Escobedo, Everhart pull in titles as IU places 6th in group of 44 teams

In the city of bright lights, IU wrestlers Angel Escobedo and Nate Everhart put on a show Friday and Saturday. 

Escobedo and Everhart both took home titles at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational, adding another notch to their career belts and leading IU to a sixth-place finish.

Escobedo was named the tournament’s “Most Outstanding Wrestler” after knocking off Arizona State’s Anthony Robles in a 4-2 decision to win the 125-pound title. No. 2 Escobedo worked his way through the 125-pound class, finishing 6-0 in the tournament.

“Angel was able to dominate his opponents, and there was no question that he was the best guy in his bracket,” IU coach Duane Goldman said. “He looked as good as I’ve ever seen him.”

Coming in as the top seed at 125 pounds, Escobedo posted at least 13 points in all four of his Friday matches.

The senior wasted little time in his first match Saturday. In the semifinals, Escobedo pinned Cornell’s Frank Perrelli in 5:22 before the championship match against Robles.

Robles came into the championship match against Escobedo as the No. 2 seed in the tournament and ranked No. 3 nationally.

A win for Robles would have not only meant defeating the No. 1 seed in Escobedo to win the title, but it would have likely moved Robles ahead of Escobedo in the national rankings. But the former national champion did not allow Robles to end his dream of an undefeated senior season.

“I just tried to wrestle my match instead of wrestling his, because guys that wrestle his match usually end up losing,” Escobedo said.

The 4-2 win against Robles in the championship proved that Escobedo was at full strength after being hampered with injury for part of last season.

“It was a big stepping stone for me,” Escobedo said. “There was a lot of people doubting me because of my shoulder, but I feel like I am back to the same form of sophomore year.”

While Escobedo was the favorite to take home the title at 125 pounds, senior Nate Everhart won upsets on the way to his heavyweight title on Saturday. 

He came in as the No. 4 seed and is ranked No. 10 in the nation. On Friday, the senior outscored his opponents by a combined score of 30-5.

While he was favored in all three matches, Everhart knew he still had to prove himself going into the semifinals on Saturday.

In the beginning of the season, Goldman had talked about wanting to see Everhart perform well against higher competition. On Saturday, Everhart did exactly that.

A 4-3 defeat of No. 4 Mitch Monteiro, a wrestler from Cal State-Bakersfield, in the semifinals gave Everhart a chance at the heavyweight title. As the top seed in the tournament, Monteiro was the toughest opponent Everhart had seen all year.

The finals pitted Everhart against No. 2 seed Tucker Lane from Nebraska. Everhart squeaked out a 3-2 win against the nation’s No. 7 wrestler to give him a battle-tested heavyweight title.

“Not only was winning the tournament impressive, but he had a really tough bracket,” Goldman said of Everhart’s two upsets. “He put himself in the running to place as an All-American.”

The performances of Escobedo and Everhart propelled the Hoosiers to their sixth-place finish, with 12 of the top 25 teams in the country partaking in the tournament.

“I’m really pleased with how we wrestled in this tournament, but it’s December,” Goldman said. “We need to be wrestling at our best in March.”