2014-15 Wrestling thread

The season doesn't start until late November, and I'm probably not going to write a preview anyway,* but I wanted to start this thread to tell NYC-area people that presale tickets in the Cornell section are available for the Grapple in the Garden on December 21. We'll be wrestling Edinboro and Northern Iowa. Use the link in this post, because right now the presale link is the only way to get tickets.

Cornell will be back in the area on February 7 when they wrestle at Hofstra at noon and then bus over to Columbia for a 6pm match.


* Short version: we have one of the elite teams in the country but there are a few weight classes in flux and some fall semester injury/eligibility issues that will hopefully be worked out by the spring semester. I'll probably try to do a state-of-the-team post then, when the actual will-be-competing-for-the-title squad is wrestling full-time.

ugarte
The season doesn't start until late November, and I'm probably not going to write a preview anyway,* but I wanted to start this thread to tell NYC-area people that presale tickets in the Cornell section are available for the Grapple in the Garden on December 21. We'll be wrestling Edinboro and Northern Iowa. Use the link in this post, because right now the presale link is the only way to get tickets.

Cornell will be back in the area on February 7 when they wrestle at Hofstra at noon and then bus over to Columbia for a 6pm match.


* Short version: we have one of the elite teams in the country but there are a few weight classes in flux and some fall semester injury/eligibility issues that will hopefully be worked out by the spring semester. I'll probably try to do a state-of-the-team post then, when the actual will-be-competing-for-the-title squad is wrestling full-time.

Edinboro finished 5th, two places ahead of Cornell, in this past NCAA tournament, and Northern Iowa 15th. Should be good wrestling meets.

Found a preview if you are interested.

[www.bloodyelbow.com]

jts15
Found a preview if you are interested.

[www.bloodyelbow.com]

Actually, Rob Koll's preview is about as good as any: [www.newyorkwrestlingnews.com].

At the risk of stepping into ugarte's arena (and feel free to correct my mistakes), here is what the team looks like with the first open event of the season finished:

125: Nahshon Garrett finished 3rd as a freshman and 2nd last year. Unfortunately, the one man he hasn't beaten, Illinois' Jesse Delgado, returns for his senior season. Dalton Macri is "ivy shirting" this season and just won the Bearcat Open with a win over a very good wrestler from CSU.

133: This was supposed to be Mark Grey, but he outgrew it. Senior Nick Arujau is likely the plan, but you couldn't help but notice Cornell had no one at this weight in Binghamton today.

141: Sophomore Mark Grey's new weight and he looks fully recovered. He won the Bearcat and Ivy-shirt Will Koll (Rob's son) finished a strong 4th.

149: Chris Villalonga returns for one last season. CV really put it together last season and is a threat to make a deep run at the NCAA's (he won the Bearcat). Freshman Alex Cisneros is high quality depth.

157: ugarte spoke of weight classes in flux. This is one. Brian Realbuto is one of the best in the nation, but is recovering from a knee injury he suffered in last year's NCAA semis (he wrestled through it). Chris Dowdy looked good today winning the Bearcat, but he can't wrestle in a Cornell uniform until the second semester. That leaves Taylor Simaz, who is solid and from a great tradition of CU wrestlers, but not quite at the same level as Brian or Chris.

165: Dylan Palacio is finishing up his time on the soccer team. He'll be back in a few weeks, but veteran Jesse Shanamann went at 165 today in Binghamton. He finished a respectable 3-2 with losses to the eventual winner and John Jay Chavez. JJ is one of our guys who is ivy shirting. Palacio is a lot of fun to watch because, as he admits, even he doesn't know what he'll do next.

174: Duke Pickett was the surprise starter last season and seems to be the odds on bet to hang on to the job, although Shanamann may push him after Palacio comes back. Duke finished second today, losing to Penn State's back-up Bo Nickal (bear in mind, Bo is very good).

184: Gabe Dean is the best man at this weight in the nation.

197: Jace Bennett is the returning starter and reigning EIWA champ. I still expect Owen Scott to push him hard for the starting job. Owen pinned Jace for 3rd at the Bearcat Open today; consider that an opening salvo.

285: No idea. Cornell heavies went 1-6 today.

In all, we are "one of the elite teams in the country but there are a few weight classes in flux and some fall semester injury/eligibility issues that will hopefully be worked out by the spring semester." But I'm paid by the word.

It's too bad we have trouble getting heavyweights. That could make the difference between being close and actually winning at all.

mountainred
At the risk of stepping into ugarte's arena (and feel free to correct my mistakes), here is what the team looks like with the first open event of the season finished:

125: Nahshon Garrett finished 3rd as a freshman and 2nd last year. Unfortunately, the one man he hasn't beaten, Illinois' Jesse Delgado, returns for his senior season. Dalton Macri is "ivy shirting" this season and just won the Bearcat Open with a win over a very good wrestler from CSU.

133: This was supposed to be Mark Grey, but he outgrew it. Senior Nick Arujau is likely the plan, but you couldn't help but notice Cornell had no one at this weight in Binghamton today.

141: Sophomore Mark Grey's new weight and he looks fully recovered. He won the Bearcat and Ivy-shirt Will Koll (Rob's son) finished a strong 4th.

149: Chris Villalonga returns for one last season. CV really put it together last season and is a threat to make a deep run at the NCAA's (he won the Bearcat). Freshman Alex Cisneros is high quality depth.

157: ugarte spoke of weight classes in flux. This is one. Brian Realbuto is one of the best in the nation, but is recovering from a knee injury he suffered in last year's NCAA semis (he wrestled through it). Chris Dowdy looked good today winning the Bearcat, but he can't wrestle in a Cornell uniform until the second semester. That leaves Taylor Simaz, who is solid and from a great tradition of CU wrestlers, but not quite at the same level as Brian or Chris.

