NCAA wrestling

Arnone lost his first match. Nickerson, Dake, and Grey win...

[cornellbigred.com]

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ithacat
Arnone lost his first match. Nickerson, Dake, and Grey win...

[cornellbigred.com]

[twitter.com]

Kerber wins at 165, 5-1. Dake looked fatigued in the third period. I'm concerned.

Lewnes wins at 174.

ugarte
Lewnes wins at 174.

The Boise kid was tough to move.

Bosak drops a close 6-5 decision to #3 Kilgore from Kent State. Both Cornell losses today to Kent State wrestlers.

Al DeFlorio

ugarte
Lewnes wins at 174.

The Boise kid was tough to move.

Where are you watching?

ugarte

Al DeFlorio

ugarte
Lewnes wins at 174.

The Boise kid was tough to move.

Where are you watching?

[all-access.cbssports.com]

Free video

Al DeFlorio

ugarte

Al DeFlorio

ugarte
Lewnes wins at 174.

The Boise kid was tough to move.

Where are you watching?

[all-access.cbssports.com]

Free video

Oooooooooooooooooooooooooooo. Thanks. Can't say I'd have chosen it over the great start to March Madness but I'm on board now...

Simaz over Sorenson of South Dakota State with a 15-7 major decision

Al DeFlorio
Bosak drops a close 6-5 decision to #3 Kilgore from Kent State. Both Cornell losses today to Kent State wrestlers.

A very tough draw for Bosak. Hope he can fight back through the consolation bracket and pull a Manotti.

Arnone loses and is out; Nickerson decisioned by an unseeded guy from BU; Grey loses to #10 seed; Dake wins by fall. Pretty much a horror show for Cornell tonight.

Al DeFlorio
Arnone loses and is out; Nickerson decisioned by an unseeded guy from BU; Grey loses to #10 seed; Dake wins by fall. Pretty much a horror show for Cornell tonight.

Feel bad for Nickerson. As for the team, another year of too much hype?

ithacat

Al DeFlorio
Arnone loses and is out; Nickerson decisioned by an unseeded guy from BU; Grey loses to #10 seed; Dake wins by fall. Pretty much a horror show for Cornell tonight.

Feel bad for Nickerson. As for the team, another year of too much hype?

Nick's been hampered by his shoulder, a real shame in his senior season. He took an injury time-out earlier in the match, so may have been hurting again. Have to hope Dake and Lewnes can go deep and Simaz places high.

Kerber losing handily to the 1 seed from Wisconsin. Tough draw for him.

Simaz with a MD to move on to the QF.

It wasn't too much hype, ithacat. Nickerson deserved the hype he got but, as Al said, has had persistent shoulder trouble. Grey's loss to Fanthorpe is disappointing but not unexpected - he lost to Fanthorpe earlier this year. Arnone has struggled with injuries since his frosh AA campaign. Bosak, Kerber, Grey and Nickerson are all still alive in wrestlebacks, so there are still points to be scored.

Bosak won his consy match last night.

Nickerson (WBF) and Grey both won their consy matches this morning.

Dake won his QF match 10-0 and is on to face Reece Humphrey of tOSU in the semis. They have split their matches this year, with Humphrey winning 4-2(SV) at the Cliff Keen invitational and Dake winning 8-4 at the National Duals.

Al DeFlorio
Nickerson decisioned by an unseeded guy from BU

I just read the match report on this. Nickerson gave up a takedown with one second left. He must have been in considerable pain to have been so defensive all match. There is no way he doesn't score more otherwise. I can only imagine that he let his guard down, expecting the clock to expire since he could have run away for the last few seconds (unless the scoresheet doesn't show a stall warning).

Kerber just started his consy match against Hofstra's PJ Gillespie. Kerber has beaten him the two times they've faced each other.

8-5. 100% from the field.

mnagowski
8-5. 100% from the field.

wrong thread...

Lewnes moves on to the semis with a tough SV2 win.

