Bedelyon Takes Another Title, Barlow Finishes Fourth at Las Vegas
12/3/2011 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling
Las Vegas, Nev. – Senior Nic Bedelyon (Lewistown, Pa.) kept his perfect season in tact Saturday, winning the 125-pound bracket of the 30th annual Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational. Kent State finished ninth of 34 teams, getting a fourth place finish from senior Brendan Barlow (Westerville, Ohio) and a sixth from sophomore Tyler Small (Littlestown, Pa.) at the Las Vegas Convention Center.
Currently ranked No. 3 in every national poll, Bedelyon began Saturday with a dominant 8-1 victory over No. 9 Steve Bonanno. He then met a familiar foe in the finals, No. 5 Frank Perrelli of Cornell. Perrelli kept the match scoreless in the first period, but a third period takedown by Bedelyon made the difference in a 3-1 decision. It was the only close match of the tournament for Bedelyon, who went 5-0 on the weekend, improving to 16-0 on the year.
After dropping his second round match on Friday, Barlow came storming back to win five straight matches, including three consecutive on Saturday. He eliminated No. 18 Kyle Frey of Drexel with an 8-3 decision and scored a takedown in sudden victory against No. 12 Ben Apland of Michigan to win 3-1. Just 24 hours after being pinned by Cal Poly's Atticus Disney, Barlow got revenge Saturday with a 7-3 victory in the consolation semifinals. He then came up on the short end of his second overtime match of the day in a tiebreaker, falling to No. 9 Tucker Lane of Nebraska.
Bedelyon vs. Perrelli Finals Video
Bedelyon vs. Zimmer Quarterfinal Video
Small dropped three matches on Saturday in what was arguably the toughest bracket of the tournament. He dropped a 6-2 decision to Ohio State's Hunter Stieber and was edged 5-3 by Nebraska's Jake Sueflohn. In the fifth place match, Small gave last year's national runner-up, Boris Novachkov (Cal Poly) all he could handle in a 5-3 setback.
Juniors Mallie Shuster (Newville, Pa.) and Keith Witt (Oak Harbor, Ohio) each dropped their only match of the day, coming up one win shy of placing.
Kent State returns to the M.A.C. Center next weekend hosting Missouri on Friday, Dec. 9 and Las Vegas Invitational champion Ohio State Sunday, Dec. 11.
