LAS VEGAS – Five out of seven Hokies remain in contention for placement finishes after day one of the 40th Annual Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational. No. 9 Sam Latona, No. 2 Mekhi Lewis, and No. 32 Andy Smith are set to wrestle in the championship semifinals with No. 13 Tom Crook and No. 9 Hunter Bolen remaining alive on the backside.
Latona went 3-0 on the day with three decision victories – including an upset victory over No. 7 Chris Cannon of Northwestern – to advance to the semifinals in his Cliff Keen Invitational debut. Latona will face Cornell's returning All-American No. 2 Vito Arujau in tomorrow's semifinals.
Lewis was dominant all day, picking up two bonus point victories in three matches to advance to his second CKLV semifinals appearance in as many times. Lewis picked up a 1:51 fall over No. 19 Cade DeVos (South Dakota State) in the quarterfinals to set-up an all-New Jersey meeting against No. 9 Chris Foca from Cornell. This will be the second meeting between Lewis and Foca, the first a 3-2 Lewis victory at the 2021 Collegiate Duals.
Capping off the championship side of the bracket was No. 32 Andy Smith having a day. Smith started his day knocking off Calvin Sund from Air Force via major decision 10-2 then proceeded with a come from behind fall over No. 31 Evan Bockman (Utah Valley). Smith was trailing 2-1 with :19 remaining in the bout before securing a takedown straight to Bockman's back to get the fall with 0:02 remaining in the match. Smith capped off his day one with a controlling 5-2 victory upset over the top seed and No. 11 Tanner Sloan of South Dakota State to advance to the semifinals in his CLKV debut.
Crook and Bolen both dropped their quarterfinal bouts but managed to pick up victories in the consolations to advance to the consolation quarterfinals. Both have secured placement finishes on the backside bracket.
Action resumes on Saturday, December 3 at 1 p.m. EST live on Flowrestling and live updates on FloArena or via Hokies Wrestling Twitter. Full brackets and results can be found at top left of page.
Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational
Day One Results
No. 16 Eddie Ventresca (125-pounds, redshirt freshman)
- DEC Oscar Sanchez (Ohio University), 3-2
- DEC No. 31 Kase Mauger (Utah Valley University), 7-5
- Loss No. 10 Brandon Kaylor (Oregon State), 4-6 SV
- Loss No. 27 Liam Cronin (Nebraska), 3-7
No. 9 Sam Latona (133-pounds, redshirt junior)
- DEC Kobe Nelms (Utah Valley University), 8-3
- DEC No. 32 Jason Shaner (Oregon State), 5-2
- DEC No. 7 Chris Cannon (Northwestern), 7-2
No. 13 Tom Crook (141-pounds, freshman)
- DEC Ty Smith (Utah Valley University), 7-6
- MAJ DEC Isaac Salas (Cal State University-Bakersfield), 14-5
- Loss No. 22 Cael Happel (Northern Iowa), 1-7
- DEC No. 18 Jesse Vasquez (Arizona State), 7-6
Drew Nicholson (165-pounds, graduate)
- MAJ DEC Stoney Buell (Purdue), 12-3
- Loss No. 10 Josh Ogunsanya (Columbia), 4:41
- DEC Jon Park (Navy), 6-1
- Loss Enrique Munguia (Kent State), 1-2
No. 2 Mekhi Lewis (174-pounds, redshirt senior)
- TECH FALL Joey Arnold (Edinboro), 21-6 7:00
- DEC Sammy Starr (Navy), 10-3
- FALL No. 19 Cade DeVos (South Dakota State), 1:51
No. 9 Hunter Bolen (184-pounds, graduate)
- MAJ DEC Noah Blake (US Air Force), 11-1
- DEC No. 27 Cade King (South Dakota State University), 8-2
- Loss No. 4 Kaleb Romero (Ohio State), 2-3
- TECH FALL Darion Johnson (Wyoming Western), 16-0 3:52
No. 32 Andy Smith (197-pounds, redshirt junior)
- MAJ DEC Calvin Sund (US Air Force), 10-2
- FALL No. 31 Evan Bockman (Utah Valley University), 6:58
- DEC No. 11 Tanner Sloan (South Dakota State), 5-2