Sun Devil wrestling takes 13th at Las Vegas Invite

The Arizona State University wrestling team wrapped up competition at the 31st Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational on Saturday to the tune of two third-place finishes and a seventh-place finish at the Las Vegas Convention Center. 

Redshirt freshman Blake Stauffer (174) and redshirt senior Jake Meredith (197) combined for an 11-2 record overall at their respective weight classes to give ASU its two third-place finishers and help the Sun Devils to a 13th-place finish overall with 52.0 points.

Stauffer opened the day with a defensive struggle against the tournament 3-seed and nationally-ranked No. 11 Daniel Yates of Michigan. Stauffer gave up a takedown and an escape in the second after a scoreless first and could not get another takedown in the third after his escape, dropping the 3-1 decision and falling to the consolation semifinals. 

There he fended off a late rally from Wisconsin' Scott Liegel to advance to the consolation finals against No. 4/No. 14 Matt Miller of Navy.  However, Miller was forced to take a medical forfeit - thus giving Stauffer the victory and third place overall in the first tournament of his career as a Sun Devil.

Meredith opened the day with a 10-2 major decision over Nebraska's Caleb Kolb, 10-2 to move on to compete against Michigan's No. 6/No.15 Maxwell Huntley.  There, Meredith took an early 2-0 lead and racked up two minutes of riding time in the first before Huntley took a injury default, advancing Meredith to the consolation semifinals.

In the semis, Meredith handled Ohio State's Andrew Campolattano pretty handily in an 8-2 decision to advance to a battle against conference foe Taylor Meeks of Oregon State (No. 4/No. 10).

Meredith was never really challenged in the consolation final, shutting out Meeks and posting over two minutes of riding time en route to a 7-0 victory in his return to tournament competition for ASU. 

Kevin Radford took care of business to open the day, taking out Nebraska-Kearney's Mark Fiala in the opening round of consolation matches by a score of 5-3.  That set up a contest against the tournament No. 5 and national No. 12 Casey Newburg of Kent State, where Radford dropped a 10-5 decision. 

Radford earned a seventh place finish following a medical forfeit from Lance Brysom of West Virginia to finish the tournament with a 4-2 record and valuable team points.

Levi Cooper gave up a takedown with 10 seconds left to drop a tough 2-1 decision to Boise State's J.T. Felix and did not earn a chance to compete for a place.

The Sun Devils will now set their sites on next week's away dual against the Nebraska Cornhuskers, set to take place Saturday in Lincoln, Neb.

174 Pounds, Blake Stauffer, 5-1, THIRD PLACE

Stauffer tech fall Travis Mallo (Army), 16-0

Stauffer dec. No. 2/No. 9 Jonathan Fausey (Virginia), 6-4

Stauffer dec. George Pickett (Cornell), 6-2

No. 3/No. 11 Daniel Yates (Michigan) dec. Stauffer, 3-1

Stauffer dec. Scott Liegel (Wisconsin), 10-7

Stauffer medical forfeit No. 4/No. 14 Matthew Miller (Navy) 

184 Pounds, No. 8/NR Kevin Radford, 4-2, SEVENTH PLACE

Radford dec. Kenny Courts (Ohio State), 6-4

Radford dec. Collin Wittmeyer (Army), 6-3

No. 1/No. 5 John Ihnen (Nebraska) dec. Radford, 5-4

Radford dec. Mark Fiala (Nebraska-Kearney), 5-3

No. 5/No. 12 Casey Newburg (Kent State) dec. Radford, 10-5

Radford medical forfeit Lance Brysom (West Virginia)

197 Pounds, No. 7/17 Jake Meredith, 6-1, THIRD PLACE

Meredith tech fall Devon Bradley (American), 19-2

Meredith dec. Zach Nye (Virginia), 4-2

No. 2/No. 4 Alfonso Hernandez (Wyoming) dec. Meredith 6-1

Meredith major Caleb Kolb (Nebraska), 10-2

Meredith injury default Maxwell Huntley (Michigan)

Meredith dec. No. 5/NR Andrew Campolattano (Ohio State), 8-2

Meredith dec. No. 4/No. 10 Taylor Meeks (Oregon State), 7-0

HWT, No. 3/No. 13 Levi Cooper, 2-2

Cooper dec.  Donny Longendyke (Nebraska), 4-0

Levi Cooper dec. Phillip Mandzik (West Virginia), 1-0

No. 6/No. 15 Peter Capone dec. Cooper, 4-3 (2OT)

J.T. Felix (Boise State) dec. Cooper, 2-1