WRESTLING

Roster  |  Coaches  |  Schedule / Results  |  News

Mark McKnight

LAS VEGAS, NV - Two University at Buffalo wrestlers achieved winning marks and one other placed at the prestigious Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational on Friday and Saturday. The tournament featured 45 schools and two Top-10 teams.

Sophomore Mark McKnight (McDonald, PA/South Fayette) led the way with a eight-place finish as he won his first two matches on Friday at 125 pounds after entering the torunament ranked sixth in the field. McKnight beat North-Carolina-Greensboro's Joe Kemmerer 3-2 in the opening match and then beat Northwest Wyoming's Seth Wright, 6-5. In the quarterfinals, though, McKnight fell to Mark Moos, ranked 16th in the country by the National Wrestling Coaches Association, 5-1. On Saturday, McKnight beat Erin Granmass of Augustana, 9-7, but lost in the sixth-wrestleback round to Jesse Miramontes of Cal State Fullerton, an unranked wrestler who was ranked at various points last year, 6-4. He finished the tournament in eight place after losing to Jeremy Mendoza of Arizona State, 6-3, in the seventh-place match.

Mark Budd

Sophomore Mark Budd (Orrville, OH/Orrville) opened with a default win over Cal Poly's Chad Mendes at 133 pounds before falling to Edinboro's Shawn Bunch, ranked seventh in the country, 6-4 in the round of 16. Budd rebounded to beat North Idaho's Justin Pearch, 3-2, and Brown's Dan Appello, 4-0, before dropping a wrestleback match to Pittsburgh's Drew Headlee, 9-1,

Nate Rock

Freshman Nate Rock (Ephrata, PA/Ephrata) lost his opening match to Missouri's Ben Askren, the second-ranked grappler in the nation by pin. However, Rock rebounded with three wins, beating Fresno State's Chris Gifford, 8-6, Cornell's Luke Hogle, 8-4 and Augustana's Beau Severtson, 3-0. He lost in the fifth wrestleback to Kevin Gabrielson of North Carolina State, 8-2.

Buffalo returns to action with a dual meet against Edinboro at Jamestown Community College on Saturday at 1:00 pm. It will be the Bulls' first dual meet action in three weeks, since a 21-9 loss to Bloomsburg on Nov. 18.