165: Dylan Palacio is finishing up his time on the soccer team. He'll be back in a few weeks, but veteran Jesse Shanamann went at 165 today in Binghamton. He finished a respectable 3-2 with losses to the eventual winner and John Jay Chavez. JJ is one of our guys who is ivy shirting. Palacio is a lot of fun to watch because, as he admits, even he doesn't know what he'll do next.

174: Duke Pickett was the surprise starter last season and seems to be the odds on bet to hang on to the job, although Shanamann may push him after Palacio comes back. Duke finished second today, losing to Penn State's back-up Bo Nickal (bear in mind, Bo is very good).

184: Gabe Dean is the best man at this weight in the nation.

197: Jace Bennett is the returning starter and reigning EIWA champ. I still expect Owen Scott to push him hard for the starting job. Owen pinned Jace for 3rd at the Bearcat Open today; consider that an opening salvo.

285: No idea. Cornell heavies went 1-6 today.

In all, we are "one of the elite teams in the country but there are a few weight classes in flux and some fall semester injury/eligibility issues that will hopefully be worked out by the spring semester." But I'm paid by the word.

Thanks, mountainred. My sources are all second-hand, I have to admit, since I hardly get to watch the wrestling. Hoping to go when we face either Columbia or Hofstra. In any event, just a few comments:

First, a quick explanation for those who don't know: any Ivy Redshirt is "deferring for a year". They will train and compete with the Finger Lakes Wrestling Club and probably take some credits at TC3 before enrolling at Cornell in the fall.

125: Garrett is sitting out the early season tournaments - including an All-Star event he was invited to - because he is nursing a minor injury. I really think he can beat Delgado and I don't think there is anyone else in the weight class (with the exception of some frosh I'm unaware of) who can take a run at either of them

133: Got to hope that Arujau can make weight. Bricker Dixon steps in if he can't. Dixon was a highly touted recruit but he hasn't been able to crack the starting lineup given the Red's strength at his weight and his results when he does wrestle are so-so.

141: Hoping that this weight allows Grey to achieve his full potential. I'm worried that this is a tougher weight class but the word is that 133 became an untenable weight to maintain.

149: Like mountainred said, CV finally pulled it together last season only to fall short in the NCAAs to wrestlers I wouldn't have expected him to have trouble with. He's a beast on the bottom but is sometimes too tentative about taking shots and the matches stay closer than perhaps they should. I thought he was going to have to sit out the fall semester to maintain his eligibility for the spring, but he wrestled in Binghamton so who knows. I didn't check to see if he wrestled at the Bearcat as Cornell or as an unattached wrestler. I do know that he wouldn't wrestle in the fall if it meant he wouldn't be eligible for the main part of the season because that would be insane. Cisneros won both preseason tournaments that he entered as an Ivy redshirt last year. He's going to be good.

157: If Realbuto comes back in top form he will AA and is a title contender. I know nothing about Dowdy except what he did yesterday (which was great). Simaz to date hasn't looked like someone who could be very helpful outside the practice room for a team with title aspirations.

165: Palacio is another likely All-American. Jesse Shanaman was a huge recruit out of high school who never put it together with the Red. In 2011, he couldn't take DJ Meagher's spot, in 2013 he started but didn't qualify for the NCAAs. In 2014, he couldn't find a spot at 165 with the arrival of Palacio and over the course of the season, Pickett outperformed him at 174, and got selected to be our wrestler at the conference tournament. At the Bearcat, Chavez beat Shanaman, so he looks to be very good but I don't want to think about him or where he fits in as he develops at FLWC this year because I have enough else to think about.

174: Pickett beat out Shanaman last year and I suspect he'll do so again, given that Shanaman lost to the guy who is being asked to delay a year to develop.

184: I have nothing to add about Gabe Dean. Gabe Dean Gabe Dean Gabe Dean. OK, maybe a little. In an early All-Star competition, Dean again beat Dechow, the ODU soph he beat in the consolation bracket final to take 3rd at NCAAs last spring when they were both freshmen. The first and second place finishers both graduated, so these are the two elite wrestlers at 184.

197: Same thought on 197. I really like Bennett, who has outperformed his expectations. I'm not sure what to read into a pin by his teammate in a match that I didn't see.

285: Jacob Aiken-Phillips beat out a returning NCAA qualifier to become the team's starter as a freshman last year and juuuuust missed qualifying for the NCAAs. We thought there might be a challenger for him in Jeramy Sweaney, but Sweaney is small for the weight and is spending the year at FLWC to bulk up. That said, JAP lost to Sweaney at the Bearcat. Not a great showing at a weight class where we've been weak (by national elite standards) for years. Hope this isn't going to be a black hole again but I'm nervous.

Wrestling is certainly shaping up as a bright spot in what has been an otherwise dismal sports year for the Big Red.

And here's news of a commitment from one of the best HS wrestlers in the country (he's only a sophomore, but amazingly accomplished)

Great comments ugarte. My knowledge is all second-hand as well. I think Jacob Aiken-Phillips is a senior this year, but he was solid last year (1st team all-Ivy). Maybe he was fighting a bug or something yesterday? And you are probably right about Duke -- Nickal is a very blue-chip recruit and the loss was just 7-5.

Based on Coach Koll's comments, I thought everyone was wrestling "unattached" yesterday. Rob's newsletter made it sound like CV has an entire year, but Chris Dowdy only has the second semester. We probably won't know for two weeks when we see who takes the mat v. Oklahoma.

mountainred
Based on Coach Koll's comments, I thought everyone was wrestling "unattached" yesterday. Rob's newsletter made it sound like CV has an entire year, but Chris Dowdy only has the second semester. We probably won't know for two weeks when we see who takes the mat v. Oklahoma.

Don't know how I got JAP's year wrong. My brain is still insisting that I'm right. (Make no mistake: I'm wrong.) Also, you're right re: CV. Definitely seems like he's got the full year.

I'm looking forward to the year, but anxious anxious anxious.

JAP is a senior....but lots of guys have 2 senior years in wrestling. CV was a senior this time last year, too.

scoop85
Wrestling is certainly shaping up as a bright spot in what has been an otherwise dismal sports year for the Big Red.

