Ohio State is in a tight race for the team title at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational, with seven of 10 wrestlers advancing to this evening's quarterfinals. Though three rounds of competition, the Buckeyes accumulated 39 points, with Arizona State, Nebraska and Michigan all bunched ahead of the Buckeyes at the top of the leaderboard.
The team race may end up becoming a battle between the Buckeyes and the Wolverines, as they are the only two teams with seven wrestlers still in the championship round. The Sun Devils and Cornhuskers each have six wrestlers still in the running, while no other team has more than five.
While the starters cruised, "The Replacements" didn't fare quite so well. Brakan Mead, wrestling in place of Nathan Tomasello at 125 as he has all season, advanced to the Round of 32 before falling into the wrestlebacks, where he came up short. His fellow replacements - Brandon Fitzgerald in for Joey McKenna at 141 and Kevin Snyder in for his brother at 285 - both went 0 for 2 on the day and are also done for the weekend.
Highlights of the day's wrestling through the Round of 16 include:
- Pins by both Micah and Bo Jordan in the opening round
- A second pin by Micah in the second round, along with a tech fall by Myles Martin
- In the Round of 16, things got wild with a first-period tech fall by Ke-Shawn Hayes, and pins by Te'Shan Campbell and Myles Martin
The quarterfinals will take place at 9 p.m. with live streaming available via FloWrestling.
