The Virginia wrestling team will get a taste of national championship level competition when it heads to the Las Vegas Invitational this weekend.
The Cavaliers will send 10 wrestlers, one from each weight class, to Sin City for the meet. Headlining the list of Virginia wrestlers are senior captains Will Durkee (165 pounds) and Paul Bjorlo (157 pounds) and freshman Rocco Caponi at the 174-pound weight class.
The Nevada invitational will be filled with nationally top-ranked wrestlers at every weight class.
"It's a huge tournament in terms of going to be able to get a seed at the national tournament at the end of the year," Durkee said. "I'm definitely looking to go in and try to win the tournament. I've seen a lot of the wrestlers that are there. I know I'm capable of wrestling with them. ... It's [also] a tournament where you can go and make a name for yourself for a guy like Rocco."
Caponi, a native of Uniontown, Ohio, was the only Cavalier to go undefeated two weeks ago at Cornell's Body Bar Invitational as he took home first place honors by winning four matches.
The Las Vegas meet also will give a few Virginia wrestlers the chance to reinforce their hold of the top spots at their respective weight classes. Freshman Adam Kimbrell fell to fellow freshman Anthony Burke in the squad's intrasquad exhibition meet to start the season, but has since regained the No. 1 spot after a strong showing at Cornell. Bjorlo, Virginia's returning wins and pins leader from a year ago, has taken over the top spot at 157 after losing to junior Jim Hartey in the intrasquad meet.
"Hartey is a very, very tough wrestler," Virginia coach Lenny Bernstein said. "Jim just doesn't have as much mat experience right now as Paul does. [Bjorlo] knows how to win at the college level at this point when it comes out to the competition. It's always been my policy to start a guy who's going to do better in competition. Paul proved that at Cornell, at least temporarily."
Burke and Hartey will both travel to Penn State this weekend to wrestle in an open tournament, and Bernstein said he will see how each of four wrestlers performs at their respective tournaments before naming a clear starter at the two weight classes.
Due to conflicts with final exams the past two seasons, the Cavaliers were unable to attend the Vegas tournament. While some Cavaliers may have a few setbacks this weekend, the meet is very valuable to the team.
"In order to get over the fear that some people have wrestling a guy that's ranked in the top five in the country, you got to wrestle him," Bernstein said. "To see all those teams up close is critical for the development, especially for our younger guys."
Along with Durkee, Bjorlo and Caponi, Stephen Hromada (133 pounds), Chet Naylor (141), Paul Dunstan (149), Kyle Narkiewicz (184), Scott Smith (197) and Nick Smith (heavyweight) will make the cross-country trek for Virginia.
"We've worked hard this season; we've worked as hard as anyone," Bjorlo said. "As long as we get guys out there, they're feeling good, they wrestle well, the rest will take care of itself."
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