And here's news of a commitment from one of the best HS wrestlers in the country (he's only a sophomore, but amazingly accomplished)

Nice article in today's D&C.

Despite missing 4 starters (some for injury, some taking the semester off to be eligible in the spring), #3 Cornell beat #21 Oklahoma 21-13.

#3 Cornell 21, #21 Oklahoma 13
125: #2 Nahshon Garrett (C) won over ­­Ryan Millhof (O), 6-2
133: #3 Cody Brewer (O) MD over Bricker Dixon (C), 12-4
141: Trae Blackwell (O) won over Nick Arujau (C), 8-6 (ot1)
149: #7 Chris Villalonga (C) MD over Shayne Tucker (O), 13-4
157: #13 Justin DeAngelis (O) won over Taylor Simaz (C), 7-3
165: Jesse Shanaman (C) won over Clark Glass (O), 4-1
174: Duke Pickett (C) won over Matt Reed (O), 8-6 (ot1)
184: #1 Gabe Dean (C) TF over Greg Wilson (O), 2:44 (17-0)
197: Owen Scott (C) won over Brad Johnson (O), 6-5
HWT: Zach Merrill (O) won over Jacob Aiken-Phillips (C), 4-0

Cornell is hosting the NYS Championships on Sunday but I don't know who from the Red will be wrestling; we usually have multiple wrestlers go at many of the weights and starters who are dinged up are likely to take the day off.

ugarte
Despite missing 4 starters (some for injury, some taking the semester off to be eligible in the spring), #3 Cornell beat #21 Oklahoma 21-13.

#3 Cornell 21, #21 Oklahoma 13
125: #2 Nahshon Garrett (C) won over ­­Ryan Millhof (O), 6-2
133: #3 Cody Brewer (O) MD over Bricker Dixon (C), 12-4
141: Trae Blackwell (O) won over Nick Arujau (C), 8-6 (ot1)
149: #7 Chris Villalonga (C) MD over Shayne Tucker (O), 13-4
157: #13 Justin DeAngelis (O) won over Taylor Simaz (C), 7-3
165: Jesse Shanaman (C) won over Clark Glass (O), 4-1
174: Duke Pickett (C) won over Matt Reed (O), 8-6 (ot1)
184: #1 Gabe Dean (C) TF over Greg Wilson (O), 2:44 (17-0)
197: Owen Scott (C) won over Brad Johnson (O), 6-5
HWT: Zach Merrill (O) won over Jacob Aiken-Phillips (C), 4-0

Cornell is hosting the NYS Championships on Sunday but I don't know who from the Red will be wrestling; we usually have multiple wrestlers go at many of the weights and starters who are dinged up are likely to take the day off.

Impressive second half, after trailing by 10-7. During the hockey game I got to listen, and sometimes watch, on ILDN. Nice.

I know some of you are in the Albany/Troy area, so if you feel like checking out the Cornell wrestling team, they're going up against NC State, Virginia Tech and Kutztown on Saturday in the Journeymen/ASICS Duals at HVCC.

ugarte
I know some of you are in the Albany/Troy area, so if you feel like checking out the Cornell wrestling team, they're going up against NC State, Virginia Tech and Kutztown on Saturday in the Journeymen/ASICS Duals at HVCC.

On behalf of my parents and brother -- all of whom are WVU graduates -- the Big Red face West Virginia not Virginia Tech. About the only mistake that would have been more unforgivable to them is confusing WVU with Pitt.

mountainred

ugarte
I know some of you are in the Albany/Troy area, so if you feel like checking out the Cornell wrestling team, they're going up against NC State, Virginia Tech and Kutztown on Saturday in the Journeymen/ASICS Duals at HVCC.

On behalf of my parents and brother -- all of whom are WVU graduates -- the Big Red face West Virginia not Virginia Tech. About the only mistake that would have been more unforgivable to them is confusing WVU with Pitt.

lol i knew it was WV too, just couldn't get VT out of my head.

ugarte

mountainred

ugarte
I know some of you are in the Albany/Troy area, so if you feel like checking out the Cornell wrestling team, they're going up against NC State, Virginia Tech and Kutztown on Saturday in the Journeymen/ASICS Duals at HVCC.

On behalf of my parents and brother -- all of whom are WVU graduates -- the Big Red face West Virginia not Virginia Tech. About the only mistake that would have been more unforgivable to them is confusing WVU with Pitt.

lol i knew it was WV too, just couldn't get VT out of my head.

No worries ugarte. First dual in the books: 43-4 over D2 Kutztown. Kutztown's heavy is the reigning D2 champ and made easy work of George Famutimi foe only blemish. Falls for Shanaman, Taylor, Dean, and Congenie.

Cornell over NC State 20-13. Tough day for the guys who weren't expected to start, but Duke Pickett with a huge win.

mountainred
Cornell over NC State 20-13. Tough day for the guys who weren't expected to start, but Duke Pickett with a huge win.

Cornell beat Virginia Tech West Virginia 26-9, with two surprising losses from a couple of our ranked wrestlers. Fortunately, they were more than offset by some big wins from some of our fill-ins and a surprise quick pin by our heavyweight. I really want our starters back!

ugarte

mountainred
Cornell over NC State 20-13. Tough day for the guys who weren't expected to start, but Duke Pickett with a huge win.

Cornell beat Virginia Tech West Virginia 26-9, with two surprising losses from a couple of our ranked wrestlers. Fortunately, they were more than offset by some big wins from some of our fill-ins and a surprise quick pin by our heavyweight. I really want our starters back!

I see what you did there! All in all a good day, but not a great one. Still, more positives than negatives.
Positives: Garrett, Villalonga and Dean all took care of business the way they are supposed to. Duke Pickett's win over a guy who was ranked slightly above him. Jake Taylor's two wins. JAP's pin.
Negatives: Bennett looked, and I quote the coach, "slow and uninspired." Mark Grey didn't look quite right. Bricker Dixon is very tough, but overmatched at 133. You could see that he knew what he should do, but just wasn't strong enough to do it.

