The season started this past weekend, so I may as well blend the results with a bit of a season preview, such as it is. This is going to be a bit of a punt season, with an incredible freshman class coming in next season, one of our best starters out with a medical redshirt and a few of our starters taking off the fall semester. That said, we still have a few potential All-Americans in the current lineup and a couple more coming back for the Spring.
125: 2025 will begin with Marcello Milani as the starter. He stepped up last season when Greg Diakomihalis got hurt and Brett Ungar could no longer make the cut to 125. His reward was a clutch performance in the Ivy tournament, an autobid to NCAA and a win in the pigtail match between the 32/33 seeds. He comes into this season as the starter for the fall semester, but Greg D. is expected to take back the role in the spring. If Milani can hold him off that will be very impressive; he also needs it to happen because next season top recruit Anthony Knox comes off his greyshirt season and is expected to step into the lineup as an All American out of the gate.
At Clarion:
Cornell: At the season-opening Clarion Open, Milani had an excellent start, beating Kilkeary (a former top recruit now caught in an embarrassment of riches at 125 for tOSU) straight up and a narrow 1-0 loss to a 2x NCAA qualifier, the starter for Ohio State.
SCRTC: The aforementioned Knox dominated most of his opponents but did lose to exchanged takedowns with tOSU's Bouzakis but the real problem was (1) throwing away an early escape point by firing off a shot before he had achieved separation at the end of the first period and (2) giving up a clean reversal. Bouzakis had over a minute of RT in the first and Knox really needed the escape. He's very talented but green and will have to learn to respect the skill level at the top of D1. Bouzakis is ALSO at tOSU, apparently dropping down from 125 to avoid Davino (see 133) and a 2x champ at 141.
133: Returning National Qualifier Tyler Ferrara and 2x NQ at 125 Brett Ungar will fight for the spot in the starting lineup. Last year, Ungar was too big for 125 but not yet strong enough to compete at 133. In the abstract, if Ungar can get his strength up after a year of training for it, he's probably who would get the role on paper. The heir apparent, though, is coming next year as well.
At Clarion:
Cornell: Ferrara went 4-1, but with no wins of note. He lost 10-3 in the final to Ben Davino, a potential AA from Ohio State. Ungar didn't compete.
SCRTC: The heir apparent, Isaiah Cortez, lost to Davino as well, but in a match that went to SV. Great result.
141: Joshua Saunders, last years NQ, is the likely starter for at least the first semester. In the spring, Vince Cornella - the starter and NQ in 2023 - returns to the lineup after an injury riddled '23-'24 season and a year to recover. The tournament time starter remains to be seen, but my money is on Cornella if he can stay healthy.
At Clarion:
SCRTC: Isaiah's twin brother Elijah Cortez had no problem with the field. MD over a Penn State RSFR (Herring), tech over a tOSU backup, fall over a second year starter at SIUE and a pair of wins over other D1 starters.
Cornell didn't send Saunders or Cornella so only a glimpse of the future, not the present.
149: Another wrestler who is taking the fall off, 2x NQ Ethan Fernandez, is going to have a hard time breaking back into the lineup. Freshman Jaxon Joy, coming off a great greyshirt season, is a heavy favorite to keep the starting role even when Fernandez returns. A shame for Fernandez, who would definitely be an NQ again, though he lacks Joy's AA potential.
At Clarion:
Cornell: Jaxon Joy blitzed the field until running into a high school phenom Bassett, a two-time age group world medalist, who will arrive at VT next year as a title contender. In the QF, though, he pinned a returning AA. Clean TD right to a cradle. Great start to his college career.
157: Another deferral, this time 2x AA Meyer Shapiro is trying to maximize his health since he's had a number of concussions in his first two college seasons. He didn't compete internationally this year, after winning age group world titles in 2021 and 2023. In the meantime, Benny Rogers will probably start in his place. Nate Wade didn't compete at Clarion but he is a possible fill-in as well.
