A perfect 5-0 throughout the two-day tournament, senior defending National Champion Ben Askren breezed through the championship bracket pinning all five of his opponents including runner-up and fourth-ranked Matt Harrington of Pennsylvania in 46 seconds. With his title, Askren claimed Most Outstanding Wrestler as well as the Gorrarian honors for most pins in the tournament. Askren has collected 75 falls in his four year career with the Tigers. The tournament win by Askren is his third consecutive at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational. With the five wins, Askren has extended the nation's longest win streak to 60 victories.
Younger brother and 197 pound grappler Maxwell Askren finished first in his first appearance at the 25th annual Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational. Askren won his semi-final bout by default and notched a 4-3 decision victory over second-ranked Jerry Rinaldi of Cornell in the title round. To date, No. 3 Askren has knocked off three of the nation's top-five ranked wrestlers.
Pell, a 2005 All-American tied his career high finish at the Invitational finishing second to No. 5 Eric Tannenbaum of Michigan. Prior to the championship finals, Pell bested Indiana's 13th-ranked Max Dean 9-6, but suffered a 5-3 loss in the final hard-fought bout.
Redshirt freshman John Olanowski (Virginia Beach, Va.) finished seventh at 125 pounds after taking a win by forfeit over Tennessee Chattanooga's Javier Maldonado. Fellow redshirt freshman Mark Ellis, a heavyweight from Peculiar, Mo., took sixth. Junior All-American Tyler McCormick (Leawood, Kan.) grappled his way to a fourth place finish at 133 pounds with sophomores Michael Chandler (High Ridge, Mo.) and Raymond Jordan (New Bern, N.C.) landing sixth-place finishes at 157 and 184 pounds, respectively.
Missouri will travel to the state of Michigan for a pair of duals beginning Saturday, Dec. 9 at 7:30 p.m. (CT) against Central Michigan followed by a Sunday, Dec. 10 dual against Michigan State at 1 p.m. (CT).
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