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Smith, Moore Highlight CKLV Day One
December 05, 2015 12:24 AM | Wrestling
LAS VEGAS – No. 7/8 Jacob A. Smith advanced to the 197-pound semifinals while Keegan Moore pulled off a major upset in his collegiate debut as the No. 24 West Virginia University wrestling team completed day one of action at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Collegiate Invitational, held at the Cashman Center on Friday.
The No. 24 Mountaineers sit 14th with 37.5 points. Fellow Big 12 member Oklahoma leads the pack with 85 points, followed by No. 8 Missouri in second with 81.5 points. No. 18 Minnesota is third with 78.5 points.
“This tournament is the toughest in the country, and our men wrestled hard today,” said coach Sammie Henson. “We have word to do and need to attack more but the effort is something we can build on. With Jake in the semis, he continues to prove he is one of the elite wrestlers in the country. Zeke and Dylan are also having a solid year. I’m for our potential the next few months.”
Both Smith and No. 14/17 Dylan Cottrell advanced to the quarterfinals on Friday. Smith won a 2-1 decision over Reuben Franklin of Cal State Bakersfield on riding time to advance to Saturday’s semifinals. Cottrell dropped an 8-3 decision to Bryce Steiert of Northern Iowa to move to the consolation bracket.
Earning a bye in the championship round of 64, Smith, seeded fourth at 197 pounds, won a 6-2 decision against Jeric Kasunic of American to open the day. He went on to take a 7-1 win over Air Force’s Parker Hines, a new Big 12 foe, to move to the quarterfinals. Smith will wrestle in Saturday’s semifinals, where he will face No. 2 J’Den Cox of Missouri. Cox, the 2014 NCAA National Champion, and Smith met on Nov. 21 in the finals of the Joe Parisi Open, with Cox winning a 2-0 decision.
Entering as the No. 4 seed, Cottrell won a 6-0 decision over Drew Daniels of Navy before taking a 6-2 decision from Abraham Rodriguez of Oregon State in their second meeting of the year. Following his quarterfinal win, he will face Brandon Kingsley of Minnesota in the consolation round of eight.
However, it was Moore who had the match of the day as Henson pulled his redshirt and entered him into the competition at 133 pounds. Moore went hard after No. 6 Rossi Bruno, the No. 4 seed in the tournament, jumping out to a 5-1 lead in his first period of collegiate action. Moore proceeded to stun the field, taking the 12-9 upset decision to advance to the round of 32. He won a 7-4 decision over Army’s Austin Harry, but lost a close 6-5 decision to No. 13 seed Esteban Gomez-Rivera of American to move to the consolation bracket. Moore bounced back with a 15-4 major decision over Carlos Herrera of Cal State Bakersfield to advance to the consolation round of 16 where he dropped a 14-5 major decision to No. 16 Josh Alber of Northern Iowa.
Zeke Moisey went 5-1 at 125, opening the championship round with a 53-second pin of Western Wyoming’s Cole Verner. He then won a 6-5 decision over Thierno Diallo of Binghamton in the round of 32 before dropping a 4-2 decision to Missouri’s Barlow McGhee, whom he faced in the finals of the Joe Parisi Open last weekend. The setback bounced Moisey into the consolation bracket, where he tech. falled Columbia’s Vince Pallone in the third period to advance to the consolation round of eight. Moisey then wrestled Rami Haddadin of Boise State. Despite trailing 7-4 late in the match, Moisey came back to pin Haddadin with less than 30 seconds to go. He will face Bucknell’s No. 14-ranked Paul Petrov on Saturday.
Bubba Scheffel went 3-2 at 184 pounds, advancing to the consolation round of eight. He started the day with a 4-2 win over Steven Schneider of Binghamton before winning an 8-0 major decision over Jesus Ambriz of Cal State Bakersfield. No. 2 seed Blake Stauffer medically forfeited in the consolation round of 16, pushing Scheffel into the consolation round of 16. Scheffel won 5-3 decision against Huston Evans of Newberry to move on, but dropped a heartbreaking 3-1 decision to Oregon State’s Corey Griego in the tiebreaker.
Moore was not the only redshirt to go, as Conner Flynn and Zachary Moore also made their collegiate debuts at 165 and 149 pounds, respectively.
Tomorrow’s consolation rounds start at Noon ET, while the championship round will begin at 1 p.m. ET. The championship finals, as well as the third and fourth-place matches will start at 6 p.m. ET at the Cashman Center.
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