Ohio State graduate wrestler Sammy Sasso pins Chattanooga’s Jackson Hurst during their match at the Covelli Center Thursday night. Sasso won 12-6, and Ohio State won 33-6. Credit: Reid Murray | Managing Editor for Design
The No. 6 Ohio State wrestling team will travel to Las Vegas to compete in the annual Cliff Keen Invitational tournament Dec. 6 and 7.
The tournament is a combination of wrestlers from 30 schools — including 12 top-25 wrestlers, according to InterMat — with each school allowed to have one wrestler participate in each weight class. The format is meant to simulate the postseason structure.
With multiple high-level wrestlers across the country partaking in the tournament, Buckeyes head coach Tom Ryan said he views the tournament as one of the toughest to compete in.
“It’s an event that tests your will a bit; it’s an event that tests your capacity to be resilient,” Ryan said. “Match after match is good, you get your challenges quite a bit.”
Traveling for the Buckeyes will be No. 10 Brendan McCrone (125 pounds), No. 15 Nic Bouzakis (133 pounds), No. 2 Jesse Mendez (141 pounds), Gavin Brown (149 pounds), No. 9 Paddy Gallagher (157), No. 7 Sammy Sasso (165 pounds), Seth Shumate (184 pounds), No. 10 Luke Geog (197 pounds) and No. 8 Nick Feldman (heavyweight).
Pre-seeding for the tournament is done by evaluating wrestlers’ accomplishments during both the 2023 and 2024 seasons, ranking them from No. 1-12. Those who are not pre-seeded in the top 12 will compete in preliminary matches until the final bracket spots are filled for the first round.
McCrone (No. 6) will compete against Sulayman Bah from Columbia (No. 11), Shumate (No. 8) will face Ross McFarland from Hofstra (No. 9) and Geog (No. 7) will wrestle Wyatt Voelker of Northern Iowa (No. 10).
Geog said the stakes of the tournament aren’t the Buckeyes’ focus, as they treat every match the same.
“Whether it’s we’re going to Vegas or we’re going to Nashville or the NCAA [championship], I think we’re just expecting everyone to compete hard and wrestle freely and have fun,” Geog said.
Bouzakis (No. 7), Mendez (No. 1), Brown (unseeded), Gallagher (No. 4), Sasso (No. 2) and Feldman (No. 4) do not currently have assigned opponents.
Despite the season beginning last month, Ryan said this tournament will help him finalize his roster as the new year approaches.
“There’s a couple spots that are up for grabs still that the weights have not decided,” Ryan said. “Like I looked for in my Subaru, I’m looking for reliability and durability, looking for someone that weekend after weekend, they give and they perform at a high-level week after week.”
To follow along with the Cliff Keen Invitational, live streams and results will be available on the FloWrestling website.
