Wrestling Prepped for Cliff Keen Invitational

Wrestling at Cliff Keen Invite
Date	Friday-Saturday, Dec. 2-3 \| All Day
Location	Las Vegas, Nev.
Twitter	@EMUWrestling
Live Results	FloWrestling
Live Stream ($)	FloWrestling

LAS VEGAS (EMUEagles.com) – The Eastern Michigan University wrestling team springs back into action this weekend when it heads west for the 2016 Cliff Keen Invitational Friday and Saturday, Dec. 2-3, in Las Vegas. Action on both days begins at 9 a.m. and will run all day.

The dual can be tracked live on Twitter by following @EMUWrestling. A live stream can also be purchased at FloWrestling.com, while full results can be found on FloWrestling as well. Links are on the schedule page of EMUEagles.com.

STACKED FIELD: The Cliff Keen Invite is one of the premier early season tournaments, as is proven by the level of competition. A total of 35 teams will be in attendance, led by No. 4 Ohio State, No. 6 Virginia Tech, No. 8 Cornell, No. 10 Michigan, No. 14 Central Michigan, No. 15 Stanford, No. 17 Wisconsin, No. 18 Minnesota, and No. 19 Arizona State.

EMU AT CLIFF KEEN: This weekend marks the first time Eastern will participate in the prestigious Cliff Keen Invite since 2005. That year, the Eagles finished 42^nd as a team in a stacked field of 52 teams. None of EMU's 10 wrestlers placed in the top eight, but a pair of grapplers advanced to the quarterfinals of the talented field.

PRE-SEEDING: Each team can only wrestle one athlete per weight class, and each weight class has pre-seeds up to nine at each class. EMU will have one grappler ranked in their respective weight class, led by redshirt junior Kyle Springer who is the No. 9 seed at 141 lbs.

SPRINGER NAMED MAC WRESTLER OF THE WEEK: Redshirt junior Kyle Springer was named the Mid-American Conference Wrestler of the Week for the period ending, Nov. 22. It was the first wrestler of the week honor for EMU this season and the first of Springer's career. Springer captured the 141 lbs. crown at the Keystone Classic, Nov. 20. The redshirt junior went up against some of the top competition in his weight class to win the title, including upsetting No. 11 Jimmy Gulibon of Penn State. The Exercise science major was also named MAC Scholar Athlete of the Week for his efforts.

EAGLES IN THE NATIONAL RANKINGS: Following his 141 lbs. title at the Keystone Classic, redshirt junior Kyle Springer began to receive national attention in the rankings for his efforts. Currently, Springer is ranked No. 16 by WIN Magazine, and No. 18 by TrackWrestling and FloWrestling.

MOVING UP THE RECORD BOOK: Redshirt senior Nick Barber has 72 career victories in his EMU career, which ranks 14th on the all-time list. 2016 EMU Hall of Fame inductee Steve Brown holds the all-time record with 117 wins. Barber trails Doug Harper and Nick Wittenburg by six wins for 13th all-time.

UP NEXT ON THE MATS: Following the weekend in Las Vegas, Eastern returns to the mats to host its first duals of the season, Sunday, Dec. 11. The Eagles welcome Cleveland State and Indiana to Ypsilanti for a double dual, with action beginning at noon.

Eastern Michigan Athletics

Players Mentioned

Nick Barber

Kyle Springer

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