Dec. 7, 2002

LAS VEGAS, NV ... Junior Rob Becker placed seventh at 149 pounds to lead a strong George Mason performance at the Las Vegas Invitational Friday and Saturday.

As a team, George Mason placed in a tie for 27th with Northern Idaho at 30.5 points. Minnesota won the event with 131 points.

Becker became the second Patriot to place among the top eight at the Las Vegas Invitational, which has become one of the premier early-season tournaments in collegiate wrestling. Junior Donnie DeFilippis finished sixth at 141 in 2000 after reaching the semifinals.

Becker (11-4) won seven of his nine matches en route to his seventh-place finish. On Friday, he scored a 9-1 major decision over Nick Davis of California-Davis before falling to fourth-seeded Collin Robertson of Boise State (ranked sixth in the nation by InterMat and eighth by Amateur Wrestling News), 13-5. Moving into the consolation bracket, he won four consecutive matches to close out Friday's competition, defeating Kenny Salvini of Central Washington (10-1 major), Eddie Gutnik of Wisconsin (7-3), Luke Salazar of Northwestern Wyoming (5-2) and O.T. Johnson of Colby College (11-3 major). On Saturday morning, Becker won by fall in 1:24 over eighth-seeded Dan Jankowski of Purdue to advance into the top eight, but he dropped a 5-3 decision to Robertson. Wrestling Keri Stanley of Northern Idaho for seventh place, he won a 4-1 decision.

Several other Patriots also had solid efforts in the tournament as seven of Mason's eight wrestlers won at least one match. Sophomores P.J. Ross (174) and Aaron Suranofsky (125) each went 2-2, while senior Richard Appau (165) and juniors Nick Webster (184) and Sandy Ailor (heavyweight) each were 1-2. Junior Sean Early (157) won his first match before suffering a slight injury in his second match and he was held out of the rest of the competition as a precaution.

George Mason returns to the mats on Friday, Dec. 20, at the Beast of the East College Invitational in Newark, DE.