LAS VEGAS--Prominent Nevada state champions Greg Gifford and his younger  brother Chris Gifford of Las Vegas High School head a list of 25 Southern  Nevada wrestlers who have received free entries into next month's Western Junior Regionals at the Las Vegas Convention Center.    By virtue of placing in the top three at the recent Nevada State 4A Wrestling Championships, the local wrestlers are eligible to compete in the largest regional tournament in the country, courtesy of the Las Vegas Sports Committee (LVSC).     Featuring Olympic-style wrestling, the Western Junior Regionals are part of the 2002 Las Vegas United States National Wrestling Championships, presented by Knickerbocker, to be held April 24-27. The massive tournament, with over 2,000 entries expected to compete, will also include the U.S. Freestyle Nationals, the U.S. Greco-Roman Nationals, the U.S. Women's Nationals, and the U.S. Veteran*s Nationals. ESPN2 will televise the event nationally on a delayed basis. The Women*s Freestyle Finals will be televised on the Oxygen Network    Action on 20 mats will run from 12:30 p.m. - 10 p.m. on April 24-25 and 9 a.m.-10 p.m. Friday, April 26. On Saturday, April 27, the morning session will run from 10 a.m. - 2 p.m., followed by the championship finals in Freestyle, Greco-Roman and Women*s Freestyle starting at 6 p.m. The Western Junior Regionals will be held April 24-26.    Las Vegas has hosted and the LVSC and USA Wrestling have produced 12 previous Nationals in the Southern Nevada area, including the past three years. More than 40 total entries are expected from Nevada.    This year*s tournament will be held in the spacious new Hall S-3 at the Las Vegas Convention Center.    Greg Gifford, two-time state champion, and Chris Gifford, who won for his first title this year, along with the other local 4A State Champions--Basic's Duane Gonzales (103 pounds), Centennial's Angelo Antuna (112, 41-5 record), Rancho's Jered Medina (125, 50-2), Cheyenne's Chris Davy (130, 37-1), Bonanza's Ben Ness (135, 38-5), Western's Jose Pineda (140, 48-2), Palo Verde*s Ryan Worthen (215, 41-1) and Durango's Luke Doty (275, 41-2)-have received the entries courtesy of the LVSC.  All are seniors except Gonzeles, who is a junior, and Antuna and Chris Gifford, who are both sophomores.    "I've been around wrestling in Southern Nevada for over 25 years and LVSC does things that encourage local athletes to develop their skills as much as possible," said Larry Barnson, LVSC President who was head wrestling coach at Chaparral High School for 20 years. "Although Olympic-style Freestyle wrestling is different than high school-style, this group has the talent to win a lot of matches at the Western Junior Regionals."    Greg Gifford, whose older brother Eddie Gifford went 1-2 in the NCAA Championships this year as a junior at Fresno State, won the 171 Nevada State championship with a 42-0 record last year and moved up to 189 pounds this year to claim the title with a 36-1 overall match record. Gifford finished fourth in last year*s Western Junior Regionals. Greg Gifford's two-year 78-1 match record is unparalleled in Nevada history.    Chris Gifford moved up to win gold this year at 171 with a 37-4 record after claiming the Silver last year with a 33-6 record as a freshman.    Doty ended his senior season with a 41-2 record, which included a stunning upset over Chad Espinosa of Reno's Wooster HS, when Espinosa was ranked the No. 1 high school wrestler in the nation at 275 lbs.     While Southern Nevada wrestlers earned 10 state crowns this year, seven others claimed silver medals and eight more earned bronze.Two-time State Champ Medina had a 142-4 record his final three years at Rancho HS.      The local silver medalists were: Luis Guzman, Eldorado (119, 17-6), Chris Gonzales, Basic (125), senior Alan McIver, Durango (130, 40-7), Mike Bowman, Green Valley (152), Evan Ellsworth, Las Vegas (160, 31-3), Rusty Worthen, Palo Verde (171, 30-6) and Rodrick Atwood, Cimarron-Memorial (189, 41-5).    