At Clarion:
Cornell: Benny Rogers didn't beat anyone of note but lost a close match against another high school phenom. Even that was a pleasant surprise.
165: Freshman Louie Cerchio is the uncontested starter. He is coming off a pretty good greyshirt year. Too early to tell what his potential is but I suspect the floor is NQ.
At Clarion:
Cornell: Cerchio lost in the final to AA contender Paddy Gallagher in a one TD match.
SCRTC: Alessio Perentin, who will arrive next year, also was within a takedown of Gallagher, losing in the semis. Like Cerchio, Gallagher was his only loss.
Between the two, Cerchio's run through the bracket was far more dominant but that competition is a question to be resolved next year.
174: Returning AA Simon Ruiz has this spot on lock. He didn't go to Clarion but he did wrestle 3x NQ and AA contender Lenny Pinto in an All-star exhibition over the weekend, beating him for the third straight time. He's likely to AA again.
184: With Mikey Dellagatta out for the season with an injury, senior Christian Hansen gets his first opportunity in a starting role. He's a gamer so I'm hoping for the best. I don't know how the Ivy stacks up at 184 - it would be cool if he got to go to NCAAs if the conference is weak.
At Clarion:
Damning with faint praise, I suppose, but Hansen had a respectably close loss to 2x R12 Fishback.
197: A hole in the lineup this year with our starter-in-waiting greyshirting. Probable starter Aiden Hanning doesn't have anything in his record to suggest he'll have much success but a couple of key wins would look nice. He skipped Clarion but the backups didn't do anything there to suggest I need to write about them.
At Clarion:
SCRTC: Jude Correa, next year's likely starter, had 4 pins and a single close loss to the probable Ohio State starter.
Hwt: Ashton Davis, last year's starter and NQ, is back. With a very good heavy joining the program next year, he's going to have a lot more competition for the spot. Likely NQ again.
At Clarion:
Cornell: Ashton Davis dropped a close match to a wrestler from Bellarmine. The loss looks bad on paper but it belies his performance. He was in on multiple shots and while he needs to finish his good shots better than he did, I don't have a lot of doubt that he'd win a rematch. In any event, he clearly separated himself from Henderson as the starter by beating him handily in the 5th place match.
SCRTC: Rocco Dellagatta, on the other hand, looked very good. His only lost was a narrow one to an AA contender from Ohio State.
Shapiro and Ruiz are likely AA. Joy is a strong possibility, as is a healthy Cornella. If Greg D. can stay healthy and if Ungar grew into the weight I can see them on the podium as well.
For next year, though, Knox, the Cortez brothers, Perentin, Correa and the Dellagatta brothers in the lineup look great in a year when we aren't losing many guys to graduation. But that's a preview for 12 months from now.
Thanks as always for your informative summary. If Shapiro is fully healthy, do you think he can win it all or is AA now his ceiling?
Quote from: scoop85 on November 04, 2025, 02:00:22 PMThanks as always for your informative summary. If Shapiro is fully healthy, do you think he can win it all or is AA now his ceiling?
he can absolutely win it all. he has to stop bouncing his head off of the mat in funky positions.
Here are the first rankings after the start of actual wrestling (references in the notes to moving up or down are relative to preseason rankings, which I forgot to post here). I'm not including the guys taking Fall sabbaticals in the chart until they start wrestling. That means no lines for Greg D., Cornella, Fernandez and Shapiro. That way the chart reflects the guys actually wrestling for us. To the extent that those guys stay in some rankings, I'll put it in the notes below. Ungar and Ferrara, on the other hand, are both rostered right now, as far as I can tell. I'll keep them both in the chart.
