College Wrestling
Rider Finishes 15th at Cliff Keen Invitational
Bordas Fifth, Smith Seventh
PRIMM, NEVADA-The Rider University wrestling team placed 15th of 42 teams at the 28th annual Cliff Keen Las Vegas Collegiate Wrestling Invitational, held at the Star of the Desert Arena Friday and Saturday. "I think it was a good tournament for us," said Rider head coach Gary Taylor. "It will really help us to get better. We will get a lot out of this tournament."
Senior heavyweight Ed Bordas (Montgomery, NY/Valley Central) placed fifth and sophomore 197 Tyler Smith (Phillipsburg, N.J./Belvidere) placed seventh.
On Saturday Bordas, the seventh seed who is ranked 17th in the nation, defeated Kyle Frey of Drexel 6-0. Against the number one seed, Mitch Monteiro of Cal State Bakersfield who is ranked fourth in the nation, Bordas lost 6-1. In the battle for fifth place, Bordas won by medical forfeit over the tenth seed, Bill Nye of Arizona State.
"Eddie did very well," Taylor said. "The Drexel kid is having a very good year. The Bakersfield kid is very good. Eddie was cranking him."
In the battle for seventh place, Smith pinned Matt Powless of Indiana (5:15) in the third period while holding an 11-6 lead, his sixth pin of the tournament. "Tyler really got a chance to come to life out here," Taylor said. "This was real helpful in his development to do this. It should help his confidence and should help him in becoming much better. There is no going backwards from here."
Smith, unseeded, won five of six matches on Friday, all five by pin. "He does have the ability to pin well,"' Taylor said. "He can pin a lot of people." Smith was also presented with the award for the most pins in the shortest amount of time, with six fall in 19:21.
On Saturday Smith was pinned by Chad Hanke of Oregon State in 6:53 while leading 1-0. "He took a chance and it came back to bite him," Taylor said. "He probably should have played it a little safer."
Smith pinned Hanke on Friday in his first bout of the tournament. "This was a real growing up tournament for Tyler," Taylor said. "He's beginning to understand he can be good in college."
Smith twice finished in the top three in New Jersey while at Belvidere High, graduating with a 123-20 scholastic record.
Bordas won his first two matches on Friday to reach the quarterfinals before losing to the second seed from Nebraska who is ranked seventh in the nation. Bordas came back to win in the consolation round late Friday night.
On Friday Smith pinned Chad Hanke of Oregon State in 5:23 in the pigtails and then pinned the tenth seed, Jay Hahn of Bucknell in 1:53 of the first round. In the second round Smith lost 6-2 to the seventh seed, Anthony Biondo of Michigan who is ranked 14th in the nation. Smith pinned Anthony Pike of Arizona State in :55 in the consolation round. Smith then pinned Jack Callander of Drexel in 1:19 and pinned the eighth seed, Patrick Bond of Illinois in 3:30.Bond is ranked 17th in the nation.
In the quarterfinals late Friday night, Bordas, ranked 17th in the nation and the seventh seed, lost 4-0 to the second seed, Tucker Lane of Nebraska. Lane is ranked seventh in the nation. Bordas then defeated the ninth seed, Corey Morrison of Ohio State 3-1 in the consolations. Bordas won an 11-1 major decision over Steve Larson of Air Force in the first round. In the second round Bordas defeated the tenth seed, Bill Nye of Arizona State, 3-2,
The wrestling team travels to West Point to take on Army Thursday.
Team scores: Ohio State 122.5, Cornell 121.5, Oklahoma 109.5, Boise State 97.5, Nebraska 94, Indiana 90.5, Cal Poly 78.5, Oregon State 77.5, Wisconsin 73.5, Wyoming 71, Arizona State 69.5, Bucknell 60, Purdue 58, Navy 57, Rider 49, Michigan 47, Drexel 41.5, Harvard 40.5, Illinois 36.5, Virginia Tech 36, Cal State Bakersfield 35.5, Northern Colorado 33, Buffalo 32, Columbia 30.5, Hofstra 30.5, UNC Greensboro 29.5, Old Dominion 29, West Virginia 28.5, Utah Valley State 22, Cal Baptist 17.5, Cal State Fullerton 16, San Francisco State 15, Western State 15, Cal Davis 14, North Carolina State 14, North Idaho 11.5, Air Force 10.5, Brown 9.5, Southern Illinois Edwardsville 7, Colorado State Pueblo 5, Western Wyoming 2.5, New Mexico Highlands 0
