#3 Wrestling in Vegas for Cliff Keen Invitational

TEMPE - Sun Devil Wrestling will be in Vegas Friday and Saturday competing in the 40th annual Cliff Keen Invitational. Ten from the Maroon and Gold are set to wrestle at the Las Vegas Convention Center in the final event of the 2022 calendar year. Wrestling starts at 10:00 a.m. AZ both days and all the action will stream via FloWrestling. Full tournament info (watch/brackets/tickets) is linked here.
 
Vegas Travel Party
125 Richard Figueroa
133 No. 4 Michael McGee - 2 seed
141 No. 18 Jesse Vasquez - 9 seed
149 No. 4 Kyle Parco - 3 seed
157 Michael Kilic
165 No. 17 Tony Negron - 4 seed
174 Cael Valencia
184 No. 15 Anthony Montalvo - 8 seed
197 No. 16 Kordell Norfleet - 4 seed
HWT No. 1/13 P4P Cohlton Schultz - 1 seed
 
Sun Devil Wrestling in the news
Cliff Keen pre-seeds
Cohlton Schultz, No. 3 Mason Parris could have a rematch
Lightweights preview
Middleweights preview
Upperweights preview
 
Storylines to follow

• Figueroa continues to hold ASU's 125 spot in Brandon Courtney's absence. Figs picked up his first varsity start and victory against Rutgers' Dylan Shawver on Nov. 12, and followed that with a 6-4 decision over No. 14 Noah Surtin on the 17th. FloWrestling referred to him as "The most intriguing name in the weight, and one of the more intriguing names in the tournament as a whole" for Cliff Keen, and predicts him to take third.

 

• With a 5-0 record thus far this year and three bonus-point victories, two-time All-American Michael McGee is cruising. Flo predicts him to finish second at 133 at Cliff Keen and has wins over three of the next four top contenders in his bracket.

 

• 149 is STACKED this year and our money's on two-time All-American Kyle Parco. The second-year Sun Devil is 4-1 on the year, with his lone loss being an injury forfeit, but he's coming off a 3-2 victory over Mizzou's Brock Mauller. Depending on how things play out, Jonathan Millner and Parco could meet for the fourth time in their collegiate careers. Parco has the all-time record at 2-1, but Millner has the most recent victory with a 9-4 decision at the NCAA Championships last spring. No. 5 Sammy Sasso's in the mix too.

 

• #1 Cohlton Schultz vs #3 Mason Parris: "Cohlton Schultz and Mason Parris last wrestled in the quarter-finals of the 2022 NCAA tournament where Schultz won a 6-5 decision. After that match, Schultz went on to make the NCAA finals while Mason Parris finished 5th. The implications of this potential match are huge for both wrestlers and the outcome will absolutely play into seeding at the 2023 NCAA tournament. With Arizona State's schedule, Schultz will not wrestle either #2 Greg Kerkvliet or #4 Tony Cassioppi in the regular season. That means if Schultz gets by Parris at the CKLV, he'll be in a great position to go undefeated and earn the #1 seed at the 2023 NCAA Tournament." - FloWrestling. Obviously, a big matchup.

 
Last time out
ASU sent a squad of mostly reserves to the Keystone Classic in Philadelphia Nov. 20. Norfleet was the top finisher out of that group, taking second at 197. Michael McGee is coming off a loss to Lucas Byrd at the NWCA All-Star Classic, but the collective group of starters' last outing was Nov. 17 when No. 5 ASU upset No. 3 Missouri in the home opener. The Sun Devils celebrated wins from 125-149, 184, and heavyweight.