Kent State University
Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational
Trio Leads Flashes at Cliff Keen
12/2/2022 10:03:00 PM | Wrestling
Las Vegas, Nev.- Jake Ferri, Kody Komara and Enrique Munguia wrestled their way into the weekend, leading the Flashes at the Cliff Keen Invitational in Las Vegas.
Jake Ferri wrestled his way into the final day of the tournament, going 2-1 on Friday. Ferri, seeded seventh, earned a 18-5 major decision win over Cole Bayless of Harvard. Ferri then muscled his way into the quarters with a 5-3 win over the 10th seeded Jarrett Trombley of NC State. The bracket held form and Ferri met the second-seeded Matt Ramos of Purdue, dropping a tough 6-2 decision. On Saturday, Ferri lost a tough decision to Michigan's Kurt McHenry. The 12-seed in the tournament would end up finishing eighth.
Kody Komara punched his ticket to Saturday after going 3-1 on Friday. Komara, seeded ninth, won 11-6 in the opening round over Sacred Heart's Matt Laurie. Komara then met familiar foe Alec Hagan of Ohio in the 8-9 match, dropping a 3-2 decision. Komara rallied back with 7-2 and 10-2 victories to move into the consolation bracket's final eight. Komara also faced a Wolverine on Saturday, taking on the sixth-seeded Chance Lamer of Michigan. Komara would drop the match to the sixth seed (and #22 in the Wrestle Stat rankings), Lamer would go on to finish seventh.
Like Komara, Munguia went 3-1 on Friday to advance to the weekend. The sophomore was seeded sixth and advanced in the championship bracket with a 5-3 opening round win over Jurius Clark of Hofstra. He fell into the wrestle backs after a tough loss to the 11-seed, Matt Olguin of Oregon State. The match of the day came next, Munguia found himself down 8-1 to Northwestern's David Ferrante only to storm back to force extra time, tying the match 11-11. The momentum carried into the extra time where a takedown earned him the 13-11 win. He followed that up with a gritty 2-1 win over Andrew Nicholson of Virginia Tech to move into the weekend. On Saturday, Munguia dropped a decision to top-seeded Carson Kharchla of Ohio State (and #3 in the Wrestle Stat rankings) to finish the tournament at 3-2 overall.
Brendon Fenton picked up a victory by pin in the first round on Friday, earning a third-period fall over Cal Poly's Ethan Rotondo. Fenton would lose two tough matches to follow, after drawing top-seeded Vitali Arujau of Cornell in round two.
Louis Newell went 1-2 at 141 pounds. After dropping a tough decision to the seven seed, Vince Cornella of Cornell, Newell defeated Cal Baptist's Edison Alanis 6-1. He then drew another seeded foe, ninth-seeded Jesse Vazquez of Arizona State, dropping a hard-fought 4-1 decision.
At 157, Aaron Ferguson also went 1-2. Ferguson earned a major decision 9-1 win over Eric Shindel of Hofstra. He dropped into the wrestle backs after a hard-fought 6-1 decision against the five seed, Kendall Coleman of Purdue before a third-period defeat to Columbia's Cesar Alvan.
The Flashes' schedule features three duals to close out the calendar year. First up is a trip to Columbus to tangle with the #3 Ohio State Buckeyes. The in-state dual is set for Sunday, December 11th at 2 p.m.
Players Mentioned
