Dec. 3, 2009
PRIMM, Nev. - The pre-seeds were decided Thursday afternoon for the 2009 Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational, hosted at the Star of the Desert Arena in Primm, Nev. The Purdue wrestling team earned spots at a trio of weight classes, garnering seeded spots at 157, 174 and 197 pounds.
Juniors Colton Salazar and Logan Brown share the honor of the team's top seeded wrestler as the earned the respective No. 5 seeds at 157 and 197 pounds. Salazar is ranked ninth in the county in the latest InterMat rankings at 157 pounds, and comes into the weekend at 8-1, while Brown is 11-1 at 197 and sits 13th in the country.
Fellow junior Luke Manuel grabbed the Boilermakers' other pre-seed, being tabbed the six seed at 174 pounds. He's a perfect 11-0 this season, winning both the Eastern Michigan Open and Missouri Open, and has a trio of wins over ranked opponents this season.
The tournament will conduct skin tests and weigh-ins tomorrow at approximately 7 a.m. (PST), and the first set of tournament brackets should be draw around 8 a.m. Wrestling is scheduled to commence at 9 a.m. with pigtail matches and live updates will be posted throughout the tournament at the Purdue Wrestling Twitter page.