December 1, 2007 - at Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational
December 1, 2007
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
College Wrestling
Rider at Cliff Keen Vegas Invite, Umbehauer Fourth
LAS VEGAS, NV— Junior Doug Umbehauer (Shamong, N.J./Lenape), the ninth seed at 184 pounds, placed fourth at the 26th Annual Cliff Keen Las Vegas Collegiate Wrestling Invitational this weekend, where 13 of the top 25 teams in the nation competed in the 48-team field. “I thought this was a real break-through tournament for Doug,” said Rider head coach Gary Taylor.
Umbehauer was 5-2 in the prestigious, two-day tournament, defeating the third, fifth and eighth seeds, losing only to the top and fourth seeds. “Doug is back on target,” Taylor said. “You don’t beat the people he just beat without being at the top of you game.”
“I think I wrestled well,” Umbehauer said. “I’m starting to get my legs back beneath me, so overall I’m happy with my performance.”
Last year Umbehauer was also Rider’s top place winner in Vegas, finishing sixth. “I usually wrestle pretty well out here,” Umbehauer said. “I like it out here.”
In the battle for third place, Umbehauer lost 5-2 to the fourth seed, Raymond Jordan of Missouri. Jordan defeated Umbehauer 22-7 in a dual meet on November 9 at Rider. “I definitely made some strides,” Umbehauer said. “It was a pretty embarrassing match at home, so it was nice to get another chance at him.”
On Saturday in the wrestlebacks Umbehauer defeated AJ Kissel of Purdue 7-0, defeated the fifth seed, Trevor Brandvoid of Wisconsin 5-2, and beat the third seed, All-American Louis Caputo of Harvard 3-2 to advance to the battle for third place.
On Friday Umbehauer advanced to the quarter-finals, where he lost 7-4 to the top seed, Mike Pucillo of Ohio State, who is ranked third in the nation. Umbehauer defeated Colt Reece of Wyoming 5-3 in the first round and defeated the eighth seed Lior Zamir of Penn 3-1 in the second round.
Senior T.J. Morrison (Mechanicsburg, Pa./Cedar Cliff) moved up a weight class to heavyweight, and defeated Roger Vukobratovich of Purdue by a major decision 10-2 in the opening pigtail round and then defeated the sixth seed, 11th ranked Mark Ellis of Missouri 3-1 in the first round. Morrison lost to the 11th seed, John Wise of Illinois 7-3 in the second round. “T.J. wrestled very well,” Taylor said. “We ran into a bit of a size thing when we got to the Illinois kid, and that is something we are going to have to decide, if he goes back down to 197 or up to heavyweight.”
Freshman 125 Mitch Fenton (Whitemarsh, Md./Archbishop Curley) lost 4-1 to the top ranked 125 in the nation, Paul Donohoe of Nebraska, in the first round. “He wrestled the defending national champion 4-1,” Taylor said. “That should help his confidence. He’s been competitive with some very good kids. He’s competing hard and for a freshman he’s going up agasint some of the best in the country.”
In the consolations, Fenton defeated Dan Bishop of Buffalo 3-1 and Cody Grant of Wyoming 1-0 before losing 6-4 to the 11th seed, Ben Kjar of Utah Valley.
Sophomore 157 Rob Morrison (Mechanicsburg, Pa./Cedar Cliff) pinned Trey Saxon of New Mexico in 2:28 in the opening pigtail round before losing to the ninth seed, 17th ranked Jeff Marsh of Michigan 5-3. In the consolations Rob Morrison lost 5-4 to Justin Gaethje of Northern Colorado. “Robbie is vastly improved and still getting better,” Taylor said. “I thought he wrestled well in the tournament. The last match is one he probably wishes he could get back. He might have been able to do some things differntly in that one, but as a whole he had a very strong tournament.”
Junior 133 Zac Cunliffe (Farmingdale, N.J./Howell) lost 7-1 in the opening pigtail round to T. J. Dillashaw of Cal St. Fullerton. In the consolations Cunliffe lost 4-3 to CAA-foe Kyle Hunter of Old Dominion.
Sophomore 165 Michael Darling (Moorestown, N.J./Moorestown) lost 8-0 to the third seed, eighth ranked Nick Marable of Missouri in the opening pigtail round. In the consolations Darling lost 7-0 to Ryan Meyer of South Dakota State.
Rider travels to the University of Maryland December 8. “Maryland beat Michigan, so that is going to be a tough match for us,” said Taylor, who has already taken on #2 Iowa State and #6 Missouri in duals this year. “We’re going to go down and see what we can do.”
-RU-
