LAS VEGAS – Bryce Steiert finished second, Taylor Lujan finished fourth and six Panthers placed to lead UNI to a fourth-place finish in the final day of the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invite Saturday in Nevada.
The Panthers finished fourth on the strength of bonus points. Every wrestler picked up bonus points from wins or from placing. The Panthers tallied 94 points. Nebraska won the tournament with 118 points, Ohio State was second with 109.5 and Arizona State was third with 103.
UNI entered the day with three semifinalists, but Steiert was the only Panther to advance to the final. He earned a major decision in the semifinal with the 11-2 win over Arizona State’s Anthony Valencia. He dropped his championship match 3-1 to Purdue’s Dylan Lydy in a hard-fought battle.
Max Thomsen and Lujan fell in the semifinals. Thomsen fell 4-2 in overtime after his opponent picked up a late takedown to force the extra period. Lujan fell 8-4 in the semifinal before beating Nebraska’s Taylor Venz for the second time this season, 12-9. He fell in the third-place match 9-7 to Virginia Tech’s Hunter Bolen 9-7. He previously beat Bolen 10-8 in the quarterfinals.
Thomsen fell 4-2 in the consolation semifinal but earned the fifth-place finish with a medical forfeit in the fifth-place bout.
Four Panthers rallied out of the consolation bracket to pick up medals.
Carter Isley picked up a pair of victories to advance to the consolation semifinals, but he fell 4-0 to fall to the fifth-place match where he topped Nebraska’s Christian Lance 3-1.
Michael Blockhus went 2-2 on the day to finish sixth, but he picked up a 6-4 win over No. 7 Tariq Wilson from NC State.
Jay Schwarm finished seventh and 1-2 on the day, but closed his weekend with a pin (1:38) of Ohio State’s Malik Heinselman in the seventh-place match. He recorded four falls on the weekend, picking up the award for the most pins in the tournament in the least amount of time. Schwarm moves into fifth-place on the all-time fall record for UNI.
Jack Skudlarczyk and Keaton Geerts both dropped their opening matches but had strong tournaments. Both wrestlers picked up bonus points for UNI and Skudlarczyk earned a win over No. 10 Taylor LaMont from Utah Valley.
BVU Open
Several Panthers competed in the Buena Vista Open.
Kyle Biscoglia, Parker Keckeisen and Tyrell Gordon all picked up first-place finishes, wrestling unattached. Kaleb Olejniczak, Derek Holschlag and Patrick Schoenfelder finished third. Kyle Gollhofer and Keegan Moore placed fourth. Gollhofer finished fourth after going down with an injury in the semifinal and forfeiting the third-place match.
