2019 Cliff Keen Las Vegas Collegiate Wrestling Invitational

CKLV Seed Projections!

We project the seeds for each weight class for the loaded Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational

Nov 27, 2019 by David Bray

Each year, the CKLV releases pre-seeds a couple of days before the tournament starts. We're looking forward to those, but we want to start talking about the action we could see next week in Vegas, so we're taking a crack at our own best guess for the seeds at each weight.

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As you may have heard, there are over 100 ranked wrestlers slated to compete at this year's CKLV. That's going to make most of these brackets incredibly loaded.

While we can't know for sure how the seeding committee will sort out all of these brackets, here are the seeds we think we might see next week:

125: Mueller the Heavy Favorite

The big question at this weight is whether Northwestern's Sebastian Rivera will register. It seems unlikely since we expect him to compete in the Puerto Rican Olympic qualifying process. If he does show up, we could have a rematch of the NCAA semifinals between Rivera and Mueller. As it stands, we have a solid field with a mixture of veterans and youngsters.

1. Jack Mueller, Virginia

2. Alex Mackall, Iowa State

3. Devin Schroder, Purdue

4. Jakob Comacho, NC State

5. Jacob Schwarm, Northern Iowa

6. Jace Koelzer, Northern Colorado

7. Cole Verner, Wyoming

8. Joey Prata, Virginia Tech

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133: Does Kramer Have More Upsets In Store?

Tucker is ranked one spot ahead of Bridges, but with Bridges' head-to-head win last season, I believe he'll get the #1 seed. Kramer's upset-filled season will likely land him at #3. Madrigal has a win over Sykora, so those two make sense for the #4 and #5 spots. After that, they could really seed this a lot of different ways.

1. Montorie Bridges, Wyoming

2. Chas Tucker, Cornell

3. Josh Kramer, Arizona State

4. Anthony Madrigal, Oklahoma

5. Cam Sykora, NDSU

6. Chance Rich, CSU Bakersfield

7. Collin Gerardi, Virginia Tech

8. Quinn Kinner, Ohio State

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141: Potential #1 vs #2 Final

This weight has five All-Americans who also happen to be five of the nation's top seven ranked wrestlers. Pletcher is the obvious #1 seed with the win over #2 Demas at the MSU Open; after that, it's McKee, Red, and Wilson. While we're circling a potential rematch of #1 vs #2 in the finals, this bracket could go any number of ways, and if Pletcher doesn't win, the weight class will have a new #1. There's a lot on the line with this bracket.

1. Luke Pletcher, Ohio State

2. Dom Demas, Oklahoma

3. Mitch McKee, Minnesota

4. Chad Red, Nebraska

5. Tariq Wilson, NC State

6. Ian Parker, Iowa State

7. Mitch Moore, Virginia Tech

8. Chris Sandoval, Northern Colorado

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149: Exciting to Watch, A Nightmare to Seed

This weight will be one of my favorites to watch, but it's a nightmare to seed. Collin Purinton may end up with the #1 seed after his upset win over All-American Max Thomsen who has a win over All-American Degen this year. On the other hand, Purinton lost to both Brayton Lee and Henry Pohlmeyer last year, so they might go with someone else. We're assuming they'll go with the most recent results. This weight is filled with tricky-to-seed guys, so the ultimate list might look quite a bit different than this.

One guy who may enter this bracket unranked but who just might upset the whole apple cart is Northern Colorado's Andrew Alirez. He hasn't had the opportunity to notch any ranked wins yet, but those wins are coming.

1. Collin Purinton, Nebraska

2. Max Thomsen, Northern Iowa

3. Jarrett Degen, Iowa State

4. Griffin Parriott, Purdue

5. Brock Zacherl, Clarion

6. Sammy Sasso, Ohio State

7. Brayton Lee, Minnesota

8. Yahya Thomas, Northwestern

9. Brent Moore, Virginia Tech

10. Russell Rohlfing, CSU Bakersfield

11. Josh Maruca, Arizona State

12. Henry Pohlmeyer, SDSU

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157: CKLV Title = #1 Ranking

As announced by Christian Pyles on FRL, the winner of this weight class will almost certainly hold the #1 ranking. The top four at this weight all seem like guys we could see wrestling in the NCAA semifinals. Hidlay and Deakin are already incredibly proven while Carr and Coleman's freshman seasons are off to terrific starts. Throw in a deep field of tough guys, and this bracket will be a wild one.

