133 lbs at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Wrestling Invitational is absolutely insane. 15 ranked wrestlers, with last year's champion, runner-up & 3rd placer all returning. It'll be a chore to finish top 8 here.
Once again a guide to the picture...
Ranking & Name
School Name
Placings of Previous CKLV tournaments
What I would Seed
Again we're dealing with an extremely tough weight class & I personally feel that all 17 of those I have listed above are very capable of a top 8 showing.
The *1 seed at this point I give to Vitali Arujau of Cornell. One of the most discussed topics of the year is if anyone at 133 lbs can keep a threepeat of Roman Bravo Young of Penn State Vs Daton Fix of Oklahoma State in this year's NCAA finals. Many believe that if that someone exist, it is Arujau. Winning a CKLV title would certainly be a statement. He has a ton of competition to go through in order to be crowned king though. Thus far he owns a 12-2 major over Sam Latona of Virginia Tech.
I give *2 to last year's champion Dylan Ragusin of Michigan. Although he's lost twice to Michael McGee of Arizona State, he also owns two victories over Chris Cannon of Northwestern, who in turn pinned McGee.
Hence why I give *3 to Cannon & *4 to McGee.
*5 goes to Latona, who has a 10-1 major over Sean Carter of Appalachian State & a 3-2 decision of Jesse Mendez of Ohio State, who I give the *6. Mendez himself owns a 5-0 victory over Haiden Drury of Utah Valley.
*7 I give to Kyle Biscoglia of Northern Iowa, who in turn despite also having a 10-4 loss, owns a 7-5 sudden victory over McGee. He also has a 7-5 sudden victory over Drury.
*8 Kai Orine of North Carolina State. I feel in many ways he's under-ranked. Among his victories of note, he owns a 3:57 fall over Chance Rich of Bakersfield, a 3-2 victory over Drury, a 6-4 victory over Boo Dryden of Nebraska & a 8-2 victory over Gabriel Tagg of South Dakota State.
I hated to seed Drury all the way down at *9 seeing how he had such a good tournament here last year taking a very impressive 3rd. However, I don't see how I could logically or fairly seed him any higher. He has losses to nearly everyone seeded above him & no victories in turn.
*10, *11 & *12 I give to in order, Dryden, Cody Phippen of Air Force & Carter. Dyden owns a 3-2 victory over Phippen, who in turn owns a 9-3 victory over Carter. Carter for the record, owns a 3-1 sudden victory over Orine.
Out of those that I would seed, we're talking 12 guys that will be in an all out war to make the award stand. There's still a ton of talent left to talk about!
Jason Shaner Jr of Oregon State is very capable of a top 8 showing. He put himself on the map recently with a 3-2 decision over Rich.
Ethan Rotondo of Cal Poly comes in here healthy & ready to go, there's no reason he couldn't be a huge surprise of the tournament. He's been capable his entire career & this could very well be his final opportunity to prove it. Overall against Biscoglia he's 2-3 & he owns a 6-2 victory over Hunter Leake of California Baptist, another wrestler to mention. Leake owns a 4-2 sudden victory over Rich.
Which, of course you have to talk about Rich. Rich placed himself in a vicarious predicament. With all of his losses, it's hard to put him anywhere other than what I did. Yet he's the type of wrestler that thrives in these types of situations. He LOVES being the underdog, it's often when he performs at his best. He's lost to McGee in the past, but he also owns a 6-4 sudden victory over the Sun Devil, as well as a 3-1 victory over Biscoglia. He's one to get upset and he's one to upset. Don't be surprised if he does both this tournament.
Lastly Tagg is ranked within the top 33 in the nation for a reason. Another tough wrestler very capable of having a good tournament.
From Round 1 on through, this is gonna be one to watch.
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