Wrestling Heads to Vegas for Invite

The Columbia wrestling team will fly out to Nevada this weekend to compete in the 27th Annual Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational. Forty-eight other teams will join the Lions in a hotly-contested tournament that was claimed last year by Michigan, with Missouri and Ohio State taking second and third place, respectively.
“This is probably one of the top two or three tournaments in the entire country,” head coach Brendan Buckley said. “We’re hoping our guys can knock off some nationally ranked wrestlers and get some recognition.”
The Lions have had two weeks to recover from three losses at the Sprawl and Brawl in Binghamton on Nov. 23. Buckley has had them working hard since then.
“We’re in great shape,” he said. “We just have to field a full, healthy lineup.”
Health has been an issue for the Lions in the season’s early weeks. Andrew Grabfelder, a freshman who finished third in the season’s first tournament on Nov. 15, sat out with an injury at the Sprawl and Brawl. The Lions are hoping that he will be back in action on Saturday, but no decision has been made yet.
Buckley may have been pushing his team on strength and endurance, but the Lions have also been working hard on technique in preparation for Vegas.
“We did focus on an area we had to work on, bottom wrestling,” he said. “We didn’t do a good job of getting up off the mat [at Binghamton].”
Despite Columbia’s 0-3 mark two weeks ago as a team, the Lions came up with some strong individual performances. Sophomore Ryan Flores and senior Kenji Porter each went 3-0 on the day.
Buckley believes the 0-3 outcome is slightly misleading, and that Columbia wrestled well enough to come away with two victories.
“We forfeited one weight and it was costly,” he said via e-mail. “It is times such as that when we need others to step up. We made good strides over the last two weeks which we hope will equate to success this weekend.”
After Las Vegas, the Lions are off for nearly a month, with their next match on Jan. 4 out in California. Before they head into the break and enjoy some recovery time, the Lions hope to close out the 2008 portion of their season with a bang at this prestigious tournament.
“It’s a good opportunity,” Buckley said. “We’ve got to wrestle hard.”