Nov. 10, 2008

Contact: Ryan Mulford

East Lansing, Michigan - Rashard Goff (285) leads the way for the Vikings bringing home first place honors at the Michigan State Open. Josh Palivoda (133) and Jordan Keller (125) also had strong performances earning sixth place finishes.

Goff started the day with an 11-2 win over Finlay's Dan Thorburn and then followed that up with a 6-1 win against Eastern Michigan's Wes Schroeder to advance to the finals against Indiana's Nate Everhart. In the championship match Goff jumped out to an early lead and never looked back, earning a 4-3 victory.

"Goff wrestled very well today," said head coach Ben Stehura. "He proved that he can compete at a very high level."

Palivoda got his day started with a 9-6 victory against Bloomsburg's Jason Guffey. After a second round loss, Palivoda fought back winning two consecutive matches by scores of 15-2 and 3-0 respectively on his way to a rematch against Guffey. Competing in his sixth match of the day, Palivoda battled until the end losing a hard fought match by a score of 4-3.

Keller began the tournament in a big way tallying a 15-2 major decision win over Eastern Michigan's Adam Draves. After a hard fought second round loss, Keller rebounded with two consecutive victories against Penn State's Eric Caschera (9-0) and Adam Smetana (9-1). In his final match of the tournament, he faced off against Pittsburgh's Chris Albright. After falling behind early in the first period, Keller battled back but came up three points shy of a victory.

Several other Vikings had strong performances including Lawrence Cavello and Dustin Doty who earned two victories.

"I am very proud of the way our team competed," Stehura said. "We were up against some of the best programs in the country and did not back down."

The Vikings are back in action this weekend, when they compete in the Ashland Open on Saturday Nov. 15 and at the Ohio State Duals Sunday Nov. 16