Las Vegas, NV – The Hofstra wrestling team was eliminated on day one of the 2019 Cliff Keen-Las Vegas Invitational at the Las Vegas Convention Center Friday night. The Pride finished day one in 27th place after day one with nine points. The two-session second day begins on Saturday at 12 p.m. (ET).

174-pound junior Sage Heller, who posted a 2-2 mark in the tournament, was the last member of the Pride to be eliminated when he dropped an 18-0  tech fall decision to Minnesota's Devin Skatzka in the Friday night's consolation round. Sage Heller was the only Pride grappler with two victories as he improved to 7-6 on the year.

Four Pride wrestlers recorded 1-2 records in the tournament with 141-pound junior Vinny Vespa (1-5), freshman 149-pounder Reece Heller (14-5), 197-pound sophomore Trey Rogers (2-4) and 285-pound sophomore Zachary Knighton-Ward (10-7) joining Sage Heller to give the Pride their team points.

Five Hofstra wrestlers posted 0-2 marks in the Cliff Keen-Las Vegas Invitational Friday. 125-pound red-shirt freshman Matt Templeton slipped to 2-7 on the season, 133-pound sophomore Garrett Lambert fell to 2-4, 157-pound sophomore Holden Heller dropped down to 3-6, 165-pound red-shirt junior Ricky Stamm saw his record fall to 10-4 and 184-pound junior Charles Small is now 1-6 on the year.

In the team standings heading into Saturday morning's semifinals, the Cornhuskers of Nebraska lead the pack of 32-teams with 69 points and have five wrestlers in the championship round and five in the consolations. Defending champion Ohio State is second with 68 points and five alive in the championship round and two in the consolations. Arizona State is in third place with 60.5 points with four wrestlers in both the championship and consolation brackets.

Following semester examinations, Hofstra will return to action on Sunday, December 22 when the Pride travel to Mountaineer country for the West Virginia Quad where they will face Edinboro, VMI and West Virginia.