LAS VEGAS – The CSU Bakersfield wrestling program produced four men that reach the second day of competition at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational this weekend and Saturday's final rounds saw two Roadrunners become place winners. Redshirt seniors Coleman Hammond (157) and Matt Williams (197) each wrestled their ways into their respective fifth-place matches to close the highly-competitive tournament.
In the semifinals, Williams started Day 2 against Kollin Moore (Ohio State), a 2017 All-American and the No. 1 seed, took a 5-2 lead into the third and final period. Williams chose down in and once again escaped immediately to make the score 5-3, but a takedown by Moore with a minute to go all but sealed the deal. Williams suffered his first loss of the year (14-1), a 10-4 decision.
Williams would go on to be pinned by No. 5 Jeric Kasunic (American) and slid down into the fifth-place match. He joined fellow redshirt senior Coleman Hammond in the round after Hammond won his first two consolation matches of the day, but fell by decision (6-4) to Josh Shields of Arizona State.
In Williams' fifth-place match, the native of Apple Valley, Calif. took a 7-0 decision over Stephen Loiseau of Drexel to claim fifth. Hammond placed sixth with another narrow defeat, this time, a 6-4 decision against Archie Colgan (Wyoming). Williams finished the tournament 5-2 while Hammond kept busy with a 6-3 record on the weekend.
As a team, CSUB placed 16th of 48 teams with a combined 46 points. Ohio State won the team championship with 144.5 points and four individual champions.
Below is a summary of all of CSUB's bouts from the final day of the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational. The `Runners will have less than a week off to prepare for their road dual against Fresno State, Friday, Dec. 8.
Sergio Mendez (125):
- Lost by decision (9-6) to Ethan Lizak (Minnesota).
Russell Rohlfing (141):
- Lost by decision (10-6) to Nick Zanetta (Pittsburgh).
Coleman Hammond (157):
- Defeated Clay Ream (North Dakota State) by decision (19-14).
- Won by decision (14-8) over Taleb Rahmani (Pittsburgh).
- Lost by decision (6-4) against Josh Shields (Arizona State).
- Lost by decision (6-4) to Archie Colgan (Wyoming) in the 5th-place match.
Matt Williams (197):
- Lost by decision (10-4) to No. 1 Kollin Moore (Ohio State).
- Pinned by No. 5 Jeric Kasunic (American) at 4:47.
- Won by decision (7-0) against Stephen Loiseau (Drexel) in the fifth-place match.
~GoRunners.com~
