Hokie ClubBLACKSBURG – The No. 6 Virginia Tech wrestling team will be well-represented this weekend at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational where seven Hokie grapplers are set to compete on Friday, Dec. 2, and Saturday, Dec. 3, at the Las Vegas Convention Center.
The event will be streamed live on FloWrestling.com and the complete event seeding can be found here. Live updates will also be available on Twitter via @VT_Wrestling.
Senior heavyweight Ty Walz took home the program’s first Cliff Keen Invite title last year as the No. 1 seed. Walz, who’s seeded third in this year’s field at heavyweight behind Ohio State’s Kyle Snyder and Wisconsin’s Connor Medbery, went 6-0 and defeated the No. 2 seed Michael Korells of Minnesota in the finals, 5-3. Medbery defeated Walz earlier this season, 5-2, in the main event at NWCA All-Star Classic.
Senior Joey Dance also reached the finals of last year’s Invite at 125 and enters as the top seed in the weight class. Sophomore Solomon Chishko, junior Jared Haught and sophomore Zack Zavatsky each placed in their respective weight classes. Senior Sal Mastriani is making his second appearance in Vegas and is slotted at No. 20 in this week’s InterMat rankings at 157.
The Hokies’ next dual will be against West Virginia in Parkersburg, West Virginia on Sunday, Dec. 18 at 2 p.m.
WEIGHT: RANK, WRESTLER (SEED)
125: No. 2 Joey Dance (1)
133: Dominic Latona
149: No. 5 Solomon Chishko (1)
157: No. 20 Sal Mastriani (7)
165: David Bergida
184: No. 8 Zack Zavatsky (3)
197: No. 3 Jared Haught (2)
HWT: No. 3 Ty Walz (2)