With luck, we'll see Realbuto and Palacio back at the Garden. We'll need them for those two duals.

mountainred
With luck, we'll see Realbuto and Palacio back at the Garden. We'll need them for those two duals.

Yeah, these 1-0 Shanaman wins are … interesting.

Cornell puts 4 into the semis at the Cliff Keen Open in Las Vegas: Nahshon Garrett, Chris Villalonga, Gabe Dean and Jace Bennett. Taylor Simaz with a nice run is still alive in the wrestlebacks.

Disappointing performances from Nark Grey and Jesse Shanaman. I think Pickett had a tough draw. All three lost in the consolation bracket before the medal round.

Some thought that Realbuto and Palacio would be back for this, but no. Also, we didn't wrestle anyone at 133 or 285 but no reason has been given as far as I know.

ugarte
Cornell puts 4 into the semis at the Cliff Keen Open in Las Vegas: Nahshon Garrett, Chris Villalonga, Gabe Dean and Jace Bennett. Taylor Simaz with a nice run is still alive in the wrestlebacks.

Disappointing performances from Nark Grey and Jesse Shanaman. I think Pickett had a tough draw. All three lost in the consolation bracket before the medal round.

Some thought that Realbuto and Palacio would be back for this, but no. Also, we didn't wrestle anyone at 133 or 285 but no reason has been given as far as I know.

Simaz lost his early consolation match and was eliminated.

Garrett and Villalonga cruise into the finals.

Dean is upset by the #8 wrestler but fought back to get into the third place match.

Bennett was pinned in his semifinal match by the #1 wrestler in the country, but pinned his next opponent, so he'll be in the third place match as well.

1st place:

125: #2 Garrett v #6 Dance (Virginia Tech)
149: #6 Villalonga v UR Pantaleo (Michigan)

3d Place:
184: #1 Dean v #14 Zillmer (N.D. State)
197: #18 Bennett v #7 Snyder (Ohio State)

The matches start at 3pm Pacific.

ugarte
125: #2 Garrett v #6 Dance (Virginia Tech)
149: #6 Villalonga v UR Pantaleo (Michigan)

3d Place:
184: #1 Dean v #14 Zillmer (N.D. State)
197: #18 Bennett v #7 Snyder (Ohio State)

Garrett and Villalonga both win their matches for first place, which was a huge relief because…

the once-invincible Dean lost badly to Zillmer, capping off a shockingly disappointing tournament. He barely escaped his QF match, lost in the semis, won his first consolation match by only two points and then was gave up three takedowns without recording one in the 3d place match.

And then Bennett got whipped in his 3d place match too. To be fair, he was the underdog, but he was losing the whole way and Snyder spent the last period taking him down and then letting him go so he could take him down again to get a Major Decision.

Wonder if Dean got injured at some point and was just battling through it. Very odd to see someone as dominant as he had been to just fall-off so dramatically.

Cornell, still not at full strength, rolls over #11 Edinboro (23-14) and Northern Iowa (35-4).

Edinboro has a murderer's row at 133-141-149, with the #1, #2 and #3 wrestlers, respectively, at those weight classes. We are currently weak at 133 ad 141 and Edinboro took advantage, with a tech at 133 and a pin at 141. We have our own potential All-American at 149 in Chris Villalonga and he kept it close but couldn't pull out the win. Other than that, though? Cornell won everything and finished up 23-14.

Our studs, #2 Nahshon Garrett at 125 and suddenly struggling #7 Gabe Dean both won, but not in the dominating manner we've come to expect. Dean was taken to overtime by the #14 wrestler and Garrett fell just short of a major. I'm a little worried about Dean, to be honest. I hope he's nursing an injury/illness because the alternative is that opponents have identified a flaw in his technique that he hasn't compensated for yet.

The best news to come out of the Edinboro match was the return of #6 Dylan Palacio from a Fall semester spent playing for the soccer team. He majored his opponent at 165 with apparent ease. Welcome back, buddy.

The Northern Iowa match was a romp, with Cornell tearing through a lineup that only fields one ranked wrestler, who has the misfortune of being in Garrett's weight class. Dean got a pin, calming my nerves a bit, and we didn't lose until the heavyweight match, where Jacob Aiken-Phillips got whipped.


We got nice two-win days from Duke Pickett at 174 and Jace Bennett at 197, and Craig Eifert, filling in for the still-convalescing Brian Realbuto at 157, won both of his matches as well.

Mark Grey will apparently be trying to cut back down to 133 since he was not handling 141 well at all. It takes a while to "qualify" at a lower weight, so Bricker Dixon wrestled at 133 today. Dixon lost the match he was definitely going to lose then rebounded for a win against Northern Iowa. At 141, Ryan Dunphy returned from a semester off, but was thrown into a tough spot against Edinboro. For the Northern Iowa match, Nick Arujau stepped in at 141 and dominated his opponent.

Things look pretty good for the future if Grey can get to 133 and Realbuto comes back at full strength.

Tough weekend at the Southern Scuffle for the Big Red.

Gabe Dean (184) appears back in Gabe Dean form, rolling through the tournament and pinning the 4 seed from last years NCAA tournament in the finals.

Nahshon Garrett (125) cruised into the finals where he faced Alan Waters, the man he beat for third place in 2013. Waters took a redshirt year but I guess he's back in top form, since he got a late reversal and rode out Garrett for the 3-1 win.

Our two 3 seeds - Brian Realbuto (157) and Dylan Palacio (165) - both crashed out of the tournament in the round of 12 and failed to medal, including a loss by fall in the R12. It was Realbuto's first competition since his injury at the NCAA tournament, so I should probably relax especially since his two losses came against two tough wrestlers, both from Penn State. One ended up finishing in 2d place (a greyshirt; goddamn that team is deep) and the other finished in 4th. Realbuto did have a convincing win over the #10 wrestler in his penultimate match, so I should focus on that.

