#6 @PackWrestle Heads to Las Vegas for Cliff Keen Invitational

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RALEIGH, N.C. – The sixth ranked NC State Wrestling team will head to Las Vegas this weekend, to compete in the prestigious Cliff Keen Invitational that runs Friday-Saturday at the Las Vegas Convention Center.

According to this week's InterMat Tournament rankings, 14 of the nation's top 25 teams, including six of the top-10, will be in Las Vegas. Each team is allowed one entry per weight class, and as many as 90 ranked wrestlers could be competing in the season's most prestigious in-season tournament.

	#6 NC State (6-0) at Cliff Keen Invitational
Date	Friday-Saturday, Dec. 6-7
Time	Noon (ET) start
Location	Las Vegas, Nev.
Streaming	FloWrestling
Live Scoring	FloWrestling
Social Media	@PackWrestle

@PackWrestle Entrants:
125: #15 R-Fr. Jakob Camacho (7-1)
133: #13 R-Fr. Jarrett Trombley (10-3)
141: #12 R-Jr. Tariq Wilson (9-0)
149: R-So. A.J. Leitten
157: #1 R-Jr. Hayden Hidlay (8-0)
165: #13 R-Jr. Thomas Bullard (7-1)
174: #13 R-Jr. Daniel Bullard (8-1)
184: #4 R-Fr. Trent Hidlay (6-0)
197: So. Tyrie Houghton (9-2)
285: So. Deonte Wilson (6-2)

Featured Weight Classes
157 pounds: #1 R-Jr. Hayden Hidlay
The top three ranked wrestlers at 157 pounds will all be in action in Las Vegas. Hidlay was the preseason No. 1, and has been the top ranked wrestler at this weight class in all five weeks of this season. He is 8-0 this year, highlighted by a win over #4 Early of ODU.

Northwestern All-American Ryan Deakin is ranked No. 2, followed by redshirt-freshman David Carr from Iowa State. Deakin placed sixth last year at the NCAAs, and is off to a 3-0 start. Carr sits at No. 3 in the rankings after downing then-No. 2 Young of Iowa, 6-1, in a recent dual.

184 pounds: #4 R-Fr. Trent Hidlay
Six of the top seven ranked wrestlers at 184 pounds will all be in action. Hidlay started the season No. 15 in his redshirt-freshman season, but after knocking off No. 5 Darmstadt of Cornell (7-5) and No. 4 DePrez of Binghamton (2-1, TB1) in a pair of road duals he has moved up to No. 4 in this week's rankings. Both of them will also be in Las Vegas.

Two-time NCAA champion (at 174 pounds) Zahid Valencia of Arizona State has been ranked No. 1 at 184 pounds since the season started. No. 3 Taylor Lujan of Northern Iowa is fresh off a major decision over then-No. 3 Venz of Nebraska. Coming off a redshirt season, Virginia Tech's Hunter Bolen is ranked No. 9 and will also be in action.

@PackWrestle at Cliff Keen Invitational
NC State will be making its third trip to the Cliff Keen Inviational under head coach Pat Popolizio, its first since 2014. In both 2013 and 2014, NC State placed ninth as a team.

The Pack had three placers (among top-8) in both of its previous trips to Las Vegas. Nick Gwiazdowski won at heavyweight in 2014 and was third in 2013. In 2014, Max Rohskopf (165) was seventh and Pete Renda (174) eight. In 2013, Tommy Gantt (157) was third and Brian Hamann (149) seventh.

The last time NC State traveled to Nevada for a team tournament, the Woflpack brought home the first place team trophy from the 2017 Reno Tournament of Champions. NC State had three individual champions, and seven wrestlers reached the finals overall.

Racking Up Top-10 Wins
Although NC state has only been in action two weekends this season, a trio of Wolfpack wrestlers have already combined for four top-10 wins thus far (three of those were top-five wins). Overall, the Pack's 10 current starters are 6-2 vs. ranked foes this year.

Wrestler	Date	Opponent (School)	Score
Hayden Hidlay	11/15	#4 Larry Early (ODU)	6-4
Daniel Bullard	11/23	#10 Brandon Womack (Cornell)	5-4
Trent Hidlay	11/23	#4 Lou DePrez (Binghamton)	2-1 (TB1)
Trent Hidlay	11/23	#5 Ben Darmstadt (Cornell)	7-5

Cliff Keen Invitational Schedule
Friday, December 6
12:00 PM (ET) – Round 1 Pig Tail, Round 2 of (32) Championships, Round 3 Consolation of (32), Round 4 Championship of (16), Consolation 1^st of (16) Round 5 Consolation 2^nd of (16)

9:00 PM (ET) – Round 6 Championships Quarterfinals & Consolation Round 1^st of (8)

Saturday, December 7
12:00 PM (ET) – Round 7 Consolation 2^nd of (8)

1:00 PM (ET) – Round 8 Championship Semifinals, Round 9 Consolation Semifinals, Consaolation Finals 5^th & 6^th, 7^th & 8^th Places

6:00 PM (ET) – Championship Finals 1^st & 2^nd, 3^rd & 4^th Places

#6 @PackWrestle Heads to Las Vegas for Cliff Keen Invitational

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Daniel Bullard

Thomas Bullard

Jakob Camacho

Tommy Gantt

Nick Gwiazdowski

Brian Hamann

Hayden Hidlay

Trent Hidlay

Tyrie Houghton

A.J. Leitten

Pete Renda

Max Rohskopf

Jarrett Trombley

Deonte Wilson

Tariq Wilson

#6 @PackWrestle Heads to Las Vegas for Cliff Keen Invitational

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Daniel Bullard

Thomas Bullard

Jakob Camacho

Tommy Gantt

Nick Gwiazdowski

Brian Hamann

Hayden Hidlay

Trent Hidlay

Tyrie Houghton

A.J. Leitten

Pete Renda

Max Rohskopf

Jarrett Trombley

Deonte Wilson

Tariq Wilson

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