National Duals [Wrestling]

After dominating Drexel last week, Cornell faces Minnesota in the QF of the National Duals. Not really a great match-up for us but we have a chance if we can lose close in some weights where we are big underdogs and score bonus points where we are the big favorites.

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I wish I had seen this before the heavyweight match started! Cornell up 19-13 and needs to avoid losing by fall to win the dual.

JAP doing a great job of not getting pinned....

Note the 4 pm match is on Big Ten TV

dag14
JAP doing a great job of not getting pinned....

Note the 4 pm match is on Big Ten TV

Best kind of 10-1 loss is the one where it is good enough for the team to win 19-17!

Garrett and Palacio with huge 17-2 technical falls; Realbuto with a huge 9-3 win over the previously undefeated #1 and two-time NCAA finalist Dylan Ness; Dean with a decisive win over a guy who beat him over the summer and took him to OT earlier in the year; and a close win for Villalonga for all of the Cornell scoring.

Just as important, in the matches where we were clear underdogs, or guys kept the matches close. Grey and David kept the Dardanelle brothers to 7 points; Pickett and Bennett both lost by regular decision against Storley and Schiller; and JAP stayed off of his back against Kroells.

Huge. Up next, today, is an even tougher test against Iowa.

ugarte
Huge. Up next, today, is an even tougher test against Iowa.

Oof. A match against #1 Iowa in Iowa City was bound to be tough. It was.

#3 Garrett started the dual with a surprise 3-1 loss to #5 Gilman. Expected losses to the #6 wrestlers at 133 and 141 put us in a 9-0 hole. In a battle of top 5 guys at 149, Iowa's #2 Sorenson beat #5 Villalonga. 12-0 Hawkeyes.

At 157, #6 Realbuto followed up his win over #1 in the morning with a win over #15 in the afternoon to get Cornell off the schneid. #12 Palacio followed that with a win over #10 Moore, and really making a move to get seeded at NCAAs. He taunted the crowd, though, and apparently got an earful from Koll.

At 174 #18 Pickett gave #3 Evans all he could handle but fell short. Because Koll and the coaching staff jumped off the bench to protest a no-call on a cheap shot from Evans, Cornell was docked a point. As all of the matches were regular decisions, Cornell trailed 15-5.

#1 Dean got a real match from #8 Brooks but he is just too strong and his ability to fight off shots and scramble is amazing. Dean pulled away but this was closer than expected. 15-8 Iowa.

Tough day for #9 Bennett. He had to face #5 in the morning and then #6 in the afternoon. He couldn't pull this one out either, losing by a point.

Down 18-8, with Iowa's heavyweight ranked #4, Cornell elected to forfeit at 285,making the final score Iowa 24, Cornell 8.

We face Lehigh for third tomorrow. We beat Lehigh 21-9 earlier this year but a lot of those matches could have gone either way. Should be interesting.

ugarte
We face Lehigh for third tomorrow. We beat Lehigh 21-9 earlier this year but a lot of those matches could have gone either way. Should be interesting.

We beat Lehigh again, 22-15 this time. The score was closer but this was really a better performance for the Big Red.

Realbuto (157), Dean (184) and Bennett (197) won close matches against ranked opponents at the first dual - Realbuto needing a last minute takedown-plus-tilt to get the win, while Dean and Bennett had to go to extra time - but dominated in the rematches. Realbuto won 5-3 but was never in trouble; Dean won the rematch 7-2, fighting off an early shot with great defense and then easily taking down Brown multiple times; the first Bennett-Riddick match didn't see any takedowns, but Bennett took Riddick down this time and was again dominant on top. In addition, Villalonga improved from a decision to a MD.

The dual score was closer because Duke Pickett again had trouble taking down Santiago Martinez. Martinez doesn't try to score, and he got the points in a 2-1 win on an escape and a technical violation against Pickett.

This tournament was a great way to end the regular season. March 6-7 is the EIWA championship.

Cornell will be going for 9 straight and trying to qualify wrestlers in as many weight classes as possible. We should get at least 8 - Garrett, Grey, Villalonga, Realbuto, Palacio, Pickett, Dean and Bennett are almost-sure things (many if not all will get at-large bids even if they falter at EIWAs) and are wrestling to get/improve/maintain their seeds. JAP could qualify at heavyweight and I don't even know who we will send at 141, but while none of our 141s could possibly get an AQ, any of them could put together a string of wins and qualify.

ugarte, thanks, it's at least partially thanks to you that I've started following Cornell wrestling. And there's a lot I still don't get--I know that the team is not as strong at heavyweight as the other classes, but why did they forefit against Iowa and Lehigh? I see that the score in the last match wouldn't have mattered in the two duals, but wouldn't experience at least have helped our heavyweight wrestler, even if he lost?

djk26
ugarte, thanks, it's at least partially thanks to you that I've started following Cornell wrestling. And there's a lot I still don't get--I know that the team is not as strong at heavyweight as the other classes, but why did they forefit against Iowa and Lehigh? I see that the score in the last match wouldn't have mattered in the two duals, but wouldn't experience at least have helped our heavyweight wrestler, even if he lost?

Our heavyweight, an already struggling senior, is a bit banged up. So no reason, especially when the dual isn't on the line, to put him out there against one of the top guys and risk further injury. Smarter to try and rest him for the EIWAs.

Thank you. Not trying to belabor the point, just trying to better understand wrestling: why not have someone else wrestle in his place? Did the entire team not travel? Or do you have to announce all of the wrestlers before the match starts?

djk26
Thank you. Not trying to belabor the point, just trying to better understand wrestling: why not have someone else wrestle in his place? Did the entire team not travel? Or do you have to announce all of the wrestlers before the match starts?

There is a limit on the number of kids who can travel. I want to say that number is 13 (10 regulars + 3 backups), but I am not 100%. In any case, Cornell is incredibly weak at heavyweight, so it's unlikely they brought anyone at that weight. There are some freshmen next year that might be able to fill this hole.

Not all wrestlers are announced before the match starts. A coin flip at the beginning of the dual basically determines which team sends out a wrestler first in each match, allowing coaches to "match up" certain guys.

thanks again, that makes sense. I would love to see this team win a national title; I doubt that will happen this year (at least Missouri and Iowa are definitely better.) But I saw that there were only 2 seniors in the matches against Iowa and Lehigh (not counting the heavyweight.) If, like you say, there are some freshman that can help out next year at heavyweight, that would be fantastic.

We do have two guys coming in that we have high hopes for in the higher weights - Steve Congenie at 197 and Jeremy Sweaney at Heavy.

As for JAP at Heavy this year, he got whipped in the Minnesota match and came out of it dinged up so Koll held him out of the Iowa and Lehigh duals because his match was immaterial to the result. Our backup heavyweight, Famutimi, has not been competitive against competition well below what he'd have been facing this past weekend. As for experience… Famutimi is a senior; he wrestled his last match on Senior Night. If we can't carry a full compliment of backups, he's not a guy who will make the trip.

Our lineup next year looks like it will be pretty damn good. The kids taking a year to train with FLWC have done pretty well. I'm already looking forward to the 15-16 roster.