Flo WIN IM TOM AWN BEG WSt SHP CR RPI
125: Milani 24 -- 26 NR xx -- 33 -- -- --
133: Ferrara xx -- 24 NR NR -- 18 -- -- --
133: Ungar 23 -- xx NR NR -- 28 -- -- --
141: Saunders xx -- xx NR xx -- 28 -- -- --
149: Joy 10 -- 7 12 15 -- 3 -- -- --
157: Rogers xx -- NR NR xx -- 56 -- -- --
165: Cerchio NR -- 26 NR NR -- 63 -- -- --
174: Ruiz 3 -- 3 3 4 -- 6 -- -- --
184: Hansen NR -- NR NR NR -- 48 -- -- --
197: Hanning NR -- NR NR NR -- 43 -- -- --
285: Davis 33 -- 29 NR NR -- 25 -- -- --
TEAM NCAA: 13 -- 18 14 -- -- 6 -- -- --
TEAM DUAL: -- -- 13 14 -- -- 14 -- -- --
Flo (https://www.flowrestling.org/rankings/14300895-2025-26-ncaa-di-wrestling-rankings/54812-p4p-mitchell-mesenbrink) ranks to 33. Joy jumps six spots. Cerchio falls out of the rankings because some other fringy guys had good wins, I guess. Cornella moves up to 15 due to an upset loss above him. Davis falls to 33 as Mayer (Bellarmine) leapfrogs him in typical Flo ranking fashion. Shapiro stays at 3. He's also 12 in P4P, in a block of 157s from 10-12.
WIN ranks to 20. Site doesn't seem to be updating at all, not just the rankings. Is it dead?
Intermat (https://intermatwrestle.com/rankings.html/ncaa-di-r55/) ranks to 33. Ferrara replaces Ungar as the Cornell rep; IM is ranking the lineup as it is, not as it will be. Joy jumps two spots into AA range. Cerchio moves up 5. Davis slides down 3. Tournament rankings drop but dual rankings up a pip.
Open Mat (https://news.theopenmat.com/rankings/ncaa_d1/125) ranks to 20. Ferrara falls out of the rankings behind some guys who haven't lost yet, even if I doubt they've faced anyone as good as Davino. Joy up 4. Still listing Shapiro.
AWN (https://amateurwrestlingnews.com/) ranks to 20. Joy enters the rankings at 15. Still Greg D. at 13, Cornella at 18, Shapiro at 3.
BEG Rank to 33. TK?
WrestleStat (https://www.wrestlestat.com/team/20/cornell/profile) ELO updated. Joy from 198 to 3 (lol). Cerchio from 165 to 63. The huge jump for Joy (sorry) along with some smaller jumps and keeping Shapiro in the lineup also boosted the team tournament ranking to 6.
SHP DII SHP's Dual Impact TK, but not this week. (explainer (https://wrestlingbypirate.wordpress.com))
Coaches Ranking and official RPI won't be out for a while. I'll probably add in the WrestleStat RPI ranking when it's closer to meaningful.
Quote from: ugarte on November 04, 2025, 04:22:31 PMQuote from: scoop85 on November 04, 2025, 02:00:22 PMThanks as always for your informative summary. If Shapiro is fully healthy, do you think he can win it all or is AA now his ceiling?
he can absolutely win it all. he has to stop bouncing his head off of the mat in funky positions.
ugarte doesn't need my support when it comes to wrestling, but I will second his opinion. A healthy Shapiro is national champion quality. I can absolutely see him making a Nahshon or Vito like run through nationals telling the field: "This is my title, have fun competing for second." Yes, I know Nahshon's win in the championship was 7-6, but it was the most lopsided 7-6 win in wrestling history.