Palacio spent the fall playing soccer so he may not be in peak form yet either. The two wrestlers he lost to were both ranked below him but ended up finishing in 4th and 5th with other good wins.

A bright spot was Jace Bennett (197), who came into the tournament as the 10 seed and despite dropping his first match, fought through the bracket for a 5th place finish with a slight hiccup in the consolation semifinal, which he lost in a first period fall.

Other seeded wrestlers were Mark Grey (7th at 133) and Duke Pickett (12th at 174).

Pickett won a pair of matches before getting pinned by the 3 seed. In the consolation bracket he won one match but defaulted out of the second with an injury.

Grey won two matches to get to the quarterfinals before losing in OT to the 2 seed, then dropping his first consolation match to the 8 seed, missing the medal stand.

At 141, Nick Arujau won his first two matches to get to the quarterfinal but didn't wrestle on the second day. According to Cornell twitter, it was an injury so I guess he slept badly or something. He had a couple of wild day one matches; a 14-13 win and a wild match against the #13 guy, which ended with two seconds left in an injury default. I think Arujau was winning at the time.

The team ended up finishing in 6th place, just ahead of Lehigh. Up next is a dual meet against a stacked Missouri squad on January 10.

Nice summary of the SS results, thanks.

I watched just about every match by every Cornell wrestler over the course of the 2 days. My observation: we gave up too many points and/or lost too many matches in the closing seconds of the period. This is disappointing: whether you win or lose, you should wrestle hard for the entire 7 minutes you are on the mat.

dag14
Nice summary of the SS results, thanks.

I watched just about every match by every Cornell wrestler over the course of the 2 days. My observation: we gave up too many points and/or lost too many matches in the closing seconds of the period. This is disappointing: whether you win or lose, you should wrestle hard for the entire 7 minutes you are on the mat.

Did the late second points look more like fatigue or losing concentration?

Lack of intensity rather than fatigue; hence my disappointment.

Tomorrow is the big (kind of) match against Mizzou. CV is still recovering so you can flip 149 from slightly-favored-to-win to hope-we-don't-give-up-bonus. We're probably going to lose but I hope we can keep it close.

Rough day against Missouri.

Nahshon Garrett missed weight by a few ounces so we had to forfeit at 125 and the fans missed a rematch of the 125 final from the Scuffle.

Koll opted to have Garrett wrestle at 133 for some reason, and he wasn't up to the task, possibly because he came in having cut (almost) for 125. In any event he lost to an unranked wrestler.

Arujau didn't wrestle at 141 (and there are rumors that he didn't make weight either), and facing a top 10 wrestler, Dunphy lost by major decision.

Villalonga is out with an injury at 149 and, facing yet another top 10 wrestler with our backup, Simaz, we lost by major decision again.

4 matches in and we were down 17-0.

Finally, at 157, in a matchup of top wrestlers, #9 Realbuto defeated #10 LeVallee for the second time in two weekends.

#11 Palacio followed up at 165 with another win.

Jesse Shanaman, who has been wrestling all year at 165 moved up to 174 with the return of Palacio to face a top 10 wrestler who beat him 7-0.

At 184, #1 Dean once again beat Missouri's Miklus, a top 20 wrestler who he faced in the Scuffle semis.

Jace Bennett faced the defending 197 national champ (and current #2) J'den Cox and got whipped 11-0 for a major decision.

JAP faced the #16 heavyweight and lost, but not with bonus points.

Final score: 27-9.

Ivy schedule starts next weekend against Harvard and Brown.

Can't wait to see Rob's notes on the match. I expect they will be frank and measured, though less entertaining than usual.

does anyone know why Nahshon Garrett didn't wrestle this weekend?

jek86
does anyone know why Nahshon Garrett didn't wrestle this weekend?

He missed weight at Missouri, possibly because of a minor illness (HIPAA, etc.), and Koll decided to hold him out against Harvard and Brown presumably so that he could recover without having to cut weight. We don't have another wrestler qualified at 125* so we forfeited the weight against Brown but didn't even have a 125 match against Harvard because their 125 has been out all season.

* This is an oversimplification, but under NCAA weight-cutting rules you have to "qualify" at a weight some period before you can wrestle at that weight to prevent unsafe weight-cutting. Garrett is the only 125 currently on the roster though we have a very good guy greyshirting this year and I expect Garrett to move up to 133 in 2015-16.

Cornell blew out Harvard and Brown.

Not much to report. We only dropped 2 matches to Harvard - our backup at 141 lost to a ranked Harvard wrestler and Aiken-Phillips lost at Heavyweight. Not even sure if that is an upset anymore. Our guys put up 3 MDs and 3TFs and won 30-8. The big win came at 197 where #17 Jace Bennett dominated #9 Fox, 11-0.

Against Brown we only lost one match aside from the forfeit, a 7-3 loss from Jesse Shanaman who has moved up to 174 while Pickett is hurt since Palacio has reclaimed his spot at starter at 165. Brown has one wrestler of note and he sat out the match against Gabe Dean at 184. Dean pinned the backup. Aiken-Phillips rolled to an 18-0 TF in his heavyweight match and I am happy to say something positive about him this year.

We get Penn at home on Saturday and then a real test against Lehigh on Sunday.

Cornell won Ivy dual #66 in a row yesterday against Penn, setting up today's EIWA showdown with Lehigh.

Overall a good day for the Big Red against Penn. NG was back in form, Duke Pickett came back and won in sudden victory, and Dean won in SV over a top ten guy (and really looked the better wrestler).

Very entertaining match against Lehigh. Cornell took the match 21-9 but it was actually a lot closer than the score would suggest. No matches produced bonus points; at least three went to OT, including Gabe Dean who survived against the #3 wrestler in a controversial decision. The officials reviewed the action as the first OT ended and reversed the live-action decision of no control and awarded Gabe a takedown. Brian Realbuto outscored his opponent 8-1 in the 3rd period to take his match. Other winners were Garrett, Villalonga, Palacio, Pickett, and Bennett.

