Wrestling Wraps Up Day One of Cliff Keen In Vegas

Friday, December 5

Las Vegas, Nev.

9:00 AM PST | 12:00 PM EST

Princeton University

Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational

Photo by: Lisa Elfstrum

December 05, 2025 | Wrestling

LAS VEGAS, NEV. – Ending day one with two Tigers advancing to the semifinals, the Princeton wrestling team began competition at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational on Friday.

In a field of the nation's top programs and many nationally-ranked wrestlers, the Tigers made their presence known. After cruising through their first matches of the tournaments and picking up solid quarterfinal victories, Ty Whalen and Eligh Rivera will advance to tomorrow's semifinals in their respective weight classes.

Going 3-0 on the day, Whalen dominated his first two matches, picking up tech falls against Oklahoma's Clay Giddens and Cal Poly's Luke Gayer. Heading to the quarters, Whalen gutted out a 5-3 decision over Iowa State's Aiden Riggins to send him through to day two.

After earning a first round bye as the No. 7 seed, Rivera earned a strong 9-5 decision over Purdue's Gavin Brown.

In the quarterfinals, though, Rivera put on a show in the third period, getting an escape to tie the match at 1-1 before getting a takedown with just 25 seconds to go to win a 4-3 decision over Michigan's #3 Lachlan McNeil.

Marc-Anthony McGowan had strong performances in the first two rounds, earning a decision and a major over Cal Poly's Koda Holeman. Ultimately, McGowan would go on to drop a razor-thin match to Nick Provo in extra time, 2-1.

Kole Mulhauser also picked up a win over NIU's Caleb Roe in the wrestlebacks, but his Cliff Keen journey would end in the next consi round as he fell to Stanford's Abraham Wojcikiewicz.

Tomorrow, the action will pick up again in Las Vegas beginning at 10 a.m. PST.

125 -- #7 Seed Marc-Anthony McGowan
First Round -- defeated James Garcia (Franklin & Marshall), Dec 5-1
Second Round -- defeated Koda Holeman (Cal Poly), MD 8-0
Quarterfinals -- lost to Nick Provo (Stanford), Dec TB-1 2-1
Consolation Third Round – lost to Dedrick Navarro (Northwestern), MFF

133 -- Ethan Rivera
First Round -- Bye
Second Round -- lost to #1 Evan Frost (Iowa State), 6-1
Consolation Second Round -- lost to Will Betancourt (Rider), 7-2

141 -- Jake Mann
First Round -- lost to #5 Greyson Clark (Purdue), Dec 4-1 (SV)
Consolation First Round -- lost to Nathan Jerore (Michigan), Injury Default

149 -- #7 Eligh Rivera
First Round -- Bye
Second Round -- defeated Gavin Brown (Purdue), Dec 9-5
Quarterfinals -- defeated #3 Lachlan McNeil (Michigan), Dec 4-3

165 -- #4 Ty Whalen
First Round -- defeated Clay Giddens (Oklahoma), TF 18-1 (2:36)
Second Round -- defeated Luke Gayer (Cal Poly), TF 15-0 (4:07)
Quarterfinals -- defeated Aiden Riggins (Iowa State), Dec 5-3

184 -- #8 Kole Mulhauser
First Round -- Bye
Second Round -- lost to #9 Caesar Gareza (Cal Poly), Dec 5-4
Consolation Second Round -- defeated Caleb Roe (NIU), MD 13-5
Consolation Third Round -- lost to Abraham Wojcikiewicz (Stanford), F 2:59