The NC State wrestling team traveled to Las Vegas over the weekend to compete in the Cliff Keen Invitational and finished in eighth of 32 squads, grabbing four podium placements overall.
NC State came in ranked at No. 6 in the country and underperformed this weekend based on that ranking. 12 of the 13 schools that attended are ranked in the top 25, including No. 2 Nebraska, No. 4 Arizona State and No. 5 Virginia Tech. The top wrestlers for NC State were redshirt junior Hayden Hidlay and redshirt freshman Trent Hidlay, who both finished second in their weight class.
Hayden Hidlay was the No. 1 wrestler in the 157-pound division but was upset by No. 2 Ryan Deakin of Northwestern after cruising through the rest of the bracket. Trent Hidlay, who has been taking down top wrestlers at 184 all year, could not get another one against two-time national champion No. 1 Zahid Valencia of Arizona State. In the semis, Trent Hidlay took down another top-5 opponent in No. 3 Taylor Lujan of Northern Iowa.
At 165, No. 13 redshirt junior Thomas Bullard had a huge weekend, fighting his way through the consolation bracket and ending Saturday with a major decision and then a huge pin over No. 12 Ethan Smith of Ohio State, who beat Bullard in the championship bracket earlier in the tournament. The fourth and final podium finisher for the Pack was redshirt junior Tariq Wilson, finishing seventh in the 141-pound class beating Mitch Moore of Virginia Tech after narrowly losing 2-0 to Chad Red Jr. of Nebraska in the quarterfinals.
No. 13 redshirt freshman Jarrett Trombley lost in the quarterfinal and the consolation round of eight. No. 15 Redshirt freshman Jakob Camacho competed at 125 and eventually fell to No. 16 Jack Medley of Michigan in the round of 16 and Jacob Schwarm of Northern Iowa in the consolation round of eight.
Redshirt sophomore A.J. Leitten fell to Joshua Maruca of Arizona State in the consolation round of eight after beating Cornell’s Hunter Richard in the consolation round of 16. At 174 pounds, No. 13 redshirt junior Daniel Bullard had a tough weekend. After leading 13-1 in his opening match, we got caught in a cradle and was pinned, falling to the consolation bracket way too soon. Unfortunately for him, in the round of 16, he was matched up against No. 9 Devin Skatzka of Minnesota and fell 8-2.
In the 197-pound bracket, sophomore Tyrie Houghton went 1-2 on the weekend, falling to Northern Colorado’s Jacob Seely in the consolation round of eight. At 285, sophomore Deonte Wilson was pinned in the opening match and then fell in the consolation round of eight to No. 19 Brandon Matz of North Dakota State.
Most of the ranked teams outperformed the Pack. In order of finish, No. 2 Nebraska, No. 7 Ohio State, No. 4 Arizona State, No. 16 Northern Iowa, No. 23 Purdue, No. 11 Iowa State and No. 15 Minnesota finished 1-7 before NC State. No. 5 Virginia Tech finished 12th, No. 14 Northwestern finished 9th and No. 17 Cornell finished 11th.
Next up for NC State will be an away dual at Appalachian State in Boone on Dec. 13 at 7 p.m. to close out 2019 competition.
