
Iowa State wins team title at Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational
LAS VEGAS -- Iowa State won its first Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational team title since 1996, and fifth overall, Saturday inside the Westgate Paradise Event Center. Yonger Bastida highlighted ISU's tournament with a heavyweight title after he defeated Michigan's No. 3 Lucas Davison, 5-3, in the championship match.
Seven Cyclones finished on the podium to give ISU a team total of 130.5, edging Nebraska's 125.5.
Bonus points were key in lifting ISU to its title. The Cyclones won 24 matches with bonus points: five falls, eight tech falls and 11 major decisions.
Bastida went 5-0 with four bonus-point victories en route to his individual title, the first for Iowa State in the tournament since Kyven Gadson in 2014. The Cuban was in on a leg several times during the match but finally earned the takedown with nine seconds remaining to win it.
Evan Frost and Will Feldkamp both recorded runner-up finishes while David Carr placed third. Casey Swiderski notched a fifth-place finish, Anthony Echemendia placed seventh and MJ Gaitan finished in eighth.
Frost wrestled NC State's top-seeded Kai Orine to a scoreless first period in the 133-pound championship match. Orine turned Frost for near fall points twice in the second period before the Cyclone managed to escape, but Orine would add a takedown to his tally before the period's end. Frost got a takedown back in the final period but was unable to close the gap as he fell, 12-4, to Orine.
In the 165-pound third-place match, Carr pushed the pace against Michigan's Cam Amine and earned a stall point and an escape in the second period. As he has done often before, Carr put on a stellar third-period ride to clinch a riding time point. Amine would escape with 12 seconds left, but the Cyclone would notch the victory, 3-1.
Feldkamp couldn't get to his offense in his championship tilt against No. 1 Parker Keckeisen. The UNI Panther registered four takedowns has he defeated Feldkamp, 14-4.