1. Hayden Hidlay, NC State

2. Ryan Deakin, Northwestern

3. David Carr, Iowa State

4. Kendall Coleman, Purdue

5. Will Lewan, Michigan

6. BC LaPrade, Virginia Tech

7. Justin Thomas, Oklahoma

8. Justin McCoy, Virginia

9. Jacori Teemer, Arizona State

10. Peyton Robb, Nebraska

11. Colton Yapoujian, Cornell

12. Carson Brolsma, Minnesota

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165: McFadden's Moment?

White and Shields, who hit already at this year's Journeymen Collegiate Classic, are the probable top two seeds. After that, we may see Ethan Smith ahead of David McFadden due to his upset win a couple weeks ago at the dual in Columbus. When McFadden moved back down to 165, many considered him to be an NCAA title threat. It will be interesting to see if he demonstrates that kind of potential in this field. Several very solid wrestlers round out this weight class.

1. Isaiah White, Nebraska

2. Josh Shields, Arizona State

3. Ethan Smith, Ohio State

4. David McFadden, Virginia Tech

5. Andrew Fogarty, NDSU

6. Austin Matthews, Northern Colorado

7. Phillip Conigliaro, Harvard

8. Thomas Bullard, NC State

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174: Steiert vs Labriola Round 2

The top two at this weight met in week 4 of this season. A locked hands call gave Steiert the 2-1 win over Labriola. Those two may be on a collision course once again, but each will have to navigate a very tough bracket first.

1. Bryce Steiert, Northern Iowa

2. Mikey Labriola, Nebraska

3. Dylan Lydy, Purdue

4. Anthony Valencia, Arizona State

5. Devin Skatzka, Minnesota

6. Hayden Hastings, Wyoming

7. Brandon Womack, Cornell

8. Kaleb Romero, Ohio State

9. Anthony Mantanona, Oklahoma

10. Jackson Hemauer, Fresno State

11. Daniel Bullard, NC State

12. Kimball Bastian, Utah Valley

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184: 8 of the Nation's Top 10

This looks to be the best in-season bracket we'll see this season. The five top-ranked wrestlers in the land, and eight of the nation's top 10, will all be in Vegas. Newly minted #2 Trent Hidlay could get a chance to test himself against two-time NCAA champ Zahid Valencia who has already been tested this year by Taylor Venz. That #1 vs #2 match is anything but certain in such a loaded field.

1. Zahid Valencia, Arizona State

2. Trent Hidlay, NC State

3. Lou DePrez, Binghamton

4. Ben Darmstadt, Cornell

5. Taylor Lujan, Northern Iowa

6. Sammy Colbray, Iowa State

7. Taylor Venz, Nebraska

8. Hunter Bolen, Virginia Tech

9. Jelani Embree, Michigan

10. Max Lyon, Purdue

11. Alan Clothier, Northern Colorado

12. Tate Samuelson, Wyoming

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197: Is Anyone Ready for Kollin Moore?

Despite a huge group of ranked guys at this weight, Kollin Moore is the heavy favorite. One of the biggest questions that could impact seeding is the health of Jacob Holschlag. If he's ready to go, we could see a Holschlag vs Reenan semi with a match against Moore on the line. Sign me up for that.

1. Kollin Moore, Ohio State

2. Jacob Holschlag, Northern Iowa

3. Nick Reenan, NC State

4. Eric Schultz, Nebraska

5. Jay Aiello, Virginia

6. Thomas Lane, Cal Poly

7. Jake Woodly, Oklahoma

8. Tanner Orndorff, Utah Valley

9. Tanner Sloan, SDSU

10. Christian Brunner, Purdue

11. Kordell Norfleet, Arizona State

12. Lucas Davison, Northwestern

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285: Orndorff, Hall, and Parris at the Top

Since we haven't seen Gable Steveson compete this season, we're assuming we won't see him here, either. But we still have plenty of heat here. Orndorff and Parris have had great seasons early on, and Tanner Hall is a staple at this weight. Lots to look forward to here.

1. Tate Orndorff, Utah Valley

2. Tanner Hall, Arizona State

3. Mason Parris, Michigan

4. Chase Singletary, Ohio State

5. Christian Lance, Nebraska

6. Brian Andrews, Wyoming

7. Gannon Gremmel, Iowa State

8. Carter Isley, Northern Iowa