Eight top seeds remain for CKLV Invite finals

Photo: Northwestern’s Sebastian Rivera (left) gave up an opening takedown to North Dakota State’s Brent Fleetwood but rallied to win and advance to Saturday afternoon’s finals of the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational. (John Sachs photo)

LAS VEGAS — Eight top-seeded wrestlers — including three from Ohio State — held up to their ranking and advanced to Saturday afternoon’s finals of the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational in the Las Vegas Convention Center.

Ohio State maintained its team lead in the 37^thannual regular-season wrestling tournament with 135 points as Joey McKenna (141), Myles Martin (184) and Kollin Moore (197) will compete for championships — starting at 3 p.m. PST — as No. 1 seeds. They will be joined by No. 2 seed Micah Jordan, who will meet top-seed Anthony Ashnault of Rutgers in the finals at 149 pounds.

Ashnault is one of two finalists for Rutgers as Nick Suriano — seeded No. 1 at 133 pounds — also won his semifinal bout.

The other top seeds to advance were Northwestern’s Sebastian Rivera at 125 pounds, Michigan’s Myles Amine at 184 pounds and Minnesota’s Gable Steveson at heavyweight.

Nebraska’s Eric Schultz (left) will enter the 197-pound finals as a No. 10 seed. (John Sachs photo)

Nebraska, which trails second-place Missouri by a 113.5-103.5 margin, will send three finalists in this tournament: Isaiah White (165), Taylor Venz (184) and Eric Schultz (197). White, seeded fourth, upset top-seed Logan Massa of Michigan in his semifinal. Venz is seeded second while Schultz (No. 10) will be the lowest-seeded of the finalists.

Missouri’s two finalists are Jaydin Eierman (141) and Daniel Lewis (174).

Meanwhile, a pair of No. 8 seeds also advanced to the finals: Pitt’s Micky Phillippi at 133 pounds and Purdue’s Griffin Parriott at 157 pounds.

Top 10 Team Scores after the Semifinal Round

CKLV Invite Semifinal Results and Highlights

(Tournament seeds are listed before each name)

125 pounds

#1 Sebastian Rivera (Northwestern) dec. US Brent Fleetwood (NDSU), 9-3 — The top-seeded Wildcat gave up an opening takedown to Fleetwood before taking the led for good when he turned a single-leg takedown into a two-point nearfall and 5-2 lead at the end of one period. Rivera iced the victory with a third-period reversal.

#2 Ronnie Bresser (Oregon State) dec. #3 Sean Russell (Oregon State), 2-1 — The Beaver scored his points on a penalty in the first and escape in the second.

133 pounds

#1 Nick Suriano (Rutgers) dec. #4 John Erneste (Missouri) 3-2 — A second-period takedown with 25 seconds left and a third-period escape by Suriano moved the Scarlet Knight into the finals.

#8 Micky Philippi (Pitt) dec. #2 Luke Pletcher (Ohio State), 2-1 — A 1:18 riding time advantage gave the Panther the upset win.

141 pounds

#1 Joey McKenna (Ohio State) dec. #4 Josh Alber (Northern Iowa) 8-1 — The Buckeye clinched the bout with a takedown and two-point nearfall in the final 37 seconds. McKenna also scored a first-period takedown then rode out the Panther the entire second period.

#2 Jaydin Eierman (Missouri) dec. #3 Michael Carr (Illinois), 5-2 — The Tiger scored two takedowns with the second one coming off a scramble in the closing seconds of the second frame to give Eierman a 5-0 lead.

149 pounds

#1 Anthony Ashnault (Rutgers) major dec. #5 Mitch Finesilver (Duke), 12-4 — Moments after the Blue Devil cut the margin to 5-2 early in the third period, Ashnault exploded with three of his five takedowns in the final minute of the match and added a riding time points.

#2 Micah Jordan (Ohio State) major dec. #6 Brock Zacherl (Clarion), 19-6 — The Buckeye put on a takedown clinic as he tallied eight in the match — three in the first and the second periods and two in the third — before adding a riding time point.

157 pounds

#8 Griffin Parriott (Purdue) dec. #5 Taleb Rahmani (Pitt), 5-3 — The Boilermaker clinched the bout when he scored his second takedown with 40 seconds left in the bout. Parriott scored a first period takedown before the Panther tallied two escaped and tied the match 2-2 in the second period.

#2 Ryan Deakin (Northwestern) major dec. #3 Kennedy Monday (North Carolina), 9-1 — The Wildcat scored two takedowns — one in the first and third periods — sandwiching a second-period reversal before scoring a penalty point in the third and a riding time point.

165 pounds

#4 Isaiah White (Nebraska) dec. #1 Logan Massa (Michigan), 6-2 — The Cornhusker clinched the bout by scoring his only two takedowns in the final 41 seconds. White also earned a “hands-to-the-face” penalty in the second period to tie the match 1-1.

#7 Mehki Lewis (Virginia Tech) dec. #3 Bryce Steiert (Northern Iowa), 2-0 — The Hokie rode out the Panther the entire second frame — which later earned a 1:43 riding time point — and a third-period escape.

174 pounds

#1 Myles Amine (Michigan) dec. #4 Michael Labriola (Nebraska), 5-1 — The Wolverine scored four of his points in the second period — off two escapes and a takedown — before adding a riding time point.

#2 Daniel Lewis (Missouri) pinned #3 Taylor Lujan (Northern Iowa), 1:54 — The Tiger was leading 2-0 — off a takedown 15 seconds into the bout — before ending the match with his third pin of the tournament.

184 pounds

#1 Myles Martin (Ohio State) major dec. #5 Max Dean (Cornell), 17-7 — The top-ranked Buckeye scored seven takedowns, three in the first period, and added a reversal and riding time point for the victory.

#2 Taylor Venz (Nebraska) dec. #6 Drew Foster (Northern Iowa), 11-8 — The Cornhusker used two takedowns in the first period and a second-period reversal to lead 6-0 before the Panther tried to rally with a second-period reversal and three takedowns in the third period.

197 pounds

#1 Kollin Moore (Ohio State) major dec. #5 Christian Brunner (Purdue), 22-11 — The Buckeye’s first of nine takedowns also earned him a two-point near fall in the first 22 seconds of the match. The Boilermaker did score a takedown with 13 seconds left in the second period to cut the margin to 14-9.

#10 Eric Schultz (Nebraska) dec. US Greg Bulsak (Clarion), 8-6 — The Cornhusker scored two of his three takedowns in the first period and also earned a penalty point with four seconds left in the first to lead 5-2 before the unseeded Golden Eagle rallied with a takedown 45 seconds left in the bout to cut the margin to 7-6.

Heavyweight

#1 Gable Steveson (Minnesota) dec. #4 Cory Daniel (North Carolina), 9-3 — The young Gopher scored a takedown in each period and also tallied technical violation and riding time points for the win.

#6 Tate Orndorff (Utah Valley) dec. US Chase Singletary, 8-2 — Orndorff also scored a takedown in each period and built up a riding time advantage point.F