Over the weekend, the Binghamton wrestling team traveled to the West Coast to compete in the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational. Three Bearcats made it to the podium in the highly contested meet.

“There’s a ton of nationally ranked opponents out here,” said Binghamton head coach Kyle Borshoff, per bubearcats.com. “I’m happy to get three guys on the podium out here. It’s the first time we are leaving with three place winners. This event has given us a lot of things that we need to work on moving forward.”

Senior Anthony Sobotker and redshirt senior Lou DePrez each took seventh in the 133-pound and 197-pound weight classes, respectively. In the 285-pound weight class, redshirt senior Joe Doyle rounded out the podium-finishers, placing eighth in his third competition of the year.

No. 5 seeded DePrez split his two bouts on day one, winning a 10-4 decision in his first match before losing in a 2-0 decision to the fourth-seeded 197-pounder. On day two, he went 2-1 and won the seventh-place match by way of an 8-2 decision. His sole loss on the day came at the hands of the sixth-seeded Purdue redshirt junior Thomas Penola via a 7-5 decision. Penola is the No. 12 197-pound wrestler in the country, per intermatwrestle.com, and finished third at the meet.

Sobotker matched L. DePrez’s day one record at 1-1. Sobotker was the 10th-seeded competitor and lost in an 11-2 major decision in his first bout before winning his second match by fall. On day two, the senior won his first bout once again after pinning his Columbia opponent. Sobotker went on to drop his second match by way of a close 4-3 decision. However, in the seventh-place match, the Bearcat rebounded and earned a 5-4 decision against Purdue redshirt freshman Matt Ramos. Ramos was seeded sixth and is No. 24 in the country at 133-pounds.

Doyle recorded another 1-1 day one record for the Bearcats. In his first match, he won by fall to move on to a matchup with the No. 1 seed. Ohio State redshirt senior Tate Orndorff, who is ranked sixth in the country, took Doyle down in a 10-2 major decision. The 285-pound Bearcat fared better on day two, winning his first matchup with an 8-6 decision. Doyle opted not to compete in his final two bouts and medically forfeited.

Nine Bearcats competed in the 26-team meet, including redshirt senior Nick Lombard who went 2-2 on the first day of competition. BU finished 19th with 28.5 points while No. 13 Nebraska grabbed the gold position with 125 points.

The Bearcats return to the mats on Friday, Dec. 10 to take on North Dakota State and Edinboro University. The first bout is scheduled to begin at 3:30 p.m. at the West Gym in Vestal, New York.