Simaz on to the semis, 10-5 over Brandvold of Wisconsin.

Bosak moves on in the consolation bracket by pinning Caputo (Harvard) in the second period.

Kerber knocks out #3 seed Marable to advance in consys.

Cornell advances all four of its wrestlers - Nickerson, Grey, Kerber and Bosak - to the round of 12 in the consolation bracket. Bosak moved on by pinning his opponent in 37 seconds.

Three wrestlers - Dake, Lewnes and Simaz - are alive in the semis of the championship bracket.

Good to see the men wrestling well today. I watched Lewnes struggle against the guy from Oregon State and sensed I might be a bad penny for them this weekend...so I'm sticking with basketball and hockey the rest of the day.

ithacat
Good to see the men wrestling well today. I watched Lewnes struggle against the guy from Oregon State and sensed I might be a bad penny for them this weekend...so I'm sticking with basketball and hockey the rest of the day.

Where did you see the match? I couldn't find a working video link!

Championship Bracket Semifinals (Clinched All-American already!):

141: #1 Dake      v. #4 Humphrey (Ohio St.) Dake is 1-1 v. Humphrey. 
174: #1 Lewnes    v. #4 Dwyer (Nebraska)    Lewnes is 2-0 v. Dwyer; won by TF 15-0 earlier this year.
197: #4 Simaz     v. #1 Varner (Iowa)       Simaz is 0-2 against Varner; blowouts both times.

Consolation Bracket Round of 12 (winners get All-American honors):

125: #2 Nickerson v. UN Pataky (Penn St.)   Nickerson has never faced Pataky.
133: #7 Grey      v. #8 Graff (Wisconsin)   Grey is 1-0 v. Graff, winning 6-0 earlier this year.
165: UR Kerber    v. #7 Morningstar (Iowa)  Kerber has never faced Morningstar.
184: UR Bosak     v. #2 Dergo (Illinois)    Bosak is 0-1 against Dergo, losing by fall earlier this year.

With today's amazing performance Cornell is now in second place to Iowa and eight points ahead of Iowa State and Ohio State.

1. Iowa 73
2. Cornell 54
3. Iowa State, Ohio State 46
5. Oklahoma 44

And there are still plenty of points on the table. Only Iowa has more wrestlers still alive and more in the semis.

ugarte

ithacat
Good to see the men wrestling well today. I watched Lewnes struggle against the guy from Oregon State and sensed I might be a bad penny for them this weekend...so I'm sticking with basketball and hockey the rest of the day.

Where did you see the match? I couldn't find a working video link!

ESPNU

Al DeFlorio

ugarte

ithacat
Good to see the men wrestling well today. I watched Lewnes struggle against the guy from Oregon State and sensed I might be a bad penny for them this weekend...so I'm sticking with basketball and hockey the rest of the day.

Where did you see the match? I couldn't find a working video link!

ESPNU

Ah. Can't watch that from my office... wait! channelsurfing.com... what time does the next session start?

ithacat
Good to see the men wrestling well today. I watched Lewnes struggle against the guy from Oregon State and sensed I might be a bad penny for them this weekend...so I'm sticking with basketball and hockey the rest of the day.

Have you considered staying away from hockey? I assume you're not in St. Pete.

ugarte

Al DeFlorio

ugarte

ithacat
Good to see the men wrestling well today. I watched Lewnes struggle against the guy from Oregon State and sensed I might be a bad penny for them this weekend...so I'm sticking with basketball and hockey the rest of the day.

Where did you see the match? I couldn't find a working video link!

ESPNU

Ah. Can't watch that from my office... wait! channelsurfing.com... what time does the next session start?

7EDT

Swampy

ithacat
Good to see the men wrestling well today. I watched Lewnes struggle against the guy from Oregon State and sensed I might be a bad penny for them this weekend...so I'm sticking with basketball and hockey the rest of the day.

Have you considered staying away from hockey? I assume you're not in St. Pete.

