Dec. 4, 1999

LAS VEGAS, Nev. - The University of Virginia wrestling team completed competition in the 1999 Cliff Kenn Las Vegas Collegiate Wrestling Invitational held the Star of the Desert Arena. The invitational began on Friday, December 4th and continue through Saturday, December 5th. Some of the top wrestling programs and top wrestlers in the country competed in the event.

One of those top wrestlers in the country happened to be Virginia's Steve Garland (Middletown, N.Y.). Garland recorded a technical fall over Adam Chavira of Arizona State in the 125 class by a score of 16-1 in the first round of competition, and then posted a major decision victory over Buffalo's Charlie Vorhees with a score of 14-1 before earning a 7-0 win over Harvard's Brandon Rhoades in the third round to improve to 3-0 after three rounds. Garland didn't stop there, as he recorded wins over K.C. Rock of Boise State (6-4) and Moses Deflin of Cal State Bakersfield (3-2) to advance to the 125 championship round. In the 125 finals, Leroy Vega of Minnesota defeated Garland by the score of 6-3. Garland finished runner-up in the 125 class and finished the invite with a record of 5-1.

Teammate David Santamaria (Holmdel, N.J./Christian Brothers Academy) followed Garland's lead and posted a technical fall of his own in the 133 class after defeating North Idaho's Derek Keaveny by a score of 16-1 as well. However, Santamaria fell to Oklahoma State's Charles Walker in a major decision bout by the score of 15-4 in his next match. Santamaria went on to defeat Cole Denison of Central Washington with a pin just :21 into the match and recorded a 13-7 decision over Wisconsin's Brad Owens before falling to Alberto Garza of Cal Poly when he was pinned at 2:28. Santamaria finished 3-2 in the invite at 133.

Virginia's John Pozniak (State College, Pa./State College) pinned Jason Grant of George Mason at 5:17 in the 149 class in the first round. However, Pozniak was then defeated by Jason Brown of Columbia by the score of 8-5 in the next round. Pozniak rebounded with consecutive victories over Jeff Harrington of South Colorado (6-1) and Drew Robertson of American (6-1) before falling to Ohio State's Brian Roskovich in a major decision bout, 15-2. Pozniak finished 3-2 in the invite at 149.

The Cavaliers' Brian Muir (Toms River, N.J./Toms River North) at 165 and Ryan McGrath (Blairstown, N.J./Blair Academy) at 184 also came away with victories in their respective weight classes in the first round. Muir defeated Kevin Brown of Clarion by a score of 8-3 and McGrath posted an 11-4 victory over Conrad Johnson of Adams State. In the second round, Muir was pinned at 6:43 by Oklahoma State's Ty Wilcox. However, McGrath pulled off a 4-2 overtime victory over #10 seeded Joe Degain Michigan in the second round before eventually falling to Jeremy Wilson of Portland State by the score of 4-2 in the third round.

Brian Muir went on to defeat Travis Liermann of North Idaho by the score of 3-2 before falling to Ohio State's Joel Walker by the count of 5-4. McGrath went on to drop an 8-4 decision to Isaac Weber of Oregon State. Muir and McGrath both finished 2-2 in the invite at 165 and 184, respectively.

Jack Anderson of Central Washington topped Virginia's Jeremy Kirk (Flemington, N.J./Blair Academy) in the 157 round of 32 by a score of 11-3. Kirk was then pinned by Luke Becker of Minnesota 54 second into the match. However, Kirk did post wins over Aaron Baker of American (5-0) and Todd Dewitt of Brown (5-3).

In the first round of competition, UVa's P.J. Bory (Suffern, N.Y./Suffern) dropped a close 5-2 decision to Arizona State's Mark Perryman in the 141 class and then fell to Oregon State's Shane Cunanan by a score of 6-3. Steve Mazzola (Cleveland, Ohio/St. Edward's) lost by a narrow margin to Matt Chase of Colorado SOM by a score of 9-7 in the 174 class before dropping a 4-0 decision to Martin Cook of Cal Davis. Bory and Mazzola finished 0-2 in the invite at 141 and 174, respectively.

The Cavaliers' Josh Etu (Queensbury, N.Y./Queensbury) dropped a 7-5 decision to Eric Rodreguez of Cal Poly and fell to Bob Fullhart of South Dakota State by the score of 5-3 in the HWT class. Etu finished 0-2 in the invite in the HWT class.

Virginia will return to home action on Wednesday, December 8th when the Cavaliers host Virginia Military Institute in UVa's first dual meet of the season. The match is scheduled to begin at 8:00 p.m. and will held in Memorial Gymnasium.