Hokie ClubLAS VEGAS – Virginia Tech wrestling's Hunter Bolen finishes third at the Cliff Keen Invitational Saturday in Las Vegas. Four out of the eight Hokies who competed placed in the top eight of their weight class.
Bolen went 5-1 between Friday and Saturday in the desert to claim third in the 184-pound division. Four of Bolen's five victories were over ranked opponents, including the third-place match win over No. 3 Taylor Lujan of Northern Iowa. Bolen avenged his only loss of the season after Lujan defeated Bolen in the championship quarterfinals Friday night.
The Hokies finished 12th with 54 total team points.
MORE HIGHLIGHTS
- Joey Prata placed fourth after an impressive 6-2 tournament showing. Prata advanced to the third-place match with a 7-5 upset over the 2 seed Alex Mackall of Iowa State, who is ranked sixth in the country by InterMat. Prata went 3-1 on both days to finish in the top four at 125 pounds.
- Mitch Moore placed eighth after posting a 3-3 record at the Cliff Keen Invitational. Moore picked up bonus points on two of his three wins with a 14-3 major decision and a win by fall in 47 seconds. The pin was Moore's fourth of the season. Moore lost a 5-3 decision at the buzzer to NC State's Tariq Wilson to take eighth.
- John Borst finished seventh in Las Vegas after going 5-2. Borst outperformed his 10-seed designation with a 6-2 decision over Brian Andrews of Wyoming in the seventh-place match, who was the 6-seed and ranked 14th in the country by InterMat. Borst's only losses came at the hands of ranked opponents.
Full tournament results and brackets can be found on FloArena through the link on the right-hand side of the page.
UP NEXT
The fifth-ranked Hokies will return to Cassell Coliseum for the first time since the first weekend in November when they host Chattanooga on Dec. 21. The dual will start at 7:30 p.m. and can be seen on ACC Network Extra.