Minnesota's Brayton Lee after winning the title at 149 pounds (Photo/Tony Rotundo, WrestlersAreWarriors.com)The Cliff Keen Las Vegas is the nation's premier regular season tournament. With so many ranked wrestlers and teams competing over two days, the tournament always gives fans plenty to discuss and reveals a lot about teams and wrestlers. This year is no exception. Let's examine four things we learned at this year's CKLV.
Brayton Lee is a national title contender at 149 pounds
In my 'Ten questions heading into Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational' feature, one of my questions was, 'Is freshman Sammy Sasso a national title threat at 149 pounds?' Based on his runner-up performance in his Las Vegas, Sasso certainly appears to be a title threat. However, Sasso wasn't the Big Ten freshman who stole the show at 149 pounds. It was Minnesota's Brayton Lee. He entered the tournament seeded fifth and ranked No. 9 nationally by InterMat. Lee faced a tough road to the title but came through with five straight decisions (no bonus-point wins). After beating Cal Poly's Joshy Cortez in the opening round, Lee topped two-time NCAA qualifier Josh Maruca of Arizona State, 9-4, in the round of 16. In the quarterfinals, Lee defeated No. 8-ranked Brock Zacherl of Clarion, 8-3. In the semifinals, Lee came from behind late to win 4-2 in sudden victory over Northern Iowa's Max Thomsen. Thomsen led 1-0 in the third period before Lee picked up a takedown with 30 seconds left. The match eventually went to sudden victory where Lee countered a Thomsen shot and scored the match-winning takedown. In the finals, Lee faced a familiar opponent in Sasso. Last season, while both were redshirting, Sasso defeated Lee in college and then again at the UWW Junior Nationals. However, Lee came back to beat Sasso at the UWW Junior World Trials to earn a spot on the Junior World Team. On Saturday, Lee came out on top again, earning a 6-4 victory. He scored takedowns in each of the first two periods and led 5-2 until a late takedown by Sasso, which cut the deficit to one. Lee was cut loose with under 15 seconds left and held on for the win. Lee's title in Las Vegas will catapult him in the rankings at 149 pounds. He improved his record this season to 13-1, with his only loss coming to No. 4 Boo Lewallen of Oklahoma State.
ASU's Zahid Valencia had bonus-point victories in all five matches in Las Vegas (Photo/Tony Rotundo, WrestlersAreWarriors.com)Zahid Valencia is the Hodge Trophy frontrunner
Valencia proved in Las Vegas that he is not only head and shoulders above the 184-pound field nationally, but also the frontrunner for the Hodge Trophy. Sure, the season is young and there are plenty of wrestlers dominating and making their cases for college wrestling's top individual honor, but the 2020 Hodge is Valencia's to lose. Las Vegas had almost all the nation's top 184-pounders, and Valencia earned bonus-point victories in all five of his matches. He had a two falls, a technical fall in the quarterfinals and major decisions in the semifinals and finals. For Valencia, it was his third Las Vegas title in three attempts, and he was named Outstanding Wrestler of the tournament. Those making a case for other wrestlers to win the Hodge might point to Valencia's one-point win (8-7) over Nebraska's Taylor Venz on Nov. 10. But Valencia's performance in Las Vegas should stand out more than a one-point win over a past All-American in early November.
Ohio State's Luke Pletcher scored 65 points in five matches in Las Vegas (Photo/Sam Janicki, SJanickiPhoto.com)Luke Pletcher is an offensive juggernaut
The two-time All-American Pletcher has long been criticized for winning close, low-scoring matches. It's time for wrestling fans to put that to rest. While some of the criticism may have been unfair, there is no denying that Pletcher has turned him his offense this season. That was on display in Las Vegas, where he blitzed a field that included four of the nation's top six 141-pounders. Pletcher scored 65 points in five matches, an average of 13 points per match. He scored double-digit points on All-Americans Chad Red of Nebraska and Mitch McKee of Minnesota. The Buckeye senior has beaten most of the national title contenders at 141-pounders, with the exception of Penn State All-American Nick Lee, who he will likely see on Feb. 15 in State College.
Purdue's Dylan Lydy gets in on a shot against Nebraska's Mikey Labriola in the semifinals (Photo/Tony Rotundo, WrestlersAreWarriors.com)Purdue has several All-American threats
The Purdue wrestling program has been on the rise since Tony Ersland took over as the Boilermakers' head wrestling coach in 2014. That rise has been steady. Purdue has finished the season ranked in the dual meet rankings in four of the past five seasons. Ersland has produced multiple top-25 recruiting classes, including a No. 7 class in 2016. He has twice matched a program high with eight NCAA qualifiers in 2015 and 2019. However, critics of the program will point to Purdue's conference dual meet records (3-6 in each of the past five seasons) and the lack of All-Americans (zero) under Ersland. This season, Purdue looks primed to break through and not only produce its first All-American under Ersland, but potentially multiple. The Boilermakers finished in fifth place in Las Vegas and had three finalists, including a champion, Dylan Lydy (174). Lydy defeated Nebraska's Mikey Labriola in the semifinals before topping Northern Iowa's Bryce Steiert in the finals. Devin Schroder (125) and Christian Brunner (197) finished second, both losing to returning national finalists. Junior 149-pounder Griffin Parriott and freshman 157-pounder Kendall Coleman both finished fourth. Parriott posted a 5-2 record, which included a win over 2017 All-American Max Thomsen of Northern Iowa. Coleman entered the tournament undefeated and only suffered losses to two-time All-American Hayden Hidlay of NC State and No. 3 David Carr of Iowa State, one of the nation's top freshmen.
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