Coach Carter Jordan and his wrestling crew have prepared to participate in the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational on Friday and Saturday. The tournament consists of 36 teams, including three from the ACC, as the Pack will be joined in Vegas by Duke and Virginia Tech. After defeating Oklahoma City 36-6 and falling to Oklahoma 52-0 Saturday, the Wolfpack is looking forward to its first big opportunity of the season to establish itself in the national spotlight. Leading the way for the team are four starting juniors: Mike Moreno, Darrius Little, Colton Palmer, and Quinton Godley.
Perhaps the most exciting match-up of the tournament for the Pack will be a rematch of a bout Saturday that redshirt junior 141-pounder Darrius Little dropped to No. 1 Zach Bailey of Oklahoma. Even though Little has just recently moved up a weight class from 133, his record is 10-2 and he nearly defeated Bailey in Norman, falling to a pin in the final eight seconds to lose the match by a single point after leading for the entire time.
“I’m looking forward to a rematch,” Little said. “I’m going to work more so to build my lead than just trying to get a lead and defend it. I’m going to work to just kill him and break him in all aspects.”
Moreno, a 125-pounder with a season record of 12-2, said his team is eager to show what it learned the hard way in the lopsided loss to the No. 8 Sooners.
“We had a real good show out,” Moreno said. “I feel like we turned a corner mentally. We learned a few things from the Oklahoma match that we can fix. It’s not a mistake if it can’t be fixed.”
Fellow redshirt junior Colton Palmer, who is 9-3 at 157, said he looks forward to competing against the nation’s best.
“I’m really looking forward to getting to wrestle some tough competition,” Palmer said. “I had the opportunity to wrestle one guy that was ranked and I had a very close match with him. This weekend will be the opportunity to wrestle maybe five or six guys that are ranked top-20 that will give me the chance to be ranked in the country.”
Jordan said the tournament will also be beneficial because it will increase his wrestler’s exposure to opponents that they do not frequently get the opportunity to compete against.
“I think the great thing about the tournament is you get to see a lot of the Midwest and West Coast teams that you just don’t see when you wrestle on the East Coast,” Palmer said. “It’s important to see those guys as much as you can.”
Jordan also said he hopes his team’s aggressive style will allow it to improve on its first dual action of the year.
“There’s a certain style that we try to get our kids to wrestle here – to be very aggressive and to be in a very good position to always be moving forward and to always be scoring points,” Jordan said. “We hope to wrestle a lot better than we did this past weekend. This is the closest tournament in the country to what NCAAs are like, as far as competition stiffness. It’s a good barometer to see where we’re at nationally.”