No. 10 Lehigh to compete at Las Vegas Invitational
12/3/2008 1:15:00 PM | Men's Wrestling
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BETHLEHEM, Pa. – Fresh off its best dual season start in nine years, Lehigh heads to Las Vegas for its first tournament of the season, the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational, Friday and Saturday at the Las Vegas Convention Center. The Mountain Hawks went 4-0 at the Journeymen/Brute Northeast Duals last weekend, including Lehigh’s first ever dual win over Oklahoma State, which helped propel the Mountain Hawks into the top ten nationally for the first time in almost three years. This weekend, the Brown and White will be tested by one of college wrestling’s toughest in-season tournaments. This two-day event features nearly 50 teams, including 11 nationally ranked squads.
Among the ranked teams joining No. 10 Lehigh in Las Vegas are No. 3 Ohio State, No. 4 Cornell, No. 6 Nebraska, No. 7 Illinois, No. 8 Minnesota, No. 11 Wisconsin, No. 12 Michigan, No. 14 Boise State, No. 19 Indiana and No. 23 Penn.
Freshman John McDonald was named the EIWA Wrestler of the Week on Sunday, after winning all four of his bouts at the Northeast Duals. McDonald’s biggest victory was a 4-3 upset of fifth-ranked Obe Blanc of Oklahoma State, which keyed Lehigh’s 18-13 upset win over the Cowboys. McDonald added three additional wins on the day to improve to 6-2 on the season. He cracked the Amateur Wrestling News rankings at No. 16 at 125 on Tuesday. McDonald has not cracked the InterMat rankings as of yet, but five individuals are ranked in those polls, led by senior Trevor Chinn, who is ranked No. 13 at 149.
Lehigh will be making its sixth appearance at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational, in this, the 27th year of the tournament. The Mountain Hawks will be making their first appearance at the event since December 2001, when the Brown and White finished third in the team standings and placed wrestlers in six weight classes. Lehigh has crowned a pair of champions in its five prior trips to Las Vegas, Matt Ruppel, who won at 190 in 1981, and Jon Trenge, who won at 197 in 2001. Lehigh’s top team finishes in the event were third place showings in 2000 and 2001.
Action gets underway on Friday at 9 a.m. PST from the Las Vegas Convention Center. The event continues Saturday morning, with the championship finals set for 5 p.m. PST on Saturday evening.
