Huskers Lead Cliff Keen Invitational

Las Vegas, Nev. ? The University of Nebraska wrestling team currently sits in first place after the first day of the 2003 Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational. The Huskers, who advanced six wrestlers to Saturday's semifinals, have 52.5 points are followed by Michigan with 48.5 points. Missouri is third with 42.0 with Arizona State (40.0) and top-ranked Illinois (39.5) rounding out the top-five.

Top seeded Jason Powell easily advanced to the semifinals, posting three victories on Friday. He defeated Frank Baughan of Army, 17-3 in the opening round. Powell followed with a technical fall over Jess Miramortes of Cal State Fullerton, 18-0 before defeating Tony Franco of Cal Poly, 17-3 in the quarterfinals. Powell advances to face fourth-seeded Health McKim of Air Force.

At 141 pounds, junior Matt Murray used a double overtime victory over top-seed J.P. Reese to advance to the semifinals to face off against Jeff Ratliff of Ohio State. In the opening round, Murray recorded two major decisions over Chris Smith of Montana State-Northern, 15-3 and Tommy Owen of Minnesota, 7-2.

"Matt had a breakthrough performance today," Head Coach Mark Manning said. "We know how good he is; he just needed to show it on the mat. He won two hard-fought matches against Reese of Missouri and Owen of Minnesota."

At 149 pounds, Travis Shufelt scored a technical fall over Ben Henderson of Dana, 22-4 before recording wins over Brett Gordan of Cal State Fullerton, 14-6, pinning Jerod Goodwin of Central Oklahoma in a time of 1:07 and defeating Casey Olsen of Fresno State, 7-2. He will face off against 11th seed Patrick Williams of Arizona State.

Fourth-ranked Travis Pascoe scored four victories to advance to face Josh Weitzel of Michigan. A champion at last years Cliff Keen Invitational, sophomore B.J. Padden recoded victories over Sandeep Singh of Fresno State in the opening round before defeating Luis Robles of San Francisco State and Jeff Foust of Missouri. He will face off against Emmett Willson of Montana State-Northern in tomorrows semi finals

The last Husker to advance to the semifinals was heavyweight Nathan McClain, who won three matches.McClain defeated Billy Green of Utah Valley State in the opening round before defeating Joe Bryce of North Dakota State and Jonas Corl of Harvard. The Flora Vista, N.M. native will face off against top-seed Tommy Rowlands of Ohio State.

Other Huskers still alive in competition are redshirt freshman Matt Keller at 133 pounds, junior B.J. Wright at 157. Sophomore James Pummel, wrestled at 174 pounds for the first time this season and went 2-2 on the day, while sophomore Jacob Klein suffered an ankle injury and was unable to finishing the competition.

"We wrestled hard all day," Manning said. "We came out and competed at a high level and really dominated our competition. It was great to see us wrestled with a lot of confidence."

Action continues tomorrow, Saturday, December 6 with the semifinals starting at noon and finals beginning at 7 p.m.

Match-by-Match Results
125
Quarter Finals Jason Powell by maj. dec. over Tony Franco (CP), 17-3
Round of 16 Jason Powell by tech. Fall over Jesse Miramontes (CSF), 18-0
Round of 32 Jason Powell by. maj. dec. over Frank Baughan (Army), 17-3
133
Round of 16 Darrell Vasquez (CP) by maj. dec. over Matt Keller, 14-6
Round of 32 Matt Keller by dec. over Louis Vigliotti (Edinboro), 6-0
Pigtails Matt Keller by fall over Lucas Hamlbeton (PSU), 5:1
Wrestleback 4 Matt Keller by dec. over Charles Lloyd (Lassen), 6-1

141
Quarter Finals Matt Murray by dec. over J.P. Reese (UM), 4-4 2OT
Round of 16 Matt Murray by maj. dec. over Tommy Owen (MN), 7-2
Round of 32 Matt Murray by maj. dec. over Chris Smith(Montana State-Northern), 15-3

149
Quarter Finals Shufelt, Travis Nebraska Decision Olson, Casey Fresno State 7-2
Round of 16 Shufelt, Travis Nebraska Pinned Goodwin, Jerod Central Oklahoma 1:07
Round of 32 Shufelt, Travis Nebraska M Decision Gordon, Brett Cal State-Fullerton 14-6
Pigtails Shufelt, Travis Nebraska Tech. Fall Henderson, Ben Dana 22-4

157
Round of 16 Simpson, Phil Army Decision Wright, B.J. Nebraska 8-3
Round of 32 Wright, B.J. Nebraska Decision Peterson, Cort Northwest Wyoming 12-5
Wrestleback 3 Wright, B.J. Nebraska Pinned Harper, Brad Purdue 0:48
Wrestleback 4 Wright, B.J. Nebraska Decision Nagel, Matt Minnesota 8-2

165
Round of 32 Stith, Chris Virginia Tech Decision Klein, Jacob Nebraska 6-4
Pigtails Klein, Jacob Nebraska Tech. Fall Dickerson, Drew Missouri Valley 16-0 165
Wrestleback 2 Terry, James Arizona State Default Klein, Jacob Nebraska 0-0 165
Wrestleback 1 Klein, Jacob Nebraska Pinned Alvarez, Jaime San Francisco State 1:21

174
Round of 32 Sanchez, Leonel Cal State-Fullerton Decision Pummel, James Nebraska 6-3 1
Wrestleback 3 Lucero, Gabriel Army M Decision Pummel, James Nebraska 13-4
Wrestleback 2 Pummel, James Nebraska M Decision Roberts, Nick Central Washington 10-2
Wrestleback 1 Pummel, James Nebraska Pinned Dobbs, Isaac North Idaho 6:53

184
Quarter Finals Pascoe, Travis Nebraska Pinned Meester, Tom Augustana (SD) 2:19
Round of 16 Pascoe, Travis Nebraska Decision Calvert, Luke Army 10-4
Round of 32 Pascoe, Travis Nebraska Tech. Fall Grando, John Columbia University 22-7
Pigtails Pascoe, Travis Nebraska M Decision Bear, Brandon California-Davis 14-9

197
Quarter Finals Padden, B.J. Nebraska Decision Foust, Jeff Missouri 9-2 197
Round of 16 Padden, B.J. Nebraska Decision Kraemer, Brian North Dakota State 6-4 2OT 197
Round of 32 Padden, B.J. Nebraska Pinned Robles, Luis San Francisco State 1:35 197
Pigtails Padden, B.J. Nebraska M Decision Singh, Sandeep Fresno State 10-2 H

HWT
Quarter Finals McClain, Nathan Nebraska M Decision Corl, Jonas Harvard 12-4
Round of 16 McClain, Nathan Nebraska M Decision Bryce, Joe North Dakota State 8-0
Round of 32 McClain, Nathan Nebraska M Decision Green, Billy Utah Valley State 14-2