From Friday to Saturday, Dec. 2-3, the 40th Annual Cliff Keen Las Vegas (CKLV) Collegiate Wrestling Invitational took place, the year’s most difficult in-season wrestling tournament, featuring 33 teams, including the Hofstra Pride. This year alone, based on the entries, Pride fans expected to see the highest concentration of NCAA national qualifiers and All-Americans before the postseason than at any other time.

Before the Invitational, Jacob Ferreira, Trey Rogers and Zackary Knighton-Ward all earned tournament pre-seeds. On day two of the Invitational, Ferreira and Rogers each finished the day 3-2. The Pride finished 11-20, with 12 losses against nationally-ranked opponents. 

 There were several starters for the Pride unable to compete due to injury. 

Going into the CKLV invitational preseeded ninth in the 184 bracket, Ferreira won his first-round match by fall over Utah Valley University’s Hunter Morse at the 4:38 mark. However, he lost in the round of 16 by a major decision, 9-1, to University of Michigan’s 10th-ranked Matt Finesilver. Ferreira then won his first two consolation bracket matches, defeating Ohio State University’s Zayne Lehman 3-2 and Harvard University’s Leonardo Tarantino also 3-2. To conclude his run, Ferreira was defeated in the consolation round of 8 by the sixth-ranked Trey Munoz from Oregon State University. 

Rogers, ranked 25th  at 197 pounds, was listed as somewhat of an underdog in the CKLV invitational, given the competition against primarily ranked opponents. He is a fifth-year senior with five starts for the Pride, and he also qualified for the NCAA tournament in 2021. 

Seventh-seeded Rogers began the tournament with a technical fall victory 19-4 at the 3:30 mark over Sacred Heart University’s Nick Copley. In the round of 16, he was defeated 6-0 by Navy’s No. 24 Jacob Koser. Rogers then won his first two consolation rounds, defeating the Air Force Academy’s Calvin Sund 8-4 and Northern Iowa University’s Noah Glaser 5-3 before falling to No. 18 Kordell Norfleet of Arizona State University in the consolation round of 8, with a final score of 8-7.

Despite 184, 197 and 285 being the more favorable weight classes for the Pride, eleventh-seeded Knighton-Ward fell short in the round of 16 to Air Force’s No. 8 Wyatt Hendrickson by fall at the 3:15 mark and to University of Nebraska-Kearney’s Lee Herrington 11-5 in the consolation bracket. 

Like Rogers, Knighton-Ward is considered an underdog since the heavyweight bracket in Vegas was one of the most stacked in college wrestling this season. 

Knighton-Ward is competing for Hofstra for the fourth year in a row, hoping to reach his fourth NCAA tournament and first podium finish.

The Pride has one more major tournament before Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association competition is underway. The Pride will return home on Thursday, Dec. 22, at 6 p.m., when they face American University at the David S. Mack Physical Education Center in their first conference and dual match of the season.

Photo courtesy of Hofstra Athletics