University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina
Cliff Keen Invitational
Carolina Sits 13th After Day One Of Cliff Keen Invitational
December 1, 2007 | Wrestling
Dec. 1, 2007
LAS VEGAS - Led by quarterfinal showings by 197-pounder Dennis Drury and heavyweight Justin Dobies, North Carolina is tied for 13th place with 36.5 points Friday after the first day of action at the 2007 Cliff Keen Invitational at the Las Vegas Convention Center.
In addition to Drury and Dobies, who both dropped their quarterfinal bouts but remain alive in the consolation bracket, 165-pound standout Keegan Mueller has battled his way through the consols after losing in the round of 16. The other seven Tar Heels in action each lost twice Friday and were eliminated.
The 50-team field features many of the nation's top-25 teams, including No. 1 Minnesota. UNC is currently ahead of Atlantic Coast Conference rivals NC State (22nd) and Virginia Tech (26th).
Drury opened with a 4-0 win over Jason Trulson of Arizona State and followed with a 9-2 decision over Brad Arand of Oregon State to reach the quarters where he dropped a 9-3 decision to 13th-ranked Patrick Bond of Illinois. Now 5-3 on the season, Drury will face Western State's Donovan McMahill to open Saturday's action.
Dobies continued his hot start to the season with an 8-1 decision over Trey McLean of Penn and added a pin of Nebraska's Jon May, the nation's No. 8 heavyweight, in 2:21 to reach the round of eight. There, Dobies suffered an 8-2 loss to Dustin Rogers of West Virginia. Dobies is now 9-2 on the season and will open Saturday against Pittsburgh's Zack Schaeffer.
Mueller went 4-1 Friday to move his record to 8-3. He captured his first two bouts via technical fall - 17-1 over Christopher Riding of New Mexico Highlands and 18-0 over Bryson Vivas of Pacific - before dropping a 9-5 decision to No. 3-ranked Pat Pitsch of Arizona State in the round of 16. Mueller responded with an 8-3 decision over West Virginia's Donnie Jones and a 7-1 win over Justin Fraga of Purdue to say alive in the consolation bracket. He will face Daniel Atondo of Cal State Bakersfield when action resumes.
At 141, redshirt freshman Nick Stabile had a strong showing with a 4-2 record Friday to improve to a team-best 10-2 this season. Vincent Ramirez (149), Ben Fiacco (157) and Robert McCarthy (184) each went 2-2 on the day.
The tournament resumes Saturday at noon Eastern.
Players Mentioned
