Six Huskers Place at Cliff Keen Invitational

A total of six Husker wrestlers, including four third-place finishers, found the awards stand on Saturday, Dec. 3, at the 30th Annual Cliff Keen Invitational in Las Vegas, Nev. As a team, the Huskers finished in fourth place with a total of 106 points. Ohio State took the title with 129 points, followed by Michigan and Wyoming.

James Green (141), Robert Kokesh (165), Josh Ihnen (184) and Tucker Lane (Hwt) all won their consolation finals matches on Saturday to capture third place finishes, while Jake Sueflohn (141) finished in fourth place and Ridge Kiley (133) finished in sixth.

After dropping a tough 3-1 match in the quarterfinals last night, Green responded with two impressive victories to propel him to a third-place finish. Green began the day by beating Roger Pena (Oregon State), 10-5, and upset No. 17 Steven Monk (North Dakota State) in a back-and-forth match which Green ended up on top, 7-6. Green finished the tournament with a 5-1 record.

Kokesh (165) avenged an earlier loss to No. 12 Stephen Burak (Northern Colorado) in the quarterfinals to capture third place with his. Burak pinned Kokesh in the last five seconds of their first match, but Kokesh was able to respond with four straight victories, including two by pin in his remaining matches. The redshirt freshman recorded a total of four pins to go along with a major decision. Kokesh had the most pins of any wrestler at the tournament in the least amount of time.

Ihnen dropped his semifinal match to No.4 Joe Leblanc (Wyoming), 7-5, to start his day, but responded with two victories over ranked opponents to capture third place. Ihnen defeated No. 13 Luke Rebertus (Kent State) for the second time this season by decision, 7-1, before No. 12 Jacob Swartz (Boise State) was forced to medical redshirt in the consolation final.

In the heavyweight bracket, Lane won four matches to become the fourth Husker to earn third-place honors. The Redvale, Colo., native defeated Brandon Williamson (WVU) in his first consolation match, before defeating No. 20 J.T. Felix (Boise State), 6-0. In his next match, Lane pinned No. 6 Levi Cooper (Arizona State) in 1:35 and took down No. 16 Brendan Barlow (Kent State), 1-0, in the tiebreaker period.

Sueflohn continued his impressive freshman season by winning two matches over nationally ranked opponents to advance to the consolation final at 141 pounds. The Watertown, Wis., native defeated No. 14 Evan Henderson (North Carolina), 8-7, and No. 10 Tyler Small (Kent State), 5-3, to set up a match with defending national champion and No. 1 Kellen Russell (Michigan). After only trailing by two points late in the second period, Sueflohn couldn't hold off Russell and fell by major decision, 16-8.

Sueflohn finished the tournament with a 5-2 record recorded three victories over nationally ranked opponents, including a technical fall over No. 12 Michael Nevinger (Cornell) in the second round.

No. 17 Kiley (133) opened day two of competition for NU with a victory over Brandon Rocha (Cal Poly) and followed that with a decision over No. 16 Aaron Kalil (Navy) in the second tiebreaker period. No. 11 Zachery Stevens knocked Kiley into the fifth-place match where he fell for the second time of the tournament to Zach Zehner (Wyoming) to end his tournament.

The Huskers return to action for their home opener against Wyoming on Saturday, Dec. 11 at the NU Coliseum at 7 p.m. The first 100 students at Saturday's match will receive a free slice of Valentino's pizza for student appreciation night. You must show your N-Card at the door. Complete results are below.


125 pounds
First Round: Shawn Nagel (NU) by dec. over Patrick Prada (Navy), 4-0
Second Round: #6 Frank Perrelli (Cornell) by tech. fall over Shawn Nagel (NU), 17-2
Consolation: Billy Watterson (Brown) by dec. over Shawn Nagel (NU), 7-4

133 pounds
First Round: #17 Ridge Kiley (NU) by dec. over Christian Martino (Brown), 8-2
Second Round: #17 Ridge Kiley (NU) by dec. over #20 Shelton Mack (PITT), 5-3
Quarterfinals: Zach Zehner (Wyoming) by dec. over #17 Ridge Kiley (NU), 3-1
Consolation: #17 Ridge Kiley (NU) by dec. over Brandon Rocha (Cal Poly), 9-2
Consolation: #17 Ridge Kiley (NU) by dec. over #16 Aaron Kalil (Navy), 6-1 (TB2)
Consolation: #11 Zachery Stevens (Michigan) by dec. over #17 Ridge Kiley (NU), 7-4
Fifth-place match: Zach Zehner (Wyoming) by dec. over #17 Ridge Kiley (NU), 6-5