Quote from: mountainred on November 05, 2025, 02:38:17 PMQuote from: ugarte on November 04, 2025, 04:22:31 PMQuote from: scoop85 on November 04, 2025, 02:00:22 PMThanks as always for your informative summary. If Shapiro is fully healthy, do you think he can win it all or is AA now his ceiling?
he can absolutely win it all. he has to stop bouncing his head off of the mat in funky positions.
ugarte doesn't need my support when it comes to wrestling, but I will second his opinion. A healthy Shapiro is national champion quality. I can absolutely see him making a Nahshon or Vito like run through nationals telling the field: "This is my title, have fun competing for second." Yes, I know Nahshon's win in the championship was 7-6, but it was the most lopsided 7-6 win in wrestling history.
couple of bullshit stalls at the end, right? and that was after a 20 second semifinal match IIRC.
the field is closer to shapiro than i think anyone realized when he was coming out of high school but the top 3 157s are all coinflips. Kasak has the muscle, Shapiro the funk and Taylor the guy who was close second on both and won the title. Ignore the guys who took second and fourth. The former got a little lucky to beat Kasak and is up at 165 now. The latter got an incredibly lucky draw, not facing any of the top three until the third place match and graduated anyway.
That said, if Shapiro is totally healthy at the end of the year, I think he's the champ.
We didn't wrestle this week but the rankers still watched everyone else.
As previously noted, I'm dropping the Fall sabbaticals from the chart until they start wrestling. That means say goodbye to the lines for Greg D., Cornella, Fernandez and Shapiro. That way the chart reflects the guys actually wrestling for us. To the extent that they stay in the rankings, I'll put it in the notes below. Ungar and Ferrara, on the other hand, are both rostered right now ( as far as I can tell) and competing internally to start at 133 when it matters. I'll keep them both in the chart.
Flo WIN IM TOM AWN BEG WSt SHP CR RPI
125: Milani 25 -- 25 NR xx -- 34 -- -- --
133: Ferrara xx -- 26 NR 20 -- 20 -- -- --
133: Ungar 23 -- xx NR NR -- 31 -- -- --
141: Saunders xx -- NR NR xx -- 25 -- -- --
149: Joy 9 -- 7 10 10 -- 3 -- -- --
157: Rogers xx -- NR NR xx -- 56 -- -- --
165: Cerchio NR -- 24 NR NR -- 61 -- -- --
174: Ruiz 3 -- 3 3 4 -- 5 -- -- --
184: Hansen NR -- NR NR NR -- 47 -- -- --
197: Hanning NR -- NR NR NR -- 46 -- -- --
285: Davis NR -- 29 NR NR -- 28 -- -- --
TEAM NCAA: 13 -- 17 25 -- -- 8 -- -- --
TEAM DUAL: -- -- 13 14 -- -- 12 -- -- --
Flo (https://www.flowrestling.org/rankings/14300895-2025-26-ncaa-di-wrestling-rankings/54872-p4p-mitchell-mesenbrink) ranks to 33. Milani down a pip, Joy up one. Cornella moves up to 14. Davis falls out of the rankings; perils of life on the bubble. Shapiro tentatively moves up to 2 with Kasak likely redshirting and PJ Duke not yet "qualified" for Flo's rankings.
WIN ranks to 20. Contacted WIN; they are issuing rankings in the print edition but are holding off on posting them online until the dust settles a little and various lineup decisions shake out.
Intermat (https://intermatwrestle.com/rankings.html/ncaa-di-r56/) ranks to 33. Minor shuffling.
Open Mat (https://news.theopenmat.com/rankings/ncaa_d1/125) ranks to 20. Typo last week; Joy was not at 4. He's at 10 this week.
AWN (https://amateurwrestlingnews.com/) ranks to 20. Ferrara enters the rankings at 20. Joy up to 10. Shapiro at 2 but they've stopped including Greg D. and Cornella.
BEG No longer lists rankings in the site menu. Rankings from a Cornell partisan so I'd like to see his rose-colored rankings.
WrestleStat (https://www.wrestlestat.com/team/20/cornell/profile) ELO updated.
SHP DII SHP's Dual Impact Index TK mid-Decemberish. (explainer (https://wrestlingbypirate.wordpress.com))
CR and RPI won't be out for a while.
Team had a rough week. We went to the National Duals tournament and got blown out in back to back matches against Oklahoma State and Northern Iowa. That said, there were some real bright spots.