The match against Lehigh was amazing from start to finish.

125: I didn't get to see the Garrett match, but he was facing an unranked wrestler who really gave him a hell of a match and Garrett didn't get the expected MD. 3-0 CU

133: Grey is still out with an injury so we didn't get to see the a rematch against Lehigh's one of Lehigh's contenders for AA. Instead, Dixon kept the match with Beckman close. 3-3

141: Lehigh's Cruz is another AA candidate, so with our backup Logan David in, Lehigh had a shot at bonus points again. Not only did David keep it close, he damn near got a defensive pin when Cruz was trying for a tilt but David pushed back and IMO pressed Cruz to the mat hard enough that he should have been awarded the win. That said, David wrestled incredibly well giving up only a second period reversal (when he got out of position gamely trying for a tilt) and riding time. LU 6-3

149: Villalonga made up for Saturday's inexplicable loss at Penn with a cruise control 9-5 victory over unranked Longo. It shouldn't have been this close, though. 6-6

157: Two of last year's AAs went at it in the best match of the night. Early in the first period, Lehigh's Minotti got a front headlock and put Realbuto in the cement mixer for a quick 4-0 lead. Realbuto was able to fight off of his back before it got too bad, and eventually was able to get a reversal but was still down 5-2 after the first period. Realbuto quickly escaped in the second and went to the third down 5-3. In the third period, he got cute trying for back points from the top and gave up a reversal to go down 7-3. Realbuto escaped, got a takedown and then, after going out of bounds, chose to restart at neutral, giving up the escape point, to cut it to 8-6. With time winding down, Realbuto baited Minotti into taking a shot, countered for the takedown into a cradle and put Minotti on his back for 3 nearfall points as time expired. That very easily could have been called a pin for Realbuto but the NF was enough to give Realbuto a thrilling 11-8 win. 9-6 CU

165: Dylan Palacio took on former Cornellian Marshall Peppelman and showed why he took Peppelman's starting spot away last year, rolling to a 9-2 win that really should have been a major. 12-6 CU

174: Duke Pickett's weekend back from injury was perfect, with a sudden victory win over last year's conference champion against Penn followed by a 5-4 victory over Lehigh's Martinez in a match not as close as the final score. Martinez's points were three escapes and a locked-hands violation against Pickett, while Pickett took Martinez down twice. 15-6 CU

187: For the second time over the weekend #1 Gabe Dean was facing a top-5 wrestler and for the second consecutive day he won 3-1 with a Sudden Victory takedown. He didn't really seem threatened but Brown is a very good defensive wrestler so he also wasn't able to get a good shot in. The good shots he did get, Brown did a good job of fighting off. In SV, Dean finally BARELY finished a shot on the edge of the mat. The refs initially didn't give him credit, but Cornell challenged the no-call and Dean was awarded the takedown for the win. 18-6 CU

194: In a slow, steady, defensive match, Bennett eked out a 2-1 OT win that he probably didn't deserve. If I'm going to stump for the refs maybe blowing the pin no-calls in favor of David and Realbuto and for getting the replay right for Dean, I have to be honest here and say that in the closing seconds of the SV period, Riddick forced Bennett to his back and looked to have enough control for at least a two-point takedown and a 3-1 win. The refs didn't give it to him, though, and in the rideout OT sessions Bennett escaped but Riddick couldn't match him. 21-6 CU

Hwt: JAP's struggle continues. He got the first takedown but gave one up in regulation also, so it went to SV tied at 3. He gave up another takedown for a 5-3 loss resulting in a 21-9 CORNELL WIN that was a lot closer than the team score indicated.

ugarte
157: Two of last year's AAs went at it in the best match of the night. Early in the first period, Lehigh's Minotti got a front headlock and put Realbuto in the cement mixer for a quick 4-0 lead.

Coach Koll's comment on this in his post-meet newsletter is priceless:

"Brian Realbuto was the only person in the house who did not see the cement mixer coming."

ugarte
The match against Lehigh was amazing from start to finish.

125: I didn't get to see the Garrett match, but he was facing an unranked wrestler who really gave him a hell of a match and Garrett didn't get the expected MD. 3-0 CU

133: Grey is still out with an injury so we didn't get to see the a rematch against Lehigh's one of Lehigh's contenders for AA. Instead, Dixon kept the match with Beckman close. 3-3

141: Lehigh's Cruz is another AA candidate, so with our backup Logan David in, Lehigh had a shot at bonus points again. Not only did David keep it close, he damn near got a defensive pin when Cruz was trying for a tilt but David pushed back and IMO pressed Cruz to the mat hard enough that he should have been awarded the win. That said, David wrestled incredibly well giving up only a second period reversal (when he got out of position gamely trying for a tilt) and riding time. LU 6-3

149: Villalonga made up for Saturday's inexplicable loss at Penn with a cruise control 9-5 victory over unranked Longo. It shouldn't have been this close, though. 6-6

157: Two of last year's AAs went at it in the best match of the night. Early in the first period, Lehigh's Minotti got a front headlock and put Realbuto in the cement mixer for a quick 4-0 lead. Realbuto was able to fight off of his back before it got too bad, and eventually was able to get a reversal but was still down 5-2 after the first period. Realbuto quickly escaped in the second and went to the third down 5-3. In the third period, he got cute trying for back points from the top and gave up a reversal to go down 7-3. Realbuto escaped, got a takedown and then, after going out of bounds, chose to restart at neutral, giving up the escape point, to cut it to 8-6. With time winding down, Realbuto baited Minotti into taking a shot, countered for the takedown into a cradle and put Minotti on his back for 3 nearfall points as time expired. That very easily could have been called a pin for Realbuto but the NF was enough to give Realbuto a thrilling 11-8 win. 9-6 CU

165: Dylan Palacio took on former Cornellian Marshall Peppelman and showed why he took Peppelman's starting spot away last year, rolling to a 9-2 win that really should have been a major. 12-6 CU

