2019 Cliff Keen Las Vegas Collegiate Wrestling Invitational

CKLV Is So Good We Had To Rank The Weights!

2019 Cliff Keen Las Vegas Collegiate Wrestling Invitational weights, ranked.

Dec 4, 2019 by JD Rader

CKLV Is So Good We Had To Rank The Weights!

Vegas, baby! Every weight is loaded from top to bottom with top names and talent.

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Vegas, baby! Every weight is loaded from top to bottom with top names and talent.

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Check out what weights we're most excited for at this year's Cliff Keen Las Vegas Collegiate Invitational.

#1) 184

With eight of the top 10 guys in the country, 184 will basically be a preview of the NCAA championships in March. Using David Bray's projected seeds, the quarters could look something like this:

#1 Zahid Valencia (Arizona State )vs #10 Hunter Bolling (Virginia Tech)

#4 Ben Darmstadt (Cornell) vs #5 Taylor Lujan (UNI)

#2 Trent Hidlay (NC State) vs #9 Taylor Venz (Nebraska)

#3 Louie DePrez (Binghamton) vs #7 Sammy Colbray (Iowa State)

That's ridiculous for an in-season tournament!

Hidlay has already taken out DePrez and Darmstadt this year. I would love to see if he would be able to do the same against Taylor Lujan. Lujan is unconventional, fun, and coming off of a major decision win over Venz, who took Valencia to the brink at Journeyman, but Zahid is 3-0 against Lujan, with the last two coming by major.

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#2) 141

Although Luke Pletcher (Ohio State) has established himself as the #1 guy at 141, this weight is still up for grabs. Pletcher, Dom Demas (Oklahoma), Mitch McKee (Minnesota), Chad Red (Nebraska), and Tariq Wilson (NC State) all have a realistic shot at winning this bracket.

Not only will it be exciting to see how it all plays out, the wrestling will be exciting in the process. Demas has basically become must-watch TV, Pletcher is putting points on the board, McKee already has five pins this year, Red could mixer anyone at any time, and Wilson is looking good up at 141.

#3) 157

Another potential #1 vs #2 matchup in Trent Hidlay (NC State) vs David Carr (Iowa State). First, however, Carr will most likely have to go through last year's NCAA finalist and Final X runner-up Ryan Deakin (Northwestern). Carr passed his first test of the season when he beat Kaleb Young (Iowa). Can he keep it rolling?

Some young freshmen like Kendall Coleman (Purdue), Will Lewan (Michigan), Jacori Teemer (Arizona State), Peyton Robb (Nebraska), and Colton Yapoujian (Cornell) are going to make this bracket interesting as well.

#4) 165

Speaking of great semis...

#4 Isiah White (Nebraska) vs #8 Andrew Fogarty (NDSU)

#5 Josh Shields (Arizona State) vs #6 David McFadden (Virginia Tech)

NCAA qualifier Ethan Smith (Ohio State), who handed McFadden his only loss of the season, could very well make his way into those semis as well.

#5) 174

Similar to 149, 174 will have 13 ranked wrestlers including six of the top 10. 2019 All-Americans Bryce Steiert (UNI) and Mikey Labriola (Nebraska) will most likely get the 1 and 2 seeds. They went down to the wire in West Gym just over a week ago, with a locked hands call being the difference.

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While I'm sure Labriola wants his revenge, I'm also sure Dylan Lydy, Anthony Valencia, Devin Skatzka, and more will be doing everything they can to prevent the rematch from happening.

#6) 285

Another weight, another bracket with double-digit ranked wrestlers.

Tate Orndorff is off to a hot start this season with wins over Jordan Wood (Lehigh) and Tanner Hall (Arizona State). His lone loss came in the tiebreakers to Trent Hilger (Wisconsin). Before a Orndorff-Hall rematch can take place, however...Orndorff - Chase Singletary (Ohio State) and Hall - Mason Parris (Michigan) semis. Yes, please!

#7) 149

149 comes with a lot of unpredictability and questions. There's a good chance after his win over Max Thomsen (UNI), Collin Purinton (Nebraska) gets the top seed, but is he for real? How will Sammy Sasso (Ohio State) look after getting pinned by Brent Moore (Virginia Tech) and looking gassed in the third against Hunter Richard (Cornell)? Will we see Andrew Alirez (Northern Colorado)?

One thing's for certain: 149 is going to be a whole lotta fun.

#8) 133

What 133 lacks in top names, it makes up for it in depth. Starting with #6 Chas Tucker (Cornell), there will be at least 11 ranked wrestlers. How will a bracket with Tucker, Montorie Bridges (Wyoming), Cam Sykora (NDSU), Taylor LaMont (Utah Valley), and Josh Kramer (Arizona State) play out? I don't know, but I sure can't wait to watch and find out!

Oh, and is there a chance we see the return of Austin Gomez? He isn't registered on FloArena, as of yet, but...

?NEW RANKINGS?

Not much change in the off-week. All 10 guys will have a chance to raise their stock this weekend in a loaded field at the @CKAwrestling Las Vegas Invitational ?#Cyclones ?️?️?️ pic.twitter.com/YKOjbbaJ6Q
— Iowa State Wrestling (@CycloneWR) December 3, 2019

#9) 197

Despite a few question marks due to injury, this weight is loaded from top to bottom, including #1 Kollin Moore (Ohio State). We could potentially see a rematch of last year's CKLV final where Moore defeated Eric Schultz (Nebraska).

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2018 NCAA qualifier Kordell Norfleet (Arizona State) is fresh off of a win over Kyle Conel (Penn State) and could keep the upsets rolling. Or, the bracket could go chalk and it would still be awesome because of all the quality level wrestling. A win-win!

#10) 125

NCAA runner-up Jack Mueller (Virginia) will be back in action! He's only 1-0 on the season with a pin over Jarod Kosman of Maryland, so it will be interesting to see if he is in peak form. Outside of Mueller, things could get messy. It will also be interesting to see how youngsters Jakob Camancho (NC State), Jace Koelzer (Northern Colorado), Malik Heinselman (Ohio State), Patrick McKee (Minnesota), and Alex Thomsen (Nebraska) perform.