By Victoria Mickens – STAFF WRITER
On Friday night, three juniors on the Hofstra men’s wrestling found themselves advancing to the second day of the 34th Annual Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational. Unfortunately, all three, Jamel Hudson, Frank Affronti and Michael Hughes, were eliminated in the fifth round of wrestle-backs on Saturday morning. Collectively, the Hofstra Pride finished the tournament in 30th place with 18 points.
The Missouri Tigers, ranked eighth, won the tournament with 154 points. They were 41 points ahead of the second place finishers Big Red Bears of Cornell who are ranked 14th with 113 points and 49 points ahead of the, third place finishers and 18th ranked, Minnesota Gophers.
On the first day of the tournament, Jamel Hudson (8-3 on the season) posted a 3-1 mark and a 1-0, which earned him his spot in the second day of the event. Hudson opened with an 11-4 win over Nebraska-Kearney’s James Bamford. Hudson, fourth seed in this particular tournament, 4-2 in the CKLV, was pinned by Tyler Smith of Bucknell at the 2:02 mark of their 141-lb match.
Frank Affronti (16-6 on the season) opened with a very close 6-5 victory over Purdue’s Jacob Morrissey. He recovered from a defeat with a 6-4 win over California Baptist’s Christian Smith and advanced to the second day with a 6-0 victory over Drew Foster of Northern Iowa. Affronti was knocked out of the tournament by a 7-5 decision to Army West Point’s Brian Harvey. He was the 10th-seed and 3-2 at the CKLV.
Michael Hughes (16-3 in the season) opened with a solid 6-1 victory over Purdue’s Tyler Kral before being upset in the round of 16 by the 11th seed Tanner Hall from Arizona State. On Friday evening Hughes defeated West Virginia’s Anthony Vizcarrondo with a 7-0 victory, thus earning his spot in day two. Hughes, was also 3-2 in the CKLV and a 10-3 defeat by Ohio State’s Nick Tavanello brought his experience to a close.
Day one of the tournament also consisted of individual victories from two other wrestlers prior to their elimination. Sophomore Bryan Damon (8-11) opened with a remarkable 11-2 major decision over Army West Point’s Sean Badua at 125 pounds before being pinned by Dylan Peters of Northern Iowa and eventually eliminated in a 4-2 loss to Thierno Diallo of Binghamton. Pride freshman Omar Haddad (5-11) won with a close 6-5 victory over Newberry’s Cody Brundage before being knocked out of the CKLV by medical default.
Unfortunately, freshman Ryan Burkert (4-6), junior Jahlani Callender (10-9), redshirt freshman Bobby Fehr (1-9) and sophomore Cory Damiana, all suffered consecutive losses on the first day of the tournament and were eliminated as a result.
The men will be back in action in Lock Haven, Pennsylvania for the Lock Haven Invitational after taking a break in order to focus on final exams for the fall semester.