Nah, made all the home games...Although, when the PP is struggling I go for a walk and that seems to help. Undefeated when watching on TV this season -- though I sometimes have to stand with one foot in the air (I've noticed it helps them skate).

Al DeFlorio

ugarte

ithacat
Good to see the men wrestling well today. I watched Lewnes struggle against the guy from Oregon State and sensed I might be a bad penny for them this weekend...so I'm sticking with basketball and hockey the rest of the day.

Where did you see the match? I couldn't find a working video link!

ESPNU

Yep, sorry.

ugarte
Championship Bracket Semifinals (Clinched All-American already!):

141: #1 Dake      v. #4 Humphrey (Ohio St.) Dake is 1-1 v. Humphrey. 
174: #1 Lewnes    v. #4 Dwyer (Nebraska)    Lewnes is 2-0 v. Dwyer; won by TF 15-0 earlier this year.
197: #4 Simaz     v. #1 Varner (Iowa)       Simaz is 0-2 against Varner; blowouts both times.

Dake and Lewnes both advanced to the finals with 3-2 victories in the semis. Each will face a wrestler from Iowa. Dake's score says 3-2, TB1 on themat.com - don't know what that means - overtime maybe? Lewnes got a takedown with about 30 seconds left to take a 3-1 lead and won 3-2 after his opponent escaped. Simaz was beaten 6-0 in his semi, but it was closer, only 2-0 late in the match.

jkahn

ugarte
Championship Bracket Semifinals (Clinched All-American already!):

141: #1 Dake      v. #4 Humphrey (Ohio St.) Dake is 1-1 v. Humphrey. 
174: #1 Lewnes    v. #4 Dwyer (Nebraska)    Lewnes is 2-0 v. Dwyer; won by TF 15-0 earlier this year.
197: #4 Simaz     v. #1 Varner (Iowa)       Simaz is 0-2 against Varner; blowouts both times.

Dake and Lewnes both advanced to the finals with 3-2 victories in the semis. Each will face a wrestler from Iowa. Dake's score says 3-2, TB1 on themat.com - don't know what that means - overtime maybe? Lewnes got a takedown with about 30 seconds left to take a 3-1 lead and won 3-2 after his opponent escaped. Simaz was beaten 6-0 in his semi, but it was closer, only 2-0 late in the match.

Dake escaped when he started in the down position in OT. The other guy didn't.

ugarte
Championship Bracket Semifinals (Clinched All-American already!):

141: #1 Dake      v. #4 Humphrey (Ohio St.) Dake is 1-1 v. Humphrey. 
174: #1 Lewnes    v. #4 Dwyer (Nebraska)    Lewnes is 2-0 v. Dwyer; won by TF 15-0 earlier this year.
197: #4 Simaz     v. #1 Varner (Iowa)       Simaz is 0-2 against Varner; blowouts both times.

Consolation Bracket Round of 12 (winners get All-American honors):

125: #2 Nickerson v. UN Pataky (Penn St.)   Nickerson has never faced Pataky.
133: #7 Grey      v. #8 Graff (Wisconsin)   Grey is 1-0 v. Graff, winning 6-0 earlier this year.
165: UR Kerber    v. #7 Morningstar (Iowa)  Kerber has never faced Morningstar.
184: UR Bosak     v. #2 Dergo (Illinois)    Bosak is 0-1 against Dergo, losing by fall earlier this year.

Things went about as expected in this round.

125: Nickerson beat Pataky 9-5 to make All-American and then beat ASU's Anthony Robles 2-1 to move into the consolation semifinals. He can finish no worse than 6th. His next match will be against UR Cashe Quiroga (Purdue), and (depending on his result) will face the winner/loser of #1 Angel Escobedo (Indiana) v. #6 Zach Sanders (Minnesota) for 3d/5th.

133: Grey really got destroyed by Graff by a MD, 14-5. A guy on a wrestling forum called it a "takedown clinic". Ouch. Unfortunately this marks the second year in a row that Grey was eliminated in the round of 12 just short of AA.

