Tournament itself that provide this kind of exposure to face some of the top teams in the country.”
WVU will travel its entire starting lineup except for redshirt senior Donnie Jones (165 pounds), who continues to nurse a sore shoulder. He will be replaced with redshirt junior Christian Mory. The starting lineup for the team is Shane Young (125), Nathan Pennesi (133), Michael Morales (141), Brandon Rader (149), Ryan Goodman (157), Matt Weston (174), Matt Ryan (184), Kyle Rooney (197) and Philip Mandzik (HWT).
“We’ll be able to see some diversity and wrestle against guys from teams not on our dual meet schedule,” Turnbull says. “This has value at a lot of different levels. We try to simulate as if we’re getting ready for the NCAA Tournament and see how we compete at a national-caliber tournament like this. We bring back what we learn from it, which helps us to get that much closer to being ready for the end of the season. We’re not in February form yet, but the guys are put in a setting that they get to see a similar caliber to the NCAA Tournament.”
Last season, then redshirt sophomore Matt Ryan placed sixth overall for the 184-pound weight class. WVU will look to build on the number of placements at this year’s event. Pennesi, a sophomore, currently holds a perfect 10-0 record thus far in the season, while Young is 9-2. Redshirt senior Rader is 4-2 while true freshman Morales is 7-3.
Results from the matches can be viewed at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational web site.
The Mountaineers will participate in a bracket tournament at the Las Vegas Convention Center to wrestle against grapplers from the likes of No. 1 Cornell, No. 2 Boise State, No. 4 Wisconsin, No. 8 Oklahoma, No. 11 Cal Poly, No. 14 Central Michigan and several other ranked schools. In all, wrestlers from 36 schools will compete at the meet to contend for placements within their respective weight classes.
“We’re trying to put the guys in the best position that we can to help them have success on a national level,” Turnbull says. “There are probably only three tournaments outside of the NCAA Tournament itself that provide this kind of exposure to face some of the top teams in the country.”
WVU will travel its entire starting lineup except for redshirt senior Donnie Jones (165 pounds), who continues to nurse a sore shoulder. He will be replaced with redshirt junior Christian Mory. The starting lineup for the team is Shane Young (125), Nathan Pennesi (133), Michael Morales (141), Brandon Rader (149), Ryan Goodman (157), Matt Weston (174), Matt Ryan (184), Kyle Rooney (197) and Philip Mandzik (HWT).
“We’ll be able to see some diversity and wrestle against guys from teams not on our dual meet schedule,” Turnbull says. “This has value at a lot of different levels. We try to simulate as if we’re getting ready for the NCAA Tournament and see how we compete at a national-caliber tournament like this. We bring back what we learn from it, which helps us to get that much closer to being ready for the end of the season. We’re not in February form yet, but the guys are put in a setting that they get to see a similar caliber to the NCAA Tournament.”
Last season, then redshirt sophomore Matt Ryan placed sixth overall for the 184-pound weight class. WVU will look to build on the number of placements at this year’s event. Pennesi, a sophomore, currently holds a perfect 10-0 record thus far in the season, while Young is 9-2. Redshirt senior Rader is 4-2 while true freshman Morales is 7-3.
Results from the matches can be viewed at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational web site.
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