Las Vegas, Nev. (Dec. 3, 2021) – Wyoming Cowboy Wrestling was in action on Friday as the competed in the first day of competition at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational. The Cowboys are in seventh as a team after the first day of wrestling and are led by Tate Samuelson and Stephen Buchanan who both advanced to tomorrows semifinals.
 
"The morning session went really well and our guys in the consolation rounds wrestled really hard. It's tough to be in that situation and it was nice to see them step up." Head Wrestling Coach Mark Branch said "We didn't end the day the way we wanted to so we have to come out tomorrow ready to compete, tomorrow is a big day." 
 
Coming into the tournament as the No. 1 seed, Samuelson went 3-0 on Friday displaying stingy defense holding each of his opponents to only four points. In the quarterfinals, Samuelson faced No. 21 ranked and No. 8 seeded David Key of Navy. Samuelson opened up his offense as the match went on picking up a late take down to go up 7-3 and seal his victory. 
 
At 197 pounds Stephen Buchanan came out ready to compete and picked duo two ranked wins.  He wasted no time in his first match first match pinning No. 33 ranked and No. 14 seeded Nick Stemmet of Stanford in 4:02. In the quarterfinals Buchanan was matched up against No. 22 ranked and No. 11 seeded Alan Clothier of Northern Colorado. Buchanan controlled the match from whistle to whistle shutting clothier down in a 5-1 win to move on to the semi-finals. 
 
At 157 pounds Jacob Wright got his season underway coming back from injury Wright returned in style with a 13-2 major decision victory over Charles Darracott of Stanford. 
 
The Cowboys competed well in the consolation brackets as well. Jake Svihel (125), Job Greenwood (133), Chase Zollmann (141) and Jaron Jensen (149) all picked up wins to stay alive in the tournament and move within one win of earning a top eight-finish. In total seven Pokes are set to compete in the consolation round of eight tomorrow morning looking to earn a spot in the top eight. 
 
As a team, the Cowboys are in seventh with 43 points sitting just one point behind sixth place Oregon State. The Cowboys are one of two Big 12 teams in the top ten and sit 12.5 points ahead of tenth place Oklahoma. Nebraska leads the 26 team field after the first day with 44.5 points. 
 
Wrestling will begin at 10 am M.T. tomorrow with the semifinals set to begin at 11 am M.T. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
COWBOY RESULTS
 
125 – Jake Svihel 
No. 8 Tanner Jordan (SDSU) dec. Svihel (WYO) 5-2
Svihel (WYO) won by MFOR over Logan Ashton (STAN)
Svihel (WYO) dec. Yusief Lillie (UVU) 3-2
 
133 – No. 8 Job Greenwood 
No. 9 Jake Gliva (MINN) dec. Greenwood (WYO) 5-0
Greenwood (WYO) major dec. Abe Hinrichsen (CALP) 12-3
 
 
141 – Chase Zollmann
No. 9 Angelo Martinoni (CSUB) dec. Zollmann (WYO) 3-1 (SV-1)
Zollmann (WYO) tech. fall Jordan Carlucci (SHU) 17-2 
Zollmann (WYO) dec. No. 10 Ty Smith (UVU) 6-4 (SV-1)
Zollmann (WYO) major dec. Nick James (UNK) 8-0
 
149 – Jaron Jensen 
No. 5 Ridge Lovett (NEB) major dec. Jensen (WYO) 11-2
Jensen (WYO) fall (5:51) Matthew Arciuolo (COL) 
Jensen (WYO) tec. fall Ethan Willis (CITADEL) 16-0
Jensen (WYO) dec. Josh Brown (CSUB) 6-4
 
157 – No. 5 Jacob Wright
Wright (WYO) major dec. Charles Darracott (STAN) 13-2
No. 4 Kendall Coleman (PUR) dec. Wright (WYO) 7-5
 
165 – Cooper Voorhees
No. 2 Shane Griffith (STAN) fall (2:58) Voorhees (WYO) 
Voorhees (WYO) dec. Augustine Garcia (CSUB) 6-1
No. 9 Joseph Grello (OU) dec. Voorhees (WYO) 6-1
 
174 – No. 4 Hayden Hastings 
Hastings (WYO) dec. Damen Pape (UNC) 5-2
Hastings (WYO) dec. No. 13 Joshua Kim (HARV) 3-1
No. 5 Cade devos (SDSU) dec. Hastings (WYO) 7-4
 
184 – No. 1 Tate Samuelson
Samuelson (WYO) major dec. Austin Eldredge (UNK) 14-4
Samuelson (WYO) dec. Caden Gerlach (CBU) 7-4
Samuelson (WYO) dec. No. 8 David Key (NAVY) 7-4
 
197 – No. 3 Stephen Buchanan 
Buchanan (WYO) fall (4:02) No. 14 Nathan Stemmet (STAN)
Buchanan (WYO) dec. No. 11 Alan Clothier (UNC) 
 
285 – No. 2 Brian Andrews 
Andrews (WYO) dec. Blake Querio (MICH) 6-0
Andrews (WYO) dec. Riley Smith (NAVY) 10-7 
No. 10 Gary Traub dec. Andrews (WYO) 3-1 (SV-1)