Kinney Places at Las Vegas Wrestling Invitational

Without senior co-captain Brandon Kinney, the Columbia wrestling team would be coming back from Las Vegas empty-handed. Kinney placed eighth at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational over the weekend, while Columbia earned a 27th-place finish in the field of 50 teams.

Kinney came into the tournament ranked 14th in the nation at his 125-pound weight class, which earned him an eighth-place seed. Despite the good seeding, Kinney faced a formidable challenger in the first round, Brandon Zoetewey of Cal State­-Bakersfield.
Kinney ultimately found a 3-2 victory over Zoetewey, but not without a demanding performance. Kinney then defeated Curtis Schurkamp of San Francisco State 5-3. His next opponent, second-seeded Tanner Gardner of Stanford, posed the greatest threat Kinney was to see in the tournament. Gardner beat Kinney 8-4.

Kinney was back to his winning ways against his next opponent, UC Davis' Marcos Orozco. The Columbia senior nearly pulled off an upset against third-seeded Dave Tomasette from Hofstra, but fell in the end, 6-5. In his final match of the tournament, Kinney took on Boris Novachkov of Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo and lost, 3-1. Novachkov secured seventh place with the win.

Junior Sal Tirico came into the tournament seeded eighth for the 141-pound weight class. After victories against Navy's Glenn Shober and then Nebraska's Robert Sanders, both by scores of 8-3, Tirico fell to top-seeded Charles Griffin from Hofstra. With one victory needed to place in the tournament, Missouri's Marcus Hoehn disappointed Tirico with a 3-2 win.

Anthony Constantino, a 149-pound Columbia senior, began his stint at the tournament with a pair of triumphs and then a quick defeat. After downing Mason Kinion of Western Wyoming, 10-2, and UC Davis's Haseeb Sadat, 14-6, Constantino was pinned by Lance Palmer of Ohio State in 2:54. Constantino posted another victory against Dana Gingerich of Buffalo before succumbing to a pin by Adam Hall of Boise State.

The only other Lion who came close to placing in the tournament was Derek Sickles. Sickles won a 9-2 decision over Buffalo's John Cummings and followed it up with a loss by Josh Zupancic of Stanford. Four consecutive victories put Sickles within one win of placing, but ultimately Michigan's Jeff Marsh dashed those hopes.

Saturday's match was the last of the year for Columbia wrestling. The squad will take to the mats once again on Jan. 5 for the Lone Star Duals.