Lester and Civan Advance at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Wrestling Invitational
12/3/2010 6:37:00 PM | Wrestling
LAS VEGAS - Two wrestlers are still alive in action after the day one of the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Collegiate Wrestling Invitational on Friday, December 3. Kevin Lester advanced to the quarterfinals in the championship bracket where he suffered his first loss of the day at heavyweight while Eren Civan remained alive in the consolation round.
Lester looked sharp in the early goings of the tournament. In his first match he defeated Paul Snyder of Hofstra 6-1. Next up was Kurt Klimek of Cal-State Fullerton, currently ranked #19 in the nation. Lester battled hard with him and managed to pull out the upset, edging Klimek 3-2 to advance to the round of eight at heavyweight. In the round of eight, he faced top-seeded Jarod Trice of Central Michigan, currently ranked fifth nationally. Lester put up a good fight against Trice, but ultimately dropped a close 6-3 decision, dropping him down to the consolation bracket. Next up for Lester is Levi Cooper of Arizona State.
At 165 pounds, Civan won his first bout 8-7 over Kurt Swartz of Boise State, but fell to Dan Yates of Michigan 11-7 in his second match. Civan kept his tournament run alive with a 7-3 win over Harvard's Adam Hogue, followed by 6-3 win over Jeb Clark of Utah Valley University in his next bout.
Nick Mills, competing at 184, was pinned in his first match by Cal-State Bakersfield's Troy Goodban, but bounced back to defeat Casen Eldredge of Utah Valley 9-2. West Virginia's Matt Ryan then eliminated the sophomore from competition.
At 141 pounds, Josh Houldsworth lost his first match of the day to #16 to Elijah Nacita of Cal State-Bakersfield, but answered back with a major decision over Peter Hoang of Cal-State Fullerton, 10-2. He was eliminated from the tournament in a heartbreaking 3-1 sudden victory setback to Akif Eren of Purdue.
Also finishing 1-2 was Steve Santos at 149 pounds. Santos defeated Christopher Santana 6-4, but fell to Donnie Corby of Central Michigan, 3-2, and Andrey Patselov of North Dakota State, 7-3.
Jake O'Hara drew a tough draw, falling to #6 Paul Young of Indiana in his first bout at 157 pounds. He responded with a 5-3 victory over Colton Palmer of North Carolina State, but was eliminated by Curtis Cook of Utah Valley.
Penn Gottfried (125), Kyle Gilchrist (133), Stephen West (184), and Mike Pushpak (197) finished 0-2 for the day. West had a good battle against fifth-ranked Jordan Blanton of Illinois, but suffered a tough 11-8 loss.
Lester and Civan will continue competition on Saturday, December 4.
Players Mentioned
