Michigan wins Cliff Keen Invite with 3 champs
True freshman Russell explodes onto national scene
11/30 - #10 Michigan won the Cliff Keen Vegas Invatiational this
weekend behind the efforts of 3 individual champions. The
Wolverines finished 1st out of a 48 team field, edging 2nd place
Missouri, ranked #7, by 2.5 points. Top ranked Eric Tannebaum
and 7th ranked Tyrell Todd were not big surprises to win as they
each entered the tournament seeded #1 and #2 at 165 and 184,
respectively.
However, true freshman Kellen Russell exploded onto the
college scene as he entered the tournament unranked and seeded 13th, but stormed through the 141lb bracket en route to the championship. Along the way Russell defeated 9th
ranked Drew Headlee of Pitt, 3rd ranked Charles Griffin of Hofstra,
and 5th ranked J Jaggers of Ohio State in the finals.
Tannenbaum lived up to his #1 seed as he cruised the tournament relatively unscathed an scored a 7-4 victory of #3 seed Nick Marable of Mizzou in the finals.
Todd, meanwhile, had to go through 3 individuals ranked in the top 10 nationally. Todd dominated 9th ranked Ian Murphy of Cal State Fullerton in the quarters and then handily defeated 4th ranked Louis Caputo of Harvard to advance to the finals. In the finals Todd capped off his impressive day with an overtime fall over Big Ten rival and top seed Mike Pucillo of Ohio State.
The 174lb bracket saw the top 3 ranked wrestlers in the country with #1 Keith Gavin of Pitt,
#2 Matt Stolpinski of Navy and #3 Steve Luke of Michigan. Luke upset Stolpinkski in the
semis to advance to the finals, but fell in overtime to top ranked Gavin.
UM senior Josh Churella of Novi entered the tournament as the top seed at 149lbs, but was
upended in the semifinals by red hot Darrion Caldwell of North Carolina State. Churella then
fell to Jordan Burroughs of Nebraska in the consolations before winning his final match to
finish 5th.
Dexter native Jeff Marsh continued to compete well at 157 for the Wolverines as he
advanced to the quarterfinals and inevitably finished 7th.
UM freshman Anthony Biondo of Chippewa Valley saw his first real test at 197 and responded well as he knocked off #3 seed and 12th ranked nationally Daren Burns of UNC Greensboro in the first round of the tournament. Biondo would advance to the quarterfinals before losing to 16th ranked Jared Villers of West Virginia. Biondo would be the Wolverines' 7th placer as he finished 7th.
Davison native Paul Donahoe, a returning NCAA champ ranked #1 in the country for the University of Nebraska, advanced to the semifinals at 125lbs before injury defaulting out to finish 6th. Columbia's Brandon Kinney of Lowell placed at 125 as well, falling 3-1 to Cal Poly's Boris Novachak in the 7th place match to finish 8th.
For full brackets of the Cliff Keen Invite, click here.
Copyright 2007 Michigan Grappler LLC
