Sooners Travel to Cliff Keen Invitational

Dec. 2, 2010

Wrestling at Cliff Keen Invitational
Date	Friday and Saturday, Dec. 3-4
Location	Las Vegas, Nev.
Venue	Las Vegas Convention Center
Schedule	2010-11 Schedule
Roster	2010-11 Sooners \| Coaching Staff
Information	Tournament Headquarters \| Tournament Preview

NORMAN, Okla. – The eighth-ranked University of Oklahoma wrestling team (5-0) will compete in the 29th annual Cliff Keen Las Vegas Collegiate Invitational, this Friday and Saturday inside the Las Vegas Convention Center.

Competition is expected to be stiff, as 12 of the NWCA/USA Today's top-25 teams will be on hand to participate in the tournament format. Five of the aforementioned teams are ranked in the top-10 and include No. 1 Cornell, No. 4 Wisconsin, No. 6 Boise State, No. 9 Illinois and No. 10 Virginia tech.

“This is an awesome tournament first and foremost,” head coach Jack Spates said. “You've got roughly 40 teams here and four of the top five teams in the country. The competition level is high and you get to see a lot of matches. We are really eager because it is another test for us to see how we are going to fair on the national scale. We've done well so far and now we've got to step it up.”

Last season the Sooners took home five individual medals and placed third over a talented field of 42 teams. Ohio State won the title and Cornell took home second.

Oklahoma hopes to use this tournament as a preview of what's to come at the 2011 NCAA Championships.

“You've got the combination of the toughest teams in the country, along with the depth,” Spates said. “You're battling back and you'll have guys with five-six-seven matches. So it is really a mini NCAA Championship.”

The Sooners are coming off of an impressive Oklahoma Open outing where the Sooners dismantled Oklahoma City, 43-0, and North Carolina State, 52-0. This weekend, Oklahoma is hoping to duplicate its tournament efforts from earlier this season when it captured the Brockport/Oklahoma Gold title on Nov. 13 in Brockport, N.Y.

After the weekend, Oklahoma will return to action to face in-state foe and second-ranked Oklahoma State for Bedlam on Sunday, Dec. 12 in Stillwater.

RANKINGS RUNDOWN

The Sooners have seven Sooners individually ranked in this week's Intermat top-20. Leading all Sooners is No. 1 Zack Bailey at 141 pounds, followed by No. 7 Tyler Caldwell at 174 pounds. Jarrod Patteron is also in the top 10, ranked No. 8 at 125 pounds

Nathan Fernandez checks in at No. 11 among heavyweights and Erich Schmidtke ranks 13th at 184 pounds. Freshman Matt Lester remained at No. 16 among 157 pounders. Chase Neslon moved up one spot to No. 20 in the 165 pound weight class.

Sooner Starters Participants (Weight)	Hometown (Year)	Record
No. 8 Jarrod Patterson (125)	Cushing, Okla. (So.)	8-1
Jordan Keller (133)	Wichita, Kan. (Jr.)	5-1
No. 1 Zack Bailey (141)	Kansas City, Mo. (Sr.)	10-0
Nick Lester (149)	St. Louis, Mo. (RFr.)	2-1
No. 16 Matt Lester (157)	Eureka, Mo. (RFr.)	6-2
No. 19 Chase Nelson (165)	Wichita, Kan. (So.)	5-2
No. 7 Tyler Caldwell (174)	Wichita, Kan. (So.)	8-0
No. 16 Erich Schmidtke (184)	Aberdeen, Wash. (RSo.)	9-1
Keldrick Hall (197)	Dallas, Texas (RSo.)	9-1
No. 11 Nathan Fernandez (HWT)	Lawton, Okla. (Sr.)	8-1

Where OU stands in the polls...

Amateur Wrestling News (No. 2)
Intermat (No. 7)
NWCA Coaches Poll (No. 8)
Collegewrestling.net (No. 8)
WrestlingReport.com (No. 8)

University of Oklahoma Athletics

Sooners Travel to Cliff Keen Invitational

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