Peyton Robb continues extraordinary comeback season with championship run at prestigious Cliff Keen Invite in Las Vegas

JON WEISBROD I THE HUSKY BULLETIN

LAS VEGAS — Apparently, this type of stuff doesn’t just happen in the movies.

Because its happening to Peyton Robb.

Punctuating what has been an extraordinary opening act in an ongoing redemption arc plucked straight from the pages of a Hollywood script, Robb outlasted one of his fiercest — and respected — rivals in the 157-pound championship at the annual Cliff Keen Invitational on Saturday hosted by the Westgate Paradise Events Center.

For Robb, the first calendar month of the season has been highly documented and widely classified as both a redemption tour and a comeback tour.

In Las Vegas over the weekend, it was simply a tour de force.

Prior to defeating Arizona State’s No. 5-ranked Jacori Teemer, 6-4, in the title match, Robb had buzzed through the 157-pound bracket at the prestigious event, winning all five of his matches by a combined score of 66-16 and moving to 12-0 on the season. All this just eight months removed from a harrowing battle against a rare and aggressive bacterial infection called necrotizing fasciitis that nearly took his life.

Over the weekend, Robb — a 2018 Owatonna High School graduate and current two-time All-American at the University of Nebraska — rang up back-to-back technical fall victories to open the tournament on Friday over Jaden Le (Columbia) and Legend Lamar (Cal Poly) before defeating the first of three highly-ranked opponents in successive fashion, blanking past No. 8-seeded and No. 13-ranked Cael Swenson of South Dakota State by major decision, 10-0, in the quarterfinals.

Fellow Big Ten Conference grappler, No. 6-ranked Will Lewan, offered a tad more resistance, but Robb eventually pulled away for a comfortable 8-2 decision in his final outing on Friday evening.

Peyton Robb gets the 8-2 victory over Will Lewan to advance himself to the CKLV finals where he’ll be taking on Jacori Teemer pic.twitter.com/MqqaE5VSf4

— FloWrestling (@FloWrestling) December 2, 2023

In the championship round, Teemer — who Robb defeated in a thrilling and gutsy match by both grapplers during the final leg of Robb’s exhausting marathon trek through the consolation bracket at the 2021 NCAA National Tournament — used a first period takedown to snatch a 3-0 lead¹ in a flurry of early action on the center mat.

Though he found himself trailing for the first time all season, Robb didn’t panic as the match rolled in the second period, and when the time came to make a move, he didn’t hesitate. Robb eventually took the lead on a powerful counter-move that started when Teemer attempted a leg-sweep, but, instead, found himself trapped within Robb’s vice-like grip and sent tumbling to the mat below. And just like that, it was 4-3. After grabbing the lead, Robb used his superb riding skills — ringing up more than 90 seconds of riding time heading into the final two minutes of the third — and held on down the stretch to secure the win.

Finally, a release.

“I’m back!” Robb exclaimed in the emotional aftermath of his victory over Teemer. “Let’s go!”

Peyton Robb is BACK! He wins back to back CKLV titles at 157 👊🏼 pic.twitter.com/WzvPkIfSYi

— FloWrestling (@FloWrestling) December 3, 2023

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Counting his 2022 championship, Robb finishes his career a combined 10-0 at the Cliff Keen Invitational as an upperclassman, last season’s title ultimately setting the stage for a memorable campaign that saw him win his first 25 matches and rise to No. 1 in the nation by early-January.

Robb’s first loss of the season didn’t come until the Big Ten championship when he lost 3-1 to Levi Haines. The two met in the national semifinals a few weeks later and the Penn State freshman once again came out on top, this time winning 5-2. It was after this match when Robb started feeling ill and barely made it through his first consolation bout, ultimately losing to NDSU’s Jared Franek, 3-1, before electing to throw in the towel and forfeiting the 5th-place match against No. 5-ranked Ed Scott of NC State. At that point, he could barely walk, let alone take the mat and tussle for six long minutes against one of the nation’s top performers at his weight class.

From there, Robb endured an excruciating 7-hour bus ride home to Lincoln, Neb. as the flesh-eating infection took hold and began ravaging his body. After returning home, he was rushed to the emergency room and began an emotional 13-day stint in the hospital where he battled heart failure, liver failure and malady of other serious afflictions that not only left his wrestling career in serious jeopardy, but initially threatened his life.

Ultimately, it took seven operations, one major skin graph and daily trips to an oxygen-enriched chamber before he could be cleared to return home. When that day finally happened, Robb had lost around 10 pounds and was physically and emotionally exhausted from what was a traumatic experience for the entire Robb family.

Robb, though, had no time to waste and immersed himself in the rehabilitation process, beginning the arduous journey back to physical form in late-March before he was even out of crutches. Less than six months later, he was “around 90%” and fully-recovered by the time the new season rolled around this past fall.

“I was on crutches right out of the hospital, but I basically started rehabbing right away,” Robb said during an interview with The Fan Owatonna in early July. “It started with little ankle-movements, knee-movements and progressed to upper body. My trainer was with me the whole time in the hospital and he knew what I was going through and knew what I needed to do. We got at it right away.”

Moving forward, Robb will take the next couple weeks off before the Huskers host South Dakota State for a nonconference dual on Dec. 16 at 6 p.m.

According to the latest national rankings by InterMat Wrestling, Robb sits at No. 3 behind No. 1 Levi Haines of Penn State and No. 2 Jarek Franek of Iowa.

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1. _{^{The NCAA Playing Rules Oversight Panel approved making all takedowns in wrestling worth 3 points, effective with the 2023-24 season.}}
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