Against Oklahoma State, Ferrara beat a 2024 national champion and Jaxon Joy beat a top 5 wrestler. In a shocking upset Chase Hansen also beat a top wrestler, scoring the only takedown of the match. Joy followed up with another big win against Northern Iowa. Simon Ruiz is also beating quality opponents. Aside from that, we had a rough go. Cerchio went 0-2 but kept it close against a pair of top 10 opponents. Saunders looked bad. Cornella is going to walk back into the starting spot.
We are sending wrestlers to the Big Red Invitational this week but the quality of the opposition looks to be pretty thin.
As previously noted, I'm dropping the Fall sabbaticals from the chart until they start wrestling. That means no Greg D.* (125), Ungar* (133) Cornella (141), Fernandez* (149) and Shapiro (157). That way the chart reflects the guys actually wrestling for us. To the extent that they stay in the rankings, I'll put it in the notes below.
* Fernandez may be rejoining the team but Jaxon Joy is keeping his spot for sure. Ungar is going to have to win a wrestle-off with Ferrara. Greg D. may have to win a wrestle-off but he's a big favorite over Milani if he's healthy.
Flo WIN IM TOM AWN WSt SHP CR RPI
125: Milani 26 NR 27 NR NR 37 -- -- --
133: Ferrara 21 NR 21 17 11 18 -- -- --
141: Saunders NR xx 32 NR NR 37 -- -- --
149: Joy 9 7 3 7 3 3 -- -- --
157: Rogers NR xx NR NR xx 80 -- -- --
165: Cerchio NR NR 26 NR NR 69 -- -- --
174: Ruiz 3 3 3 3 3 4 -- -- --
184: Hansen 30 NR 29 NR NR 32 -- -- --
197: Hanning NR NR NR NR NR 47 -- -- --
285: Davis NR NR 29 NR NR 35 -- -- --
TEAM NCAA: 22 12 13 16 -- 13 -- -- --
TEAM DUAL: -- 12 17 17 -- 20 -- -- --
Flo (https://www.flowrestling.org/rankings/14300895-2025-26-ncaa-di-wrestling-rankings/54906-125-luke-lilledahl) ranks to 33. Flo dropped the sabbatical guys from their rankings. Hansen and Ferrara both jump into the rankings. Team ranking takes a big hit from losing Shapiro in the calculation.
WIN (https://www.win-magazine.com/2025/11/18/year-of-the-freshmen-rookies-impactful-in-wins-nov-18-updated-tpi-dual-team-and-individual-rankings/) ranks to 20. Joy jumps to 7. Shapiro at 3, Cornella at 14.
Intermat (https://intermatwrestle.com/rankings.html/ncaa-di-r56/) ranks to 33. Joy up to 3. Hansen and Cerchio enter the rankings. Davis hanging on. IM also dropped the sabbatical takers, but maybe not from the tournament rankings.
Open Mat (https://news.theopenmat.com/rankings/ncaa_d1/125) ranks to 20. Joy to 7. Ferrara enters at 17.
AWN (https://amateurwrestlingnews.com/) ranks to 20. Shapiro at 1! Joy at 3, Ferrara up to 11.
WrestleStat (https://www.wrestlestat.com/team/20/cornell/profile) ELO updated.
SHP DII SHP's Dual Impact Index TK mid-Decemberish. (explainer (https://wrestlingbypirate.wordpress.com/))
CR and RPI won't be out for a while.
Quote from: ugarte on November 19, 2025, 12:30:11 AMWe are sending wrestlers to the Big Red Invitational this week but the quality of the opposition looks to be pretty thin.
Looks like we're sending a thin roster too. Joy and Ruiz are skipping the BRI in favor of training for something unspecified. I suspect it has to do with international competition or a Team USA qualifying event but I have no idea what is coming up.
