NC State
Cliff Kean Las Vegas Invitational
NC State Wrestling's Gabrielson Places At Las Vegas Inviational
12/4/2004 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling
Dec. 4, 2004
Despite defaulting his final scheduled match of the tournament, NC State's Kevin Gabrielson won three of five matches overall and came away with a strong eighth-place showing at 174 pounds in the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational on Saturday.
Gabrielson, a redshirt-junior from Chesapeake Beach, Md., won his first two matches of the tournament on Friday before falling 4-1 to Eric Ring of Edinboro in the quarterfinals. Gabrielson then defeated Nate Rock of Buffalo 8-2 to guarantee a spot in the top eight of the tournament before falling to ninth-seeded Mark Harwood of Nebraska by a 9-7 decision. Gabrielson, banged up from previous bouts by this time, was unable to continue after the loss to Harwood and withdrew by medical default before the seventh-place match with Ryan Willman of West Virginia, who officially claimed seventh place. Gabrielson now is 7-5 for the 2004-05 season.
Meanwhile, sophomore heavyweight Jainor Palma had a strong tournament of his own, despite failing to reach the final eight. Palma, who lost in the round of 32 on Friday after winning his opening bout in the pigtail bracket, picked up four straight victories in the wrestlebacks before sixth-seeded Mitch Manstedt of Nebraska pinned him at the 2:33 mark. Palma went 5-2 in the tournament to improve to 9-5 for the season.
