Dec. 1, 2007

Las Vegas, NV - Junior T. J. Dillashaw placed second at 133 pounds to lead Cal State Fullerton to a share of eighth place at the 26th Annual Cliff Keen Wrestling Tournament in Las Vegas.

Junior heavyweight Wade Sauer, who was seeded second, settled for fifth place in the heavyweight competition at the 48-team tournament which annually is one of the nation's strongest. Senior Morgan Atkinson, who was seeded eighth, took sixth place at 149 pounds.

Michigan won the team title with 127.5 points. Missouri was the runnerup with 125 points followed by Ohio State at 121, Nebraska at 112.5, Wisconsin at 107.5, Illinois at 100, Edinboro at 85, Fullerton and Pittsburgh at 68.5 and Hofstra at 61.

Dillashaw lost in the finals to Kenny Jordan of Nebraska on a 7-0 decision. To gain that spot, Dillashaw beat Jesse Cruz of Western State, 13-1; Ricky Deubel of Edinboro, 8-4; Raymond Dunning of Adams State, 4-3; and Jeff Hedges of North Carolina-Greensboro, 9-3.

Sauer pinned Brady Punt of South Dakota State, scored a technical fall over Terry Tate of Edinboro and then decisioned Ed Pendergrast of Navy, 4-2. But he lost in the quarterfinals to J. D. Bergman of Ohio State, 6-5, and then lost in the consolation round to Kyle Massey of Wisconsin, 2-0, before gaining fifth by default from Tervel Dlagnev of Nebraska-Kearney, the man he lost to last week at the NWCA All-Star Classic in Oregon.

Atkinson scored a major decision and a pin but then lost to Josh Churella of Michigan, 11-3. He won two wrestlebacks by 2-point decisions before losing to Lance Palmer of Ohio State, 6-0. In the battle for fifth place, he lost a second time to Churella, 5-3.

At 184, Ian Murphy won two decisions but then lost two, the second in overtime.

Fullerton's next competition will be against No. 1-ranked Minnesota in a dual match Saturday (Dec. 8) at 4 p.m. in San Luis Obispo.

Complete Cliff Keen results