Moline's Musings

More on Vegas (with brackets!)

Posted by: Brian Moline

Friday, December 5, 2008 11:57 AM

I wrote yesterday that I would post the brackets for the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational when they became available.  I can't find them anywhere yet, but I do have the preseeds for all ten weightclasses, courtesy of The Wrestling Mall.  All ten Illinois wrestlers are preseeded, led by Jimmy Kennedy at 133 pounds, who is the top seed in his weight class.  Other high seeds include John Wise (#3 at heavyweight), Roger Smith-Bergsrud (#6 165), Patrick Bond (#6 197), Ben Friedl (#8 174) and Jordan Blanton (#8 184). 

Mike Poeta and John Dergo are not listed among the Illinois wrestlers slated to compete this weekend.  Both are recovering from minor knee surgeries in the offseason.  My hunch is that both will be ready for the MIdlands Invitational in Evanston December 29 and 30.

Speaking of the Wrestling Mall, Matt Krumrie from that website has an nice preview of this weekend's event.  The only Illini mention in his article is Mike Poeta, who is the defending champion at 157 in this event.  Krumrie seems to think Poeta is wrestling in Vegas this weekend...maybe he knows something I don't.

I'll have some results this evening on Steve Kelly's Sportstalk program, as I'm filling in for the traveling SK.  I'll talk to you then.

UPDATE: The brackets have just been posted online at The Wrestling Mall.  Enjoy.

By the way, it looks like in addition to Mike Poeta and John Dergo, that Roger Smith-Bergrud, Ben Friedl and John Wise are not wrestling this weekend.  Waiting for a little more info from Ben Taylor (SID) to confirm this, but they're not in the brackets.  Ben will be on Sportstalk with me for a few minutes this evening to update us on how things are going.  I'll also have a conversation with Janet Rayfield...kind of a season in review for Illinois soccer.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Ben Taylor tells me that Roger Smith-Bergsrud is not wrestling this weekend for personal reasons.  Ben Friedl and John Wise have minor injuries keeping them out.  The Las Vegas Invitational isn't a good event to wrestle if you're not 100% or close to it.  It's two brutally long days of competition from morning to night.

By the way, all three Illinois wrestlers in the "pigtail" round (or preliminaries) won their matches.  B.J. Futrell at 125 wins by pin over Josh Seely of Dakota Weslyan, Troy Tirapelle at 149 gets a decision over Brian Peterson of Minnesota, and Joe Barczak at 165 wins by technical fall over Quinton Godley of N.C. State.

bmoline@wdws.com

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