174: Duke Pickett's weekend back from injury was perfect, with a sudden victory win over last year's conference champion against Penn followed by a 5-4 victory over Lehigh's Martinez in a match not as close as the final score. Martinez's points were three escapes and a locked-hands violation against Pickett, while Pickett took Martinez down twice. 15-6 CU

187: For the second time over the weekend #1 Gabe Dean was facing a top-5 wrestler and for the second consecutive day he won 3-1 with a Sudden Victory takedown. He didn't really seem threatened but Brown is a very good defensive wrestler so he also wasn't able to get a good shot in. The good shots he did get, Brown did a good job of fighting off. In SV, Dean finally BARELY finished a shot on the edge of the mat. The refs initially didn't give him credit, but Cornell challenged the no-call and Dean was awarded the takedown for the win. 18-6 CU

194: In a slow, steady, defensive match, Bennett eked out a 2-1 OT win that he probably didn't deserve. If I'm going to stump for the refs maybe blowing the pin no-calls in favor of David and Realbuto and for getting the replay right for Dean, I have to be honest here and say that in the closing seconds of the SV period, Riddick forced Bennett to his back and looked to have enough control for at least a two-point takedown and a 3-1 win. The refs didn't give it to him, though, and in the rideout OT sessions Bennett escaped but Riddick couldn't match him. 21-6 CU

Hwt: JAP's struggle continues. He got the first takedown but gave one up in regulation also, so it went to SV tied at 3. He gave up another takedown for a 5-3 loss resulting in a 21-9 CORNELL WIN that was a lot closer than the team score indicated.

I watched most of the match, and you're right-on -- it was thrilling, and a lot closer than the final score. Thanks for the link to the cement mixer demonstration -- I wasn't familiar with that before.

scoop85

ugarte
Hwt: JAP's struggle continues. He got the first takedown but gave one up in regulation also, so it went to SV tied at 3. He gave up another takedown for a 5-3 loss resulting in a 21-9 CORNELL WIN that was a lot closer than the team score indicated.

I watched most of the match, and you're right-on -- it was thrilling, and a lot closer than the final score. Thanks for the link to the cement mixer demonstration -- I wasn't familiar with that before.

Question from sdomeone who knows little about the sport. How is the team score calculated? It's not matches won or sum of individual match scores, which were the first two obvious methods I thought of.

KeithK

scoop85

ugarte
Hwt: JAP's struggle continues. He got the first takedown but gave one up in regulation also, so it went to SV tied at 3. He gave up another takedown for a 5-3 loss resulting in a 21-9 CORNELL WIN that was a lot closer than the team score indicated.

I watched most of the match, and you're right-on -- it was thrilling, and a lot closer than the final score. Thanks for the link to the cement mixer demonstration -- I wasn't familiar with that before.

Question from sdomeone who knows little about the sport. How is the team score calculated? It's not matches won or sum of individual match scores, which were the first two obvious methods I thought of.

Match won by less than 8 pts. = 3 Points
Match won by 8 to 14 pts. = 4 points (known as Major Decision)
Match won by 15 or more (match is terminated at that point, kind of a slaughter rule) = 5 pts. (known as Technical Fall)
Match won by fall (pin) or forfeit = 6 pts.

jkahn

KeithK

scoop85

ugarte
Hwt: JAP's struggle continues. He got the first takedown but gave one up in regulation also, so it went to SV tied at 3. He gave up another takedown for a 5-3 loss resulting in a 21-9 CORNELL WIN that was a lot closer than the team score indicated.

I watched most of the match, and you're right-on -- it was thrilling, and a lot closer than the final score. Thanks for the link to the cement mixer demonstration -- I wasn't familiar with that before.

Question from sdomeone who knows little about the sport. How is the team score calculated? It's not matches won or sum of individual match scores, which were the first two obvious methods I thought of.

Match won by less than 8 pts. = 3 Points
Match won by 8 to 14 pts. = 4 points (known as Major Decision)
Match won by 15 or more (match is terminated at that point, kind of a slaughter rule) = 5 pts. (known as Technical Fall)
Match won by fall (pin) or forfeit = 6 pts.

Cornell - Lehigh was interesting in that there were no bonus points - all matches were close, so the score tracked the match results exactly (21-9 is basically 7-3).

Teams can also be penalized for violations. For example, last year when we wrestled Penn, Penn was hit with a one point penalty after their second bench violation (read: screaming coaches, probably), and Cornell swept all 10 matches, including two major decisions,leaving a final score of 32-(-1).

ugarte

jkahn

KeithK

scoop85

ugarte
Hwt: JAP's struggle continues. He got the first takedown but gave one up in regulation also, so it went to SV tied at 3. He gave up another takedown for a 5-3 loss resulting in a 21-9 CORNELL WIN that was a lot closer than the team score indicated.

I watched most of the match, and you're right-on -- it was thrilling, and a lot closer than the final score. Thanks for the link to the cement mixer demonstration -- I wasn't familiar with that before.

Question from sdomeone who knows little about the sport. How is the team score calculated? It's not matches won or sum of individual match scores, which were the first two obvious methods I thought of.

Match won by less than 8 pts. = 3 Points
Match won by 8 to 14 pts. = 4 points (known as Major Decision)
Match won by 15 or more (match is terminated at that point, kind of a slaughter rule) = 5 pts. (known as Technical Fall)
Match won by fall (pin) or forfeit = 6 pts.

Cornell - Lehigh was interesting in that there were no bonus points - all matches were close, so the score tracked the match results exactly (21-9 is basically 7-3).

Teams can also be penalized for violations. For example, last year when we wrestled Penn, Penn was hit with a one point penalty after their second bench violation (read: screaming coaches, probably), and Cornell swept all 10 matches, including two major decisions,leaving a final score of 32-(-1).

Thanks for the explanations.

Saturday was Senior Night against Lock Haven, so Koll wrestled seniors where he could, which meant a lot of backups saw the mat.

Junior #3 Nahshon Garrett is our only 125, so he wrestled and cruised to a 17-0 TF.

