Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational
Cal Poly Wrestling Descends Upon Las Vegas for 43rd Cliff Keen Invitational
12/4/2025 12:00:00 PM | Wrestling
LAS VEGAS, Nev. — Set to compete in its first major tournament of the season, the Cal Poly wrestling program will roll the dice this Friday and Saturday in Las Vegas when they battle some of the best teams in the country at the prestigious Cliff Keen Invitational.
Wrestling inside the Westgate Hotel Paradise Event Center starts at 9 a.m. Friday with quarterfinal matches in all 10 weight classes getting underway at 6 p.m. Action on the final day Saturday starts at 10 a.m. with first-place bouts scheduled to get underway at 3 p.m. The entirety of the tournament will be streamed live on FloWrestling and you can follow Cal Poly wrestling on X/Twitter (@CalPolyWrestle) and Instagram (@cpwrestle) for live updates throughout.
The 43rd edition of the tournament will serve as an early season litmus test for some of the best wrestlers in the country. Typically, a high percentage of the wrestlers that place at the Cliff Keen Invitational will also contend for All-American status at the NCAA Championships in March.
Per usual, the field at this year’s Cliff Keen Invitational is loaded with talent and a slew of nationally ranked wrestlers. The 32-team field features 11 Top 25 nationally-ranked programs, including No. 4 Iowa State, No. 5 Oklahoma State, No. 9 Stanford and No. 10 Michigan.
A total of 10 Cal Poly wrestlers are set to take part in the high-level tournament, including five nationally ranked Mustangs — No. 5 Zeth Romney at 141 pounds, No. 17 Trevor Tinker at 285 pounds, No. 21 Ceasar Garza at 184 pounds, No. 26 Koda Holeman at 125 pounds and No. 32 Jagger French at 157 pounds.
Last year, Romney made a name for himself nationally with his performance at the Cliff Keen and used his showing at the tournament as a springboard for his All-American run and third-place finish at 133 pounds at the 2025 NCAA Championships. The Simi Valley, Calif. native defeated four nationally ranked opponents en route to claiming the 133-pound title at the Cliff Keen Invitational, becoming the first Mustang in 15 years to capture a title in that weight class in the tournament.
Now wrestling at 141 pounds, Romney is seeded No. 2 in the weight class at this year’s Cliff Keen Invitational with Iowa State’s Anthony Echemendia entering as the tournament favorite as the No. 1 seed at 141. The 2024-25 Pac-12 Wrestler of the Year, who compiled a 19-5 record a year ago, has only wrestled in one match this season, defeating Purdue’s Greyson Clark 6-5 in the second overtime period in the 2025-26 season opener on Nov. 1.
Tinker (2-0) is the next highest seeded wrestler for the Mustangs at this year’s tournament, checking in at No. 5 at 285 pounds. Last year, the defending Pac-12 heavyweight champion and three-time NCAA qualifier made it the Round of 12 at Cliff Keen as the No. 10 seed, posting a 3-2 record.
French, a redshirt freshman, is seeded No. 9 at 157 pounds. Last year, French went 2-2 at Cliff Keen while wrestling at 149 pounds as a true freshman. At the Roadrunner Open two weeks ago, French (6-1 this season) captured the 157-pound title with a perfect 5-0 record.
Holeman (125) and Garza (184) are both seeded 10th in their respective weight classes. Garza (6-0) is fresh off capturing the 184-pound title at the Roadrunner Open on Nov. 23, defeating defending Pac-12 champion TJ McDonnell from Oregon State in the championship bout to earn Pac-12 Wrestler of the Week honors for the first time.
Graduate students Andre Gonzales (149 pounds) and Cole Jackson (197), redshirt juniors Luke Gayer (165) and Cash Stewart (174), and redshirt freshman Anthony Lucio (133) will also be competing in the Cliff Keen Invitational for the Mustangs. All five will be making their first appearances at the tournament.
Garza (6-0), Holeman (2-0), Tinker (2-0) and Romney (1-0) are all still unbeaten this season.
Following the Cliff Keen, Cal Poly returns home to host a tri-dual with Drexel and Cal Baptist on Saturday, Dec. 20, at Mott Athletics Center. The Mustangs will face the Dragons at 1 p.m. and the Lancers at 4 p.m. with CBU and Drexel set to wrestle each other at 2:30 p.m.
*Tied No. 26 Cal Poly
Cliff Keen Invitational Lineup
125: No. 26/26 Koda Holeman (2-0)
133: Anthony Lucio (0-2)
141: No. 5/5 Zeth Romney (1-0)
149: Andre Gonzales (6-2)
157: NR/No. 32 Jagger French (6-1)
165: Luke Gayer (1-4)
174: Cash Stewart (4-4)
184: No. 21/28 Ceasar Garza (6-0)
197: Cole Jackson (5-3)
285: No. 17/21 Trevor Tinker (2-0)
InterMat/FloWrestling rankings
*InterMat Team Tournament ranking
