Las Vegas Invitational
Colt Shorts Places Seventh in Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational
12/3/2016 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling
LAS VEGAS, Nevada — With a seventh-place finish, Cal Poly 157-pounder Colt Shorts is the first Mustang to place in the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational since 2013.
Shorts (pictured at right) earned a 4-1 decision over Alex Mossing of Air Force in the match for seventh and eighth place Saturday afternoon at the Las Vegas Convention Center.
After a scoreless first period, Shorts earned an escape in the second period and, following an escape by Mossing early in the third period, tallied a takedown with 1:21 to go and rode out the rest of the period for riding time and the victory.
Shorts opened his bid for the 157-pound title with a pair of falls and a spot in the quarterfinal round Friday. He pinned Jared Sumauang of North Idaho in 2 minutes, 57 seconds, followed by a fall against Casey Sparkman of Kent State in 2:42.
In the evening session, Shorts fell 5-3 to Colin Heffernan of Central Michigan.
On Saturday morning, Shorts decisioned Alex Griffin of Purdue 5-2, then was defeated by Archie Colgan of Wyoming 4-2 to set up the match with Mossing.
Last Mustang to place in the tournament was Blake Kastl, who finished eighth at 149 pounds in 2013. Devon Lotito placed third at 133 pounds in 2012. Ryan DesRoches claimed the 174-pound title in 2011 while 141-pounder Boris Novachkov and 285-pounder Atticus Disney both placed fifth.
Shorts posted a 4-2 mark in the two-day tournament and now sports an 11-7 record for the season. The senior from Canonsburg, Penn., was the lone Mustang still alive in the 35-team, two-day tournament Saturday.
Six other Mustangs were still alive in the wrestlebacks entering the second session of matches Friday night, but all suffered losses and were eliminated.
Championship and consolation finals of the 35th annual Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational, one of the more prestigious early season tournaments on the college schedule, were contested later Saturday.
A total of 35 teams competed in the two-day tournament, including all six Pac-12 wrestling members. The lineup of teams includes No. 4 Ohio State, No. 5 Virginia Tech, No. 7 Cornell, No. 11 Wisconsin, No. 12 Stanford, No. 13 Michigan, No. 17 Minnesota, No. 18 Arizona State, No. 19 Iowa State, No. 24 West Virginia and No. 25 Central Michigan.
Cal Poly scored 20.5 points for 24th place. Ohio State edged Wisconsin by five points for the team title.
Cal Poly returns to action Dec. 18 at the Reno Tournament of Champions.
Results for Cal Poly wrestlers:
125
David Gonzalez was tech. fall by Brent Fleetwood (Chattanooga) 16-0; was pinned by Josh Kramer (Arizona State) 0:33.
133
Yoshito Funakoshi was dec. by Drew Templeman (Wyoming) 10-4; was maj. dec. by Alec Kelly (Columbia) 13-5.
141
Colton Schilling dec. Tyler Smith (Bucknell) 13-10; was dec. by A.J. Jaffe (Harvard) 6-2; pinned Jacob Macalolooy (Columbia) 0:12; was dec. by Jack Mutchnik (American) 3-2.
149
Joshy Cortez was pinned by Danny Reed (Columbia) 7:34 OT; dec. Mike Bartolo (Clarion) 7-6; was dec. by Josh Maruca (Arizona State) 9-2.
157
Colt Shorts pinned Jaren Sumauang (North Idaho) 2:57; pinned Casey Sparkman (Kent State) 2:42; was dec. by Colin Heffernan (Central Michigan) 5-3; dec. Alex Griffin (Purdue) 5-2; was dec. by Archie Colgan (Wyoming) 4-2; dec. Alex Mossing (Air Force) 4-1 (seventh place).
165
Luke Wilson dec. Drew Daniels (Navy) 5-2; was pinned by Logan Massa (Michigan) 4:46; was maj. dec. by Lorenzo De La Riva (CSU Bakersfield) 20-8.
174
Travis Berridge was dec. by Brian Realbuto (Cornell) 11-4; dec. Joe Salvi (American) 5-0; was dec. by Jacob Davis (Eastern Michigan) 3-2.
184
Sohrab Movahedi was dec. by Will Sumner (Utah Valley) 5-1; dec. Levin Perry (North Idaho) 15-12; dec. Kanon Dean (Harvard) 6-5; was dec. by Steven Schneider (Binghamton) 6-1.
197
Thomas Lane was maj. dec. by Jared Haught (Virginia Tech) 20-6; maj. dec. David Showumni (Stanford) 17-2; dec. Mark Tracy (Binghamton) 9-7; was dec. by Anthony McLaughlin (Air Force) 6-3.
285
Spencer Empey dec. Jeramy Sweany (Cornell) 2-0; was dec. by Trevor Smith (Army) 8-4; was dec. by Dustin Dennison (Utah Valley) 7-6.
