Dec. 3, 2011

• 2011 Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational - Day I Results

LAS VEGAS, Nev. -- Anchored by the efforts of seniors Aaron Kalil (Salem, N.H.) and Luke Rebertus (Gloucester, Va.), the Navy wrestling team stands 20th out of 34 teams after the opening day of the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational. Navy brought 10 wrestlers, one to represent each weight class, however, just Kalil and Rebertus remain active after the first day of competition ended late Friday evening.

"We lost some close matches on Friday and quite honestly some we probably shouldn't have," said Navy head coach Bruce Burnett. "Bottom line is we just have to get better. We continue to make too many mistakes and we have to learn to compete harder. There were some matches that we didn't compete as hard as we needed to and the result showed that. We'll get back at it and continue to work on those mistakes."

Kalil, the Mids' team captain, opened the tournament by defeating Cornell's Nikkolas Pena, 8-3, before taking a narrow 2-1 decision over Thomas Kelliher of Wisconsin to advance to the quarterfinals. Kalil's hopes of advancing to the 133-pound semis, however, were snapped when 10th-ranked Aaron Schopp of Edinboro pinned 16th-ranked Kalil at 4:38 in the match, sending Kalil to the consolation bracket.

Kalil will open Saturday's competition with a tough foe in the form of Jordan Thome of Army. A win over Thome could pitch a rematch between Kalil and Nebraska's Ridge Kiley whom Kalil edged, 5-4, at the Wresle for a Cure Duals on Nov. 12.

Meanwhile, Rebertus was also bounced to the consolation bracket following his last match of the evening. Ranked 13th at 184 pounds, Rebertus scored a major decision over Brown's Ophir Bernstein in the opening bout of the day, followed by a 5-2 victory over Thomas Ferguson which set up a quarterfinals matchup against 12th-ranked Jacob Swartz of Boise State. Swartz would win a back-and-forth affair by way of a 4-2 decision.

Rebertus will have a tough match to begin Saturday's consolations. He will face 18th-ranked Ben Clymer of Hofstra who was upset by Ohio State's Cody Magrum in the second round by way of a tie breaker. While they have not met this year, Rebertus got the best of Clymer at last year's NCAA Championship, 2-1, in the tie breaker round.

Seven of the eight other wrestlers in action for the Mids on Friday managed at least one victory, including junior 157-pound Zach Basich (Wheeling, W.Va.) who turned in a 2-2 record before bowing out with an injury. Basich dropped his opening match, 7-4 to Dakota Friesth of Wyoming, but fought his way back through the consolation bracket. Basic scored a major decision over Edinboro's Casey Fuller and dealt Elijah Jackson of Cal Poly a 15-5 loss before suffering an injury in his match against Mallie Shuster of Kent State.

Eighteenth-ranked Oscar Huntley (Stafford, Va.) opened the 174-pound bracket with a fall over San Francisco State's Arman Ostadsharif at 4:48, but suffered a 5-3 loss to Frank Cousins Jr. of Wisconsin. Huntley, a junior, bounced back with a second win by fall, pinning Brown's Richard McDonald in 1:06, but was eliminated from the tournament by a 2-1 loss against Oregon State's Ty Vinson.

Junior Mason Bailey (Fairmont, W.Va.) turned in a 2-1 victory over 165-pound Tyler Johnson of North Dakota State to begin the tournament, but suffered an injury that would take him out of the tournament.

Saturday's action is set to begin at 9:00 am PT / 12:00 pm ET at the Las Vegas Convention Center. Results can be found on Escape Sports' web site at click here.