No. 12 senior Danny Mitchell’s second place finish set the standard for the AU wrestling team at the Kliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational on Dec. 6 and 7.
Placing second in the 197 lbs weight class, Mitchell upset the No. 2 Taylor Meeks of Oregon State University in a 4-2 decision. Mitchell would later be edged out 6-4 in the championship match by Travis Rutt of the University of Oklahoma.
“He defeated one of the best athletes in the country at his weight class and that proves he is a strong contender for the national title,” head coach Teague Moore told AUEagles.com. “Danny made big improvements since our last event and that shows great maturity.”
No. 20 sophomore David Terao also performed well, finishing fourth at the 125 lb level. His only loss of the weekend came to No. 8 Josh Martinez of U.S. Air Force Academy.
“David knocked off three higher ranked opponents and wrestled a great two days,” Moore told AU Eagles.com. “This type of success shows he is a top contender for the nationals as well.”
No. 13 ranked heavyweight senior Blake Herrin rounded out the Eagles’ second day qualifiers, but his weekend ended shortly with a 5-4 decision loss against No. 18 William Smith of Rutgers University.
The Eagles finished 13 in the team standings with 48.5 points.The University of Oklahoma won the invitational with 154.5 points.
AU will be back in action with a meet at George Mason University on Dec. 19.