Seniors/backups Bricker Dixon (133) and Ryan Dunphy (141) both lost.

#8 Senior Chris Villalonga used his strength on top to ride to a 3-2 win at 149.

Soph Brian Realbuto took the night off at 157 for senior Craig Eifert, and Eifert rose to the occasion with a 13-0 MD. (Eifert has filled in from 149 to 174 in his time at Cornell, and, had he gone to a school without such a deep roster, would have had a steady weight and probably a more successful career. Thanks for working the trenches and filling in when we needed you, Craig.)

Soph Dylan Palacio also took a breather so senior Jesse Shanaman could wrestle at 165. Shanaman won 6-2.

Junior Duke Pickett went in his usual spot at 174 because there isn't a senior who could have wrestled. He won easily in a 13-2 MD.

#1 soph Gabe Dean stepped aside for senior Billy George, who lost 3-0. Billy George had a weird career. His freshman year he worked his way into the starting lineup by the conference championship tournament. At that tournament, late in the consolation rounds, he got disqualified for attempting to injure his opponent in frustration. Koll didn't kick him off the team, but he was also never quite the same. He was a backup as a soph and Gabe Dean showed up at his weight in his junior year and bumped him again.

Senior Jace Bennett wrestled at 197 and escaped with a 7-6 win.

At Heavyweight, George Famutimi, a career backup, got a chance to wrestle at Friedman in a dual meet, probably for the first time. The starter, Jacob Aiken-Phillips, is also a senior, but JAP is going to wrestle more later this season, so putting Famutimi on the mat was a nice gesture. He lost 6-0, though.

Overall, a 22-13 win for the Red.

On February 7, Cornell comes south for an afternoon meet at Hofstra followed by an evening dual at Columbia. I'm probably going to go to the Columbia meet and it is my understanding that it is free.

Wow this looks great. Flo Wrestling is doing a video feature on Gabe Dean and Nahshon Garrett, our two title contenders. Here's the trailer: [www.flowrestling.org]

Great day for Cornell wrestling as we won a pair of duals against Hofstra and Columbia. The Columbia win was Cornell's 68th Ivy win in a row and clinched Cornell's 13th straight Ivy League title, the most consecutive league titles for any Ivy team in any sport. You can read the match-by-match scores of the Hofstra dual here, but I got to go to Columbia, so I'll share the details here. Because they are awesome.



125: #3 Nahshon Garrett (C) won by major decision over Johnson Mai (Col), 15-2 4-0 Cornell
I came to this match in the third period, so I can't say much except that if the match were 5 seconds longer, Garrett would have had his tech fall. Alas it was not and it ended in a major decision. Garrett really is amazing. Bona fide national title contender.

133: #15 Mark Grey (C) won by decision over Angelo Amenta (Col), 12-6 7-0 Cornell
A great match for Grey. He dominated from all positions and had a great chance at a major decision but a great late shot from Amenta kept the score under 8. At the beginning of the year Grey was expecting to wrestle at 141 because the cut to 133 was rough. He struggled at 141, though, and I guess that provided the motivation to get back under 133. He looked great and if he can stay at 133 he really will have a great chance at All-American.

141: Nick Arujau (C) won by decision over Jacob Macalolooy (Col), 3-2 10-0 Cornell
Arujau had a wild match in the morning at Hofstra, leading 8-4 after 1 only to be down 15-8 after 2, losing by MD. Against Columbia, he got the first takedown in the second period and rode for over a minute. At the start of the third, he wanted to start down but the coaches told him to stay on top to lock in the riding time point. It turned out to be a very good decision. Arujau rode strong for most of the period, but Macololooy got a late reversal and might have been able to turn Arujau but he ran out of time. With the riding time point, Arujau took the 3-2 win.

149: Taylor Simaz (C) won by decision over Connor Sutton (Col), 8-3 13-0 Cornell
Just a solid performance. Never in doubt. I don't know why Villalonga was out today but Simaz won both matches in his place, including a pin against Hofstra.

157: #6 Brian Realbuto (C) won by technical fall over Tyler Zimmer (Col), 16-1 18-0 Cornell
Dominating. It took a minute for Realbuto to catch Zimmer, but once he did he had his way with him. Realbuto is all the way back from his injury. He looked great earning a tech fall.

165: Craig Eifert (C) won by decision over Tyrel White (Col), 4-3 21-0 Cornell
After a pin against Hofstra, Palacio got the evening off so Eifert stepped up. Solid, workmanlike, gave up no takedowns, really good defense.

174: #20 Duke Pickett (C) won by decision over Shane Hughes (Col), 7-2 24-0 Cornell
The best match of the night. Hughes got the first takedown and man did he live to regret that. Pickett absolutely wore Hughes out from the bottom. Not only could Hughes not turn him, Pickett got ahold of both of Hughes's wrists and Hughes was fighting off a reversal. Even though Hughes was up after the first period, I told my wife that the match was as good as over because Hughes was gassed. Pickett dominated the rest of the way.

184: #1 Gabe Dean (C) won by technical fall over Zach Hernandez (Col), 23-7 29-0 Cornell
Dean is amazing. Hernandez was game but outmatched. All of Hernandez's points were on escapes, and most of those escapes were Dean letting him go just so that he could take him down again. Wow.

197: #12 Jace Bennett (C) won by fall over Troy Hembury (Col), 3:20 35-0 Cornell
Bennett got a first period takedown, started the second period on bottom and almost immediately scored a reversal that he was able to convert into a pin. Just a fantastic move.

285: Jacob Aiken-Phillips (C) won by decision over Garrett Ryan (Col), 7-2 38-0 Cornell
Ryan got the first clean shot and it looked like he was going to take an early lead but JAP did a great job keeping him from converting. From there the match turned and JAP cruised to a comfortable win. He looked good. I was really happy to see it.

Great, great night on the mat.

The 4 pm National Duels wrestling match today is being broadcast on the Big Ten Network.