2027 recruiting seems to be lagging? Any insights why (assuming it's correct)
Quote from: underskill on November 21, 2025, 03:42:11 PM2027 recruiting seems to be lagging? Any insights why (assuming it's correct)
we're lagging a little on '27 but we have 5 guys on the Flo '26 Big Board (https://www.flowrestling.org/rankings/11241937-class-of-2026-high-school-big-board/54884-top-100-recruits-in-the-class-of-2026) (top 100, all weights), including #19 (2d at 175). maybe lagging a little on 27, with 3 (all below 75) (https://www.flowrestling.org/rankings/13624348-class-of-2027-high-school-wrestling-big-board/54959-top-100-wrestling-recruits-in-the-class-of-2027) but we'll see if we have a better read on the class than Flo does. Plus it's still early. There are still seven uncommitted in the '27 top 25. and all of that is following an incredible class of '25 which will probably have up to five guys step right into the lineup.
if it's anything probably NIL from the top programs - outside of the Big Ten, VT seems to be going for it too.
Didn't update last week but there isn't much change. Here's the latest. Big competition in Las Vegas this weekend but Greg D., Cornella and Shapiro don't return until the 21st IIRC so I don't expect a lot of change. Especially since the only place for Ruiz to go is down and he's skipping the weekend trip because he's got the sniffles.
Flo didn't update the Ivy rankings.
Flo WIN IM TOM AWN WSt SHP CR RPI
125: Milani 30 NR 32 NR NR 48 -- -- --
133: Ferrara 23 NR 18 19 10 20 -- -- --
141: Saunders NR xx 30 NR xx 39 -- -- --
149: Joy 9 7 4 6 2 3 -- -- --
157: Rogers NR xx NR NR xx 57 -- -- --
165: Cerchio NR NR 28 NR NR 56 -- -- --
174: Ruiz 2 2 2 2 2 4 -- -- --
184: Hansen 26 NR 28 NR NR 24 -- -- --
197: Hanning NR NR NR NR NR 52 -- -- --
285: Davis 32 NR 30 NR NR 29 -- -- --
TEAM NCAA: 20 11 11 16 -- 12 -- -- --
TEAM DUAL: -- 12 18 17 -- 21 -- -- --
Wresting Insider Newsmagazine*, Intermat, The Open Mat and Amateur Wrestling News only rank a top 20. Flo and Intermat go to 33, the number of qualifiers for NCAA. Wrestlestat is an ELO ranking for all wrestlers in a weight class and Seton Hall Pirate has his own proprietary formula for his Dual Impact Index.
CR and RPI are not out yet but I think the first release is soon.
*lol
Not a great showing overall for the fall wrestling team in Las Vegas but we did have two outstanding results.
First, at 149, Jaxon Joy beat three ranked wrestlers, including #2 Kaleb Larkin (ASU). He beat Larkin by tech fall in the SF 15-0 in 2:53 then followed it up by pinning Princeton's #22 Eligh Rivera in the finals in 2:18. He gave up three points in four matches and all of them were on escapes.
Second, at 133, Tyler Ferrara finished in third place, with his only loss, a 1-0 snoozer to #9 Dillon Campbell of VT. Along the way to the bronze finish, he beat #32 and #15 by MD then won the rematch with Campbell in the third place match 8-1.
Other than those two, not much to write home about. A 12th place finish overall in a relatively weak field since a lot of teams who usually come skipped it. That said...
125: Marcello Milani went 2-2. Had a competitive match with #15.
141: Gabriel Bouyssou went 0-2.
157: Benny Rogers went 0-2.
165: Louie Cerchio went 1-2.
174: Simon Ruiz stayed home with a minor illness.
184: Christian Hansen went 1-2, losing both of his matches on last second takedowns.
197: Aidan Hanning went 1-2.
285: Ashton Davis went 2-2 but at least he destroyed the Harvard guy.
Joy is probably going to be 2 or 3 in all rankings this week and Ferrara will jump significantly. Pretty cool. Can't wait for Greg D., Cornella and Shapiro to get back at 125, 141 and 157 respectively.
