Five potential matches to watch for at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational

The Cliff Keen Las Vegas has become arguably the toughest regular season tournament in the country. This year, the brackets are loaded with potentially huge matchups, even in the earlier rounds. We will take a look at five potential matches that could occur based on the pre-seeds.

*Note all rankings are based off of Flowrestling

125 – No. 2 Jack Mueller (Virginia) vs. No. 14 Jakob Camacho (NC State)

With Mueller earning the No. 1 seed and Camacho grabbing the No. 4, the pair will meet in the semifinals if their seeds hold. Mueller is a two-time All-American and 2019 NCAA finalist. He has only wrestled one match this year due to his intention to wrestle freestyle in attempts to make the Olympic Team. Camacho, a consensus top-25 recruit, put together a very strong redshirt season last year, going 26-3. This year, he’s off to a 7-1 start with his only loss being his first match of the year, 6-5, to No. 13 Killian Cardinale of Old Dominion. This match should be a good measuring stick to see where Camacho stacks up against the upper echelon of the weight class.


141 – No. 1 Luke Pletcher (Ohio State) vs. No. 6 Chad Red (Nebraska)

This is another potential semifinal matchup with Pletcher slotted as the No. 1 seed and Red as the No. 4. Pletcher, a senior, and Red, a redshirt junior, are both two-time All-Americans. Pletcher has placed fourth the last two seasons, while Red has finished eighth and seventh. The pair have yet to meet in college due to Pletcher competing at 133 pounds the past two years. However, the pair does have a history. In high school the two squared off at the 2014 Flonationals, where Pletcher won, 7-3, the 2015 Flonationals finals, where Red won by fall, and the 2015 Who’s No. 1, where Red won, 3-1. They were also slated to wrestle at the 2016 Pittsburgh Wrestling Classic (formerly the Dapper Dan), but Red did not make weight. This match allows the wrestlers to renew a rivalry that has been dormant the past five years.

149 – Andrew Alirez (Northern Colorado) vs. The Field

149 pounds is absolutely loaded at the CKLV. The No. 4, No. 5, No. 6, No. 7, No. 8, No. 10 and No. 12 ranked wrestlers are all in the bracket, as well as a handful of other ranked wrestlers. Alirez, a true freshman at Northern Colorado, will be coming in unseeded. He is the biggest recruit in the program’s history and was the No. 3 recruit in the class of 2019. In high school, he notched some impressive wins over college wrestlers including defeating two-time Penn State All-American Nick Lee, 10-0, in the finals of the Junior Men’s Freestyle World Team Trials Challenge Tournament in 2018. At the time, Lee was fresh off his first All-American finish and Alirez was a junior in high school. Alirez is 10-0 this season and will get his first crack at the elite competitors at the weight class at this tournament.

157 – No. 1 Hayden Hidlay (NC State) vs. No. 2 David Carr (Iowa State)

Hidlay is the top seed in the bracket while Carr is the No. 3, so in order for these two to meet, they both need to make the finals. Hidlay, a redshirt junior, took second at the 2018 NCAA Tournament to Penn State’s Jason Nolf and fourth at the 2019 NCAA Tournament. He is the highest returning placer at the weight class. Carr, a redshirt freshman, shot up the rankings after defeating prior No. 2 Kaleb Young of Iowa in a dual meet, 6-1. Carr’s success surprised no one given that he is a 2019 Junior World champion at 74 kg and had a 23-1 redshirt season last year. In order to make the finals, Carr would potentially have to knock off No. 2 seed Ryan Deakin of Northwestern, who is currently ranked No. 4. Deakin finished sixth at the NCAA Tournament last year and is currently No. 2 on the Senior Men’s Freestyle National Team at 70 kg. He is a 2017 Junior World silver medalist.

184 – No. 1 Zahid Valencia (Arizona State) vs. No. 2 Trent Hidlay (NC State)

Redshirt senior Zahid Valencia is looking to end his collegiate career on top of a new weight class. Valencia was an NCAA champion in 2018 and 2019 at 174 pounds. In 2017, he placed third. The younger but heavier Hidlay brother has started his redshirt freshman season in emphatic fashion, knocking off the No. 3 at the time Ben Darmstadt of Cornell then the No. 2 at the time Lou Deprez of Binghamton in back-to-back matches last weekend. Both of those wrestlers will be in the tournament. Hidlay is currently seeded No. 3, while Valencia is the top seed. The only way these wrestlers will meet is if they both make the finals. Hidlay could run into Darmstadt in the quarterfinals, as he’s currently listed as the sixth seed. Valencia could face the winner of fourth seeded Deprez and fifth seeded Taylor Venz of Nebraska in the semifinals. Venz, a 2018 All-American, took Valencia to the wire earlier this season at the Journeymen Classic in an 8-7 match. Hidlay will also have to deal with the No. 2 seed Taylor Lujan of Northern Iowa on his side of the bracket. Lujan is currently ranked fifth by Flowrestling. A redshirt senior, Lujan made the round of twelve at the NCAA Tournament the past two years at 174 pounds. Like Valencia, he is bumping up a weight class to finish out his career.


Action begins at 12:00 pm eastern time and can be streamed live on Flowrestling.