Saturday, November 27, 2021

Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational 133 lbs Preview (12/3-4/2021)

 



Not as tough as 125 lbs, 133 lbs at CKLV will still be pretty competitive. Here we have two returning place-winners among 11 ranked wrestlers, two of which are in the top 10.  




At the beginning of the season I stated that the battle for national runner-up honors at 125 lbs would most likely be between Princeton's Pat Glory and Cornell's Vitali Arujau.  Now Arujau has moved up to 133 lbs and that changes the whole ball game.  Thus far his only test has been Stanford's Jackson DiSario who Arujau defeated 14-3 major decision.  Now as the season progresses, Arujau will have have greater challenges to meet than what he'll face here at CKLV, however, he'll have enough competition here to give us a good glimpse of exactly where he fits in at 133 lbs.  

Rankings Vs Results provide plenty of substance for the argument that this is far from an open and shut case as to who our finalists will be.  On paper Northwestern All American Chris Cannon seems the likely candidate for a spot in the finals, but there's a lot of the bracket that he has not faced.   

Rankings have CSU-Bakersfield's Chance Rich above both Northern Colorado's Mosha Schwartz & Oregon State's Devan Turner, but Schwartz pinned Rich the last they met and in four matches Rich has yet to defeat Turner. All four matches have been very close, but it has been the Beaver that has stayed one step ahead of the Roadrunner. Perhaps 5th time is a charm?  Between Schwartz and Turner, Turner has won two of two matches.  7-3 & 4-3 were the scores. 

Continuing on Schwartz, he finished 5th here in the last CKLV tournament, defeating Oklahoma's Anthony Madrigal, who placed 7th, 5-3 in route.  He recently upended the Sooner again 3-2 to garner yet another victory over his higher ranked opponent.    

Within all this mess, also include Michigan's Dylan Ragusin who despite being ranked higher, dropped a 4-3 match to Madrigal.  

I may have very well inadvertently just named off our top 8 place winners for this year's tournament, but rest assure there are plenty of others looking to make the award stand. 

Despite a rough 15-2 major decision loss to teammate Ragusin, Michigan's Drew Mattin can wrestle well at times.  Nebraska's Alex Thomsen would be one to keep an eye on, capable of an upset or two that would put him into the match to place.  Then there is Jake Gliva of Minnesota, Matt Ramos of Purdue and Haiden Drury of Utah Valley who have all shown signs of their capabilities. More of Darkhorse among his contemporaries, I include Ohio State's Dylan Koontz on this list. 

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