ON THE PODIUM!
— Binghamton Wrestling (@BearcatsWrestle) December 3, 2017
2x CKLV Placer Steven Schneider
How tough was the CKLV at this weight?
184: 7 of the 8 placers are ranked in the top 15 InterMat Rankings & 3 are All-Americans. pic.twitter.com/nrmlAvKXF1
LAS VEGAS, NV- No. 14 Steve Schneider (184) of the Binghamton wrestling team earned a 6th place finish at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational on Saturday while Tristan Rifanburg earned an 8th place finish at 157 pounds. This marks the second consecutive year that Binghamton has placed at the tournament, with Schneider making his way onto the podium for the second time.
Three Bearcats survived and advanced through day one of the Invitational as Schneider, Rifanburg and Vincent DePrez all wrestled in matches on Saturday at arguably one of the toughest collegiate wrestling tournaments in the country. Schneider and Rifanburg both went 2-1 on the day on Friday and DePrez fought his way back through the consolation bracket to go 3-1 and move through to day two.
With a 6th place finish at this years Cliff Keen, No. 14 Schneider took the mat against six wrestlers ranked in the top-20 nationally by Intermat this weekend. He recorded wins over No. 8 Jordan Ellingwood (CMU), No. 15 Dylan Gabel (UNCO), and No. 16 Christian LaFragola (BRN). He also faced No. 1 Myles Martin (OSU), No. 6 Zack Zavatsky (VTech) and No. 11 Rickey Robertson (WIS). The 184-pound senior went 4-3 overall at the tournament.
With an eighth place finish at the tournament, Rifanburg also faced a number of ranked opponents, including a win by medical forfeit over No. 14 Collin Hefferman of Central Michigan. He also faced No. 6 Micah Jordan (OSU) and No. 20 Archie Colgan (WY). The 157-pound redshirt sophomore went 3-3 overall.
DePrez also had a strong showing at the Cliff Keen after battling his way back through the consolation bracket on Friday to advance to day 2. DePrez dropped his first match to No. 18 Jon Jay Chavez (Cornell) before winning three straight to move on to Saturday. The 165-pound redshirt junior faced No. 18 Chavez in his first match this morning but ultimately fell to go 3-2 on the weekend.
Full bracket results from the tournament can be found at the link at the top of the release. The Bearcats return home and will have a few weekends off to prepare for the South Beach Duals, which will take place in Fort Lauderdale, Florida December 29-30.