Earning bronze medals were: Junior David Ochoa, Basic (112), Matt Conte, Green Valley (119), Jonas Newell, Cimarron-Memorial (135), Chase Pami, Cimarron-Memorial (140, Russell Duke, Las Vegas (145), Soren Peterson, Centennial (160), junior David Hales, Las Vegas (215) and Matt Bilyeu, Cheyenne (275).    Besides Eddie Gifford, several other former local athletes are expected to compete in the senior portion of the Las Vegas tournament.     Matt Azevedo, whose father Mark Azevedo is Durango's head coach, is an assistant coach at NCAA runner-up Iowa State (where he competed) and is an experienced freestyle wrestler.    Eugne Harris, a former three-time State champion at Cimarron-Memorial, earned All-America honors this year as a junior at the University of Oregon. He finished fourth in last weekend's NCAA championships at 165 pounds enroute to a 33-5 record which included a PAC-10 championship.    Josh Medina, who was a three-time State champ at Rancho, will join his younger brother Jared at the Convention Center. Josh Medina earned junior college All-America honors as a freshman this year at Pima College in Arizona.    Former Virgin Valley three-time State champion Skyler Woods is also expected to compete in senior freestyle after his freshman year at the University of Oregon.    Advance VIP, Preferred and General Admission All-Event tickets are on sale through April 23 at the LVSC ticket office at 702.838-4091. With admission for all four days, VIP All-Event packages are $150 each, Preferred All-Event tickets are $65 each and General Admission All-Event tickets are on sale for $45 for adults and $20 for students (6 to 17 years old).    Preferred and General Admission daily tickets will be available at the door only. Preferred daily tickets will be $35 while General Admission daily tickets will be $25 for adults and $15 for students.     Tickets to the finals only (to be held on Saturday, April 27) will be available on the day of the event at the door. Preferred will be $25 each while General Admission tickets for the finals (6 p.m., Saturday, April 27) will be $20 for adults and $10 for students.    For 17 years, the LVSC, a non-profit organization benefitting the youth of Las Vegas under the direction of President Larry Barnson, has been producing special events in the Las Vegas area. Other major wrestling events produced by the LVSC include the 1997 USA Wrestling Freestyle World Team Trials, the 1998 NAIA National Wrestling Championships and the 1998 Junior World Freestyle Wrestling Championships. In July of 1999, the LVSC presented the U.S. Taekwondo Junior Olympics with over 5,000 participants. Area youth have received nearly $250,000 in event proceeds.    In Las Vegas, America's finest wrestlers will be starting the road to the World Championship. National Championships will be decided in the seven international weight categories for senior men competitors along with the seven for women.  For men, the weight divisions are: 121 lbs. (55 kilograms), 132 lbs. (60 kg), 145.5 lbs. (66 kg), 163 lbs. (74 kg), 185 lbs. (84 kg), 211.5 lbs. (96 kg) and 264.5 lbs. (120 kg).     The seven women's weight divisions are: 105.5 lbs. (48 kg), 112 lbs. (51 kg), 121 lbs. (55 kg), 130 lbs. (59 kg), 138.75 lbs. (63 kg), 147.5 lbs. (67 kg) and 158.5 lbs. (72 kg).    There will be six weight divisions for the veteran*s divisions, split into five divisions based on ages.    Titles in 12 weight divisions will be decided in the Western Junior Regionals. Wrestlers on the Junior level may compete in any of USA Wrestling's eight Junior Regionals, regardless of what state they live in. Many Juniors compete in a number of regionals. The Western Junior Regionals traditionally have top athletes from all across the nation in the field.    The top seven place winners in each weight class in men's freestyle and Greco-Roman along with the top eight women's place winners in each weight class qualify for the World Team Trials.    Additional information is available from the LVSC offices at 702.361.5017 or on the organization's website at www.lvsports.org.