141: Dake beat Humphrey 3-2 (TB). Dake rode Humphrey for all of the 1st OT period and was able to escape in the second without being taken down. Dake will wrestle #6 Montell Marion of Iowa for the championship tomorrow.

165: Kerber lost to Morningstar 3-2 (TB). Kerber got the escape in the first OT period but gave up a reversal in the second and was unable to escape before time expired. Kerber has one more year to grab a spot on the podium and I'd be surprised if he doesn't do it.

174: Lewnes defeated Dwyer 3-2 and will face #2 Jay Borschel in the finals. Both Lewnes and Borschel enter the match undefeated.

184: Bosak lost to Dergo 9-5. Bosak's points were all escapes; Dergo's were TDs and riding time. Fortunately Dergo is a senior while Bosak is a freshman. He's got three more years to claim a spot on the podium.

197: Simaz lost to Varner 6-0. That is a huge improvement over his past matches against Varner - and everyone loses to Varner. He's another guy that I'm glad is a senior. Simaz will face UR Alan Gelogaev (Oklahoma State) in the consolation semifinals and can finish no worse than 6th. Depending on his result, he will face the winner/loser of #7 Trevor Brandvold (Wisconsin) v. #3 Hudson Taylor (Maryland) for 3d/5th.

That's 4 All-Americans and 2 potential champions. Cornell is currently in second place overall (I think it is impossible to catch Iowa but I also don't think we've clinched second). And it says something about the state of the program that this is a bit of a letdown! Congratulations to Coach Koll and this excellent, excellent team.

Good luck tomorrow to Kyle, Mack, Troy and Cam.

ugarte
That's 4 All-Americans and 2 potential champions. Cornell is currently in second place overall (I think it is impossible to catch Iowa but I also don't think we've clinched second). And it says something about the state of the program that this is a bit of a letdown! Congratulations to Coach Koll and this excellent, excellent team.

Good luck tomorrow to Kyle, Mack, Troy and Cam.

That's the thing about my "too much hype" comment...these guys actually have me believing they can win the national championship and feeling let down when they don't.

Koll's made this program a blast to follow. However, I'm still not watching tomorrow.

I'm not sure if the other placement matches are on TV today (Al?) but the finals are on ESPN at 7:30.

ithacat, this team could have won the national championship - it required us to do as well as we possibly could, though, and Iowa had to slip up. But we had some disappointing results (what team doesn't?) and AFAIK Iowa did not slip up at all (oh, right). Iowa has 4 finalists and 4 more guys on the podium.

ugarte
I'm not sure if the other placement matches are on TV today (Al?) but the finals are on ESPN at 7:30.

ithacat, this team could have won the national championship - it required us to do as well as we possibly could, though, and Iowa had to slip up. But we had some disappointing results (what team doesn't?) and AFAIK Iowa did not slip up at all (oh, right). Iowa has 4 finalists and 4 more guys on the podium.

ESPNU Saturday morning at 11am EDT

Al DeFlorio

ugarte
I'm not sure if the other placement matches are on TV today (Al?) but the finals are on ESPN at 7:30.

ithacat, this team could have won the national championship - it required us to do as well as we possibly could, though, and Iowa had to slip up. But we had some disappointing results (what team doesn't?) and AFAIK Iowa did not slip up at all (oh, right). Iowa has 4 finalists and 4 more guys on the podium.

ESPNU Saturday morning at 11am EDT

Damn. A network I don't get.

Anyway, Nickerson won his consy semifinals by fall. He will face Angel Escobedo (#1 ranked, 2008 champ) for third place. Last year Nickerson beat Escobedo in the semifinals on his way to the National Championship. Earlier this year, Nickerson forfeited a match when he popped his shoulder and the team chose not to risk major injury in a match that didn't count for anything but pride.

Simaz wins his match 9-1 and will wrestle for 3rd place against the 3rd seeded wrestler, Hudson Taylor from Maryland, who won his match 10-0.

