December 2, 2006 - 18th of 47 at Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational
December 2, 2006
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
College Wrestling
Rider 18th of 47 at Cliff Keen
LAS VEGAS, NV—The Broncs finished 18th of 47 teams, with a pair of place winners at the 25th Annual Cliff Keen Las Vegas Collegiate Wrestling Invitational, where 12 of the top 25 teams in the nation were competing. “Obviously this is a very tough tournament, with some of the best wrestlers in the country,” said Rider head coach Gary Taylor. “There are a whole lot of good schools out here who don’t have any place winners, let alone two, so that’s the good news.”
Sophomore 174 Doug Umbehauer (Shamong/Lenape) placed sixth and junior 197 T. J. Morrison (Mechanicsburg, PA/Cedar Cliff) placed seventh. “Doug had a great tournament,” Taylor said, “one that he can certainly grow from. He beat some good people and came very close to beating another.”
In the battle for fifth place, Umbehauer, ranked 12th in the nation and the seventh seed, was pinned by the third seed, Kenneth Cook of Cal Davis. Umbehauer was 4-3 in the tournament. “It was a good tournament for Doug and it will help him to make that next big jump,” Taylor said.”
Morrison, ranked 14th in the nation and the eighth seed, was pinned by Harry Zander of George Mason in 1:03 in the consolation quarter-finals. Morrison won 6-5 in the consolations against Eliot Kelly of Cal Davis, and won by forfeit in the battle for seventh place.
“This was a good learning experience, and we had some nice wins,” Taylor said.
Umbehauer lost 7-2 to the fifth seed, Keith Gavin of Pittsburgh in the consolation semi-finals. Gavin beat Umbehauer 8-6 earlier this season at Rider.
Umbehauer defeated the 12th seed, Matt Maciag of Wisconsin 7-2 in the consolation quarter-finals after winning a 9-0 major decision over Bryan Bernal of Wyoming in the consolations Saturday morning.
Umbehauer reached the championship quarter-finals Friday night before losing 4-3 to the second seed.
Morrison reached the championship quarter-finals Friday night before losing 2-1 to the top seed, and was 4-2 in the tournament.
Junior Don Fisch (Williamstown/Delsea), ranked 16th in the nation and the ninth seed at 141, lost in the consolations 6-0 to the fourth seed, Charles Griffin of Hofstra Saturday morning. Fisch won four bouts in consolations Friday night, and was 5-2 in the tournament.
“Some of the kids got a chance to wrestle some of the best kids in the nation, so we’ll use this as something to build on,” Taylor said.
Rider hosts Maryland December 9.
-RU-
