Mountaineers Place Sixth at 18th Annual Cliff Keen Las Vegas Wrestling Invitational

PRIMM, Nev., (December 5, 1999) West Virginia University placed sixth out of 47 teams with 76.5 team points at the 18th Annual Cliff Keen Las Vegas Wrestling Invitational in Primm, Nev., this weekend.

Senior Vertus Jones (Slickville, Pa.) led the team as he was crowned champion at 184-lbs. He pinned Oregon's Doug Lee two minutes into the match to attain his first Las Vegas title. Jones, the nation's third-ranked wrestler, finished 6-0 in the tournament and ups his overall record to 14-0.

Four other Mountaineers placed in the top eight to give the Mountaineers their best-ever finish at the event.

Sophomore Joe Carr (Lexington, Ky.) placed fourth at 157, freshman Billy Smith (New Alexandria, Pa.) placed fifth at 149, senior Angelo Zegarelli (Deer Park, N.Y.) also placed fifth at 125. Senior Sean Hage (Powder Springs, Ga.) finished sixth at heavyweight.

Related story: Jones Named WVU Athlete of the Week


Las Vegas Invitational

December 3-4 at Primm, NV

Top 20 team scores:
1. Oklahoma St 170.0
2. Illinois 142.0
3. Minnesota 123.0
4. Bakersfield 101.5
5. Michigan 96.0
6. WestVirginia 76.5
7. Oregon St 76.0
8. Pittsburgh 63.5
9. Arizona St 60.0
10. Wisconsin 58.0
11. Boise St 52.5
12. Clarion 50.5
13. Harvard 48.5
14. Oregon 44.0
15. Fresno St 44.0
16. Montana St Nor 36.0
17. Missouri Valley 35.5
18. Ohio St 34.5
19. Virginia 34.0
20. Cal Poly 32.5

Championship Finals:
125_Leroy Vega, Minnesota 6-3 over Steve Garland, Virginia
133_Joe Warren, Michigan 6-3 over Paris Ruiz, Fresno St
141_Mark Angle, Clarion 4-1 over Jamill Kelly, Oklahoma St
149_Adam Tirapelle, Illinois 10-2 over Reggie Wright, Oklahoma St
157_Eric Jorgensen, Oregon St 13-3 over Cory Wallman, Wisconsin
165_Steve Blackford, Arizona St 7-2 over Joey Killar, Harvard
174_Otto Olson, Michigan 3-0 over Delaney Berger, Minnesota
184_Vertus Jones, West Virginia F2:00 over Doug Lee, Oregon
197_Mark Munoz, Oklahoma St 8-4 over Turk Lords, Montana St Northern
285_John Lockhart, Illinois 7-3 over Dave Anderton, Oklahoma St

Wrestleback Finals (For third, fifth and seventh):
125_Mose Delfin, Bakersfield 8-2 over Ryan Escobar, Illinois; Angelo Zegarelli, West Virginia 6-5;tb over Jeff Ragan, Oklahoma St; Nathan Navarro, Oregon St FF over K C Rock, Boise St
133_Charles Walker, Oklahoma St 6-2 over Rob Loper, Pittsburgh; Brett Lawrence, Minnesota 2-1 over Ben Richards, Oregon St; Brian Watson, Oregon 3-1 over Andy Peters, Air Force
141_Damion Logan, Michigan 5-1 over Jonathan Archuleta, Balersfield; Chad Erikson, Minnesota 5-2 over Paul Konechne, South Dakota St; Grant Hoerr, Wisconsin 14-6 over Richard Feistman, Columbia
149_Quinn Foster, Arizona St 8-7 over Jared Lawrence, Minnesota; William Smith, West Virginia WBD over Joe Calavitta, Fullerton; Tom Cobb, Missouri Valley 11-6 over Brian Roskovich, Ohio St
157_Griff Powell, 5-1 over Joe Carr, West Virginia; Nathan Vasquez, Bakersfield 11-8 over Shane Roller, Oklahoma St; Scott Frohardt, Air Force F5:01 over MIke Ziska, Pittsburgh
165_Bill Zeman, Illinois 5-3 over Carl Fronhofer, Pittsburgh; Ty Wilcox, Oklahoma St 5-2 over Denis Alampiev, American; Ian Nelms, Bakersfield 15-7 over Brad McDonald, Brown
174_Ed Mosley, Harvard 5-3;tb over Andy Varner, Bakersfield; Tony Gansen, Oklahoma St 4-1 over Steve Strange, Cal Poly; Nathan Coy, Oregon St 3-2 over Matt Cobb, Missouri Valley
184_Nate Patrick, Illinois 7-1 over Lionel Halsey, Bakersfield; Pat Popolizio, Oklahoma St FF over Brandon Eggum, Minnesota; Steve Saxlund, North Dakota St 11-3 over Josh Schroeder, American
197_Pat Quirk, Illinois 5-3 over STeve Alf, Wisconsin; Rusty Cook, Boise St 6-4 over Owen Elzen, Minnesota; Craig Rumsey, Wyoming FF over Justin Woodruff, Navy
285_Jason Cooley, Oregon St 3-2 over Matt Brink, Michigan; (fifth place bout missing); Dawid Rechul, Harvard 6-2 over Boe Rushton, Boise St


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