Nickerson lost a tough match, 2-0 to #1 seed Esconbedo and finishes 4th. Troy was obviously hampered by the shoulder injury, and the match was stopped briefly in the 1st period when something popped in his shoulder. Congrats to Troy on a great career.

Escobedo beats Nickerson 2-0. Escobedo got an early takedown that Nickerson couldn't escape from, then chose neutral in the second period. Nickerson chose top for the third period but wasn't able to turn Escobedo.

Nickerson finishes his career with a championship (2009), a second place (2006), a third place (2008) and a fourth place (2010). A great career that would have ranked among the very greatest if it weren't for injuries. Sorry to lose you, Troy, and congratulations on an amazing run.

Cam Simaz takes 3rd place with an overtime takedown.

jkahn
Cam Simaz takes 3rd place with an overtime takedown.

Giving him two All-American finishes in two years, after finishing 7th last year as an unseeded wrestler.

jkahn
Cam Simaz takes 3rd place with an overtime takedown.

Seems to me Hudson Taylor beat Cam easily earlier this season. Cam's come a long way.

Dake won the championship pretty handily. Had an amazing scramble from his back to getting a takedown in neutral in the first period, then just dominated on top for most of the match.

Iowa's Borschel decisions Lewnes, 5-2

Al DeFlorio
Iowa's Borschel decisions Lewnes, 5-2

What does the team score look like? I can't seem to view it on my computer.

EDIT: Nevermind, intermat says we've locked up second. Pretty impressive.

Jacob '06

Al DeFlorio
Iowa's Borschel decisions Lewnes, 5-2

What does the team score look like? I can't seem to view it on my computer.

Dunno. We're well behind Iowa but, I think, comfortably in second. Hope I'm right.

Final team standings here: [www.ncaa.com]

Iowa 134.5, Cornell 90, Iowa State 75

Wow. That is a proud accomplishment.

The Dake match was awesome; Marion never had a chance. The Lewnes match, less so; Borschel was a beast on top - Lewnes never really even came close to escaping until it hardly mattered.

This was a hell of a showing by the team, though: a champion, a runner-up, a third and a fourth plus three guys in the round of 12. A second place finish overall - best in team history - is an amazing accomplishment.

And even the graduation of Nickerson and Arnone may not slow this team down. Nickerson's backup at 125 - Frank Perrelli - would have been an All-American contender himself. Grey, Dake, Kerber, Lewnes, Bosak and Simaz are all back. An amazing freshman class is coming in and they are expected to fill in the middle weights where the team struggled this year. Jochym will return after his redshirt year to replace Arnone at heavyweight. Meagher should return from his injury. Rob Koll has built a hell of a program.

Another thing that makes wrestling such a tough sport: You could be the nation's second best wrestler at your weight class but you don't get a chance to wrestle. In tennis you can drop down to play second or third singles. In hockey you're on the second line. (OK, you could have been Scrivens' backup.) Here you're stuck unless you want to change your weight.

As a little further context on the second place finish, the most recent, and only, champion from the East was Penn State in 1953. I knew that; but I'm having trouble finding team standings by year. Does anyone know how many times eastern teams have finished second? 1953 was also the year when Cornell had two national champions, Don Dickason and Frank Bettucci, the tournament's most outstanding wrestler, who was from IHS. Somehow I remember that team well; I went to all the home meets back then. I thought there was a real chance this year for two champions (or three), even knowing everything had to break just right.

ugarte
I'm not sure if the other placement matches are on TV today (Al?) but the finals are on ESPN at 7:30.

ithacat, this team could have won the national championship - it required us to do as well as we possibly could, though, and Iowa had to slip up. But we had some disappointing results (what team doesn't?) and AFAIK Iowa did not slip up at all (oh, right). Iowa has 4 finalists and 4 more guys on the podium.

Wow, that's impressive -- are they human? A great weekend for the Big Red.