Columbia
Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational
Wrestling Completes Competition at Las Vegas Wrestling Tournament
12/4/2005 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling
Turk, a junior from Crestline, Calif., captured four of six at 149 pounds, while Sato, a senior from Pismo Beach, Calif., won two of four at 125 on Friday.
Turk began his day with a 6-2 win over Justin Rawle of Utah Valley State, and then pinned Coby Jones of North Idaho in 2:50. He had the misfortune to meet Michigan's Eric Tannenbaum, seeded first at 149, in the third round, and fell, 12-4.
However, Turk fought back to down Pat Lloyd of Buffalo, 6-3, and Morgan Atkinson of Cal State Fullerton, 8-5. In his first match on Saturday, Turk dropped a slim 11-10 decision to Dave Jauregui of West Virginia. Jauregui ultimately finished sixth in the weight class.
Sato was the only seeded Columbia wrestler. The 11th-seeded athlete also won his first match, 6-2 over Nathan Costello of Ohio State, but then lost to 7th-seeded Bryce Leonhardt of Wyoming, 2-1.
Sato also posted a victory in the wrestlebacks, over Brandon Zoetewey of Cal State Bakersfield, 2-1.
"I'm very pleased with both Ricky and Jeff," head coach Brendan Buckley said. "Ricky wrestled extremely well all day, and Jeff had a good day as well."
The western air also must had had a vivifying effect on junior Justin Barent, who lives in nearby Wyoming. Competing at 184 pounds, Barent (Worland, Wyo.) went 2-2 in a highly-competitive weight class. He lost to Jesse Taylor of Cal State Fullerton, 12-3, in his first bout, but then won consecutive wrestleback matches, over Dillon Waggoner of Western State, an 11-0 major decision, and Ryan Mattingly of Montana State-Northern, 10-4. Barent's tourney was ended, though, by the sixth seed, Raymond Jordan of Missouri, who captured a 9-7 squeaker. Three other Lions posted at least one victory.
Junior Matt DeLorenzo (Wantagh, N.Y.) registered two at 133 pounds before defaulting with an injury. He defeated Dan Appello of Brown, whom he had met several times, by an 8-3 score, before losing to West Virginia's Seth Lisa, seeded 11th, by 8-1. DeLorenzo defeated Tate Lowe of Western State, 4-2, but Coach Buckley then withdrew him due to an injury.
Sophomore Steve Sutton (Buskirk, N.Y.) defeated Teddy Astorga of Cal State Fullerton in the wrestleback, 11-5, before losing another squeaker, 11-9 to Jeff Rutledge of Nebraska-Kearney. Orrin Kleinhenz (Columbus, Ind.), one of four first-years to compete in the tournament for Columbia, was the only one to gain a victory. He captured his opening bout, 9-6 over Brian Fritchman of Montana State-Northern.
The two-day tournament left Columbia in 41st place with 13.0 points.
Considering that his 10-man lineup included four first-years and no heavyweight, Buckley was pleased. "All in all," he said, "we had a pretty good day of wrestling," he said on Friday night.
A group that did not compete in Las Vegas will take to the mat Sunday, December 4 at the Nittany Lion Open at Penn State, beginning at 8:30 a.m. Columbia will have its first dual meet of the season on Sunday, December 11 at No. 19 Hofstra at 6:30 p.m.
Players Mentioned
