Competing against some of the toughest competition in the country, the Binghamton wrestling team’s 184-pound starter, sophomore Steve Schneider, shined. Schneider grappled to a 4-1 record in the opening round of the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational to advance to the tournament’s consolation round of eight. Schneider was the only one of eight Bearcat competitors to advance to the second day of competition.
“This weekend in Las Vegas was as close as you can get to the NCAA tournament in the regular season,” BU head coach Matt Dernlan said. “Not only from a match standpoint, but also from an environmental standpoint, from a pressure standpoint, there’s a lot of good takeaways that [Schneider] can experience outside of just the match itself.”
Schneider fell in the round of eight to Navy senior Matthew Miller, currently ranked as the 19th best wrestler in the 184-pound class. Overall, Schneider left his mark on the tournament, finishing with a 4-2 record and the 22nd ranking in his weight class.
“You could tell it was a different stage on Saturday morning, where it was another round,” Dernlan said. “I think it’s going to be huge when he gets another opportunity to wrestle on a stage like this.”
As a team, Binghamton finished 33rd out of 40, with 16.5 total points. Missouri paced the field ending the tournament with 154 points. Cornell placed second with 113 points. Rounding out the top five were other national powerhouses Minnesota, Oklahoma and Ohio State.
“I think it was a great working point,” Dernlan said. “They all had opportunities to wrestle big-time schools, ranked guys, All-Americans, national finalists and they really figured out in a tangible way how hard that they have to fight and how hard they need to execute in critical situations. That’s kind of where we came up lacking a little bit in our results.”
BU senior Jack McKeever, wrestling in the 174-pound weight class, also had an impressive run in Las Vegas. He topped opponents from Kent State and Virginia to advance to the round of 16 before falling to California State Bakersfield redshirt senior Bryce Hammond. McKeever went on to advance to the consolation round of eight in his bracket.
Sophomore 157 pounder Vincent DePrez and redshirt sophomore 125 pounder Thierno Diallo captured two victories apiece for the Bearcats in the Invitational.
“I think it was a great investment for the future of our guys,” Dernlan said, “Our young guys clearly needed this stage and it was a great investment in the future of our individuals and the future of this team.”
Binghamton is set to return to action on January 8 in an Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association matchup against Princeton. First match is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. from the West Gym in Vestal, New York.
Jeffrey Twitty contributed reporting to this story.