141 pounds
First Round: Jake Sueflohn (NU) by major dec. over Donovan Halpin (Stanford), 9-1
Second Round: Jake Sueflohn (NU) by tech. fall over #12 Michael Nevinger (Cornell), 18-3
Quarterfinals: #5 Michael Mangrum (Oregon State) by major dec. over Jake Sueflohn (NU), 20-7
Consolation: Jake Sueflohn (NU) by dec. Luke Vaith (Hofstra), 5-4
Consolation: Jake Sueflohn (NU) by dec. over #14 Evan Henderson (North Carolina), 8-7
Consolation: Jake Sueflohn (NU) by dec. over #10 Tyler Small (Kent State), 5-3
Third-place match: #1 Kellen Russell (Michigan) by major dec. over Jake Sueflohn (NU), 16-8

149 pounds
First Round: Brandon Wilbourn (NU) by pin over Adam Aslam (Cal Poly), 4:43
Second Round: #17 Taylor Walsh (Indiana) by pin over Brandon Wilbourn (NU), 1:35
Consolation (R-24): Brandon Wilbourn (NU) by major dec. over Calvin Miller (Cal State Bakersfield), 11-3
Consolation (R-16): Brandon Wilbourn (NU) by dec. over Paul Liguori (Harvard), 5-3
Consolation (R-12): #15 Cam Tessari (Ohio State) by dec. over Brandon Wilbourn (NU), 5-2

157 pounds
First Round: James Green (NU) by pin over Kenneth Staub (Brown), 5:25
Second Round: James Green (NU) by dec. over Tyler Banks (Hofstra), 6-4
Quarterfinals: James Green (NU) by dec. over Joshua Kreimier (Air Force), 8-5
Semifinals: T.J. Hepburn (Nebraska-Kearney) by dec. over James Green (NU), 3-1
Consolation: James Green (NU) by dec. over Roger Pena (Oregon State), 10-5
Third-place match: James Green (NU) by dec. over  #17 Steven Monk (North Dakota State), 7-6

165 pounds
First Round: #10 Robert Kokesh (NU) by pin over Ethan Saylor (Edinboro), 4:42
Second Round: #10 Robert Kokesh by pin  Wilhelm Viljoen Meyer (North Idaho College), 1:26
Quarterfinals: #12 Stephen Burak (Northern Colorado) by pin over #10 Robert Kokesh (NU), 6:55
Consolation: #10 Robert Kokesh (NU) by major dec. Ethan Smith (Utah Valley), 10-0
Consolation: #10 Robert Kokesh (NU) by pin over Tyler Wilps (PITT), :20
Consolation: #10 Robert Kokesh (NU) by pin over #17 Joe Booth (Drexel), 4:10
Third-place match: #10 Robert Kokesh by dec. over  #12 Stephen Burak (Northern Colorado), 3-2

174 pounds
First Round: Tyler Koehn (NU) by major dec. over Brady Garner (Cal State Bakersfield), 15-5
Second Round: #7 Ryan DesRoches (Cal Poly) by dec. over Tyler Koehn (NU), 6-1
Consolation: Tyler Koehn (NU) by dec. over Clayton Gable (Air Force), 5-3
Consolation: Tyler Koehn by sudden-victory dec. over Brandonn Johnson (Kent State), 6-4
Consolation: Kurtis Julson (North Dakota State) by dec. over Tyler Koehn (NU), 3-2

184 pounds
First Round: #10 Josh Ihnen (NU) by major dec. over Caleb Kociemba (Nebraska-Kearney), 12-3
Second Round: #10 Josh Ihnen (NU) by tech. fall over John Tuck (Oregon State), 17-0
Quarterfinals: #10 Josh Ihnen (NU) by dec. over #16 Matt Ryan (West Virginia), 4-0
Semifinals: #4 Joe LeBlanc (Wyoming) by dec. over #10 Josh Ihnen (NU), 7-5
Consolation: #10 Josh Ihnen (NU) by dec. over  #13 Luke Rebertus (Navy), 7-1
Third-place match: #10 Josh Ihnen (NU) by medical forfeit over #12 Jacob Swartz (Boise State)

197 pounds
First Round: #4 Christopher Honeycutt (Edinboro) by dec. over James Nakashima (NU), 11-4
Consolation: James Nakashima (NU) by dec. over Daniel Mills (Army), 9-4
Consolation: James Fox (Harvard) by dec. over James Nakashima (NU), 4-3

Hwt.
First Round: Bye
Second Round: #11 Tucker Lane (NU) by dec. over Dustin Dennison (Utah Valley), 8-4
Quarterfinals: Atticus Disney (Cal Poly) by dec. over #11 Tucker Lane (NU), 5-4
Consolation: #11 Tucker Lane (NU) by dec. over  Brandon Williamson (WVU), 4-2
Consolation: #11 Tucker Lane by dec. over #20 J.T. Felix (Boise State), 6-0
Consolation: #11 Tucker Lane (NU) by pin over #6 Levi Cooper (ASU), 1:35
Third-place match: #11 Tucker Lane by dec. over #16 Brendan Barlow (Kent State), 1-0 (TB)