Quote from: ugarte on November 21, 2025, 06:39:23 PMQuote from: underskill on November 21, 2025, 03:42:11 PM2027 recruiting seems to be lagging? Any insights why (assuming it's correct)
we're lagging a little on '27 but we have 5 guys on the Flo '26 Big Board (https://www.flowrestling.org/rankings/11241937-class-of-2026-high-school-big-board/54884-top-100-recruits-in-the-class-of-2026) (top 100, all weights), including #19 (2d at 175). maybe lagging a little on 27, ...
UPDATE: Class of '27 added Arseni Kikiniou (https://www.instagram.com/p/DR-txk4E5-e/?igsh=dWp6c2ZjdTZhanF5), 2025 U17 world double medalist (https://www.themat.com/news/2025/august/06/arseni-kikiniou-named-usa-wrestling-athlete-of-the-week-presented-by-u-s-air-force-special-warfare). He took bronze in greco and silver in freestyle at the same competition.
I listed greco first only because his father (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aliaksandr_Kikiniou) was a world medalist for Belarus back in 2009 and a 2x Olympian (2004 and 2012). I don't know when he moved to the United States but now he wrestles for Team USA. He was our world team representative in 2024 in his 40's which is simultaneously very impressive for him but less so for the state of the US Greco program.
Arseni is 33 on the Flo '27 Big Board.
Another modest recruiting update: the Ironman HS wrestling tournament is in progress. We have one wrestler in the finals at 175 and two in the 7th place match (138 and 150) and two more wrestlers finishing one match shy of the podium (150 and 157).
Quote from: ugarte on December 13, 2025, 01:08:34 PMAnother modest recruiting update: the Ironman HS wrestling tournament is in progress. We have one wrestler in the finals at 175 and two in the 7th place match (138 and 150) and two more wrestlers finishing one match shy of the podium (150 and 157).
At 175,
Joseph Jeter beat Nick Singer 6-4. Coming into the match, Singer was ranked #1; Jeter #2. They had split their two prior meetings. Jeter is #19 on Flo's all-weights "Big Board" for 2026 and Singer is #4 for 2027 (and headed to Iowa).
At 138,
Evan Stanley won by medical forfeit to take 7th place. Stanley was the 11 seed and #96 on the 2027 Big Board.
At 150,
Tyler Traves won 6-1 (SV) to take 7th place. Traves was the 6 seed. He isn't on the Big Board, but outperformed
Michael Turi (36) in the same bracket. Turi is a fellow Cornell recruit graduating this Spring and lost in R12.
Quote from: ugarte on December 14, 2025, 10:58:35 AMAt 150, Tyler Traves won 6-1 (SV) to take 7th place. Traves was the 6 seed. He isn't on the Big Board, but outperformed Michael Turi (36) in the same bracket. Turi is a fellow Cornell recruit graduating this Spring and lost in R12.
Could be an interesting battle in the room for the next few seasons.
Quote from: mountainred on December 14, 2025, 11:01:02 AMQuote from: ugarte on December 14, 2025, 10:58:35 AMAt 150, Tyler Traves won 6-1 (SV) to take 7th place. Traves was the 6 seed. He isn't on the Big Board, but outperformed Michael Turi (36) in the same bracket. Turi is a fellow Cornell recruit graduating this Spring and lost in R12.
Could be an interesting battle in the room for the next few seasons.
who knows ... joy and shapiro have 149 and 157 locked down for a couple of years. parentin looks like the best candidate for 165 (barring the other guys growing into the weight).
In any event... Cornella is back in the rankings at Flo, but only at Flo (WIN never took him out and also never dropped Shapiro, who they have at 5). Saunders is still in the chart because Cornella isn't being ranked but between Cornella's return at 141 and Joy's rocket to #2 at 149, he appears to be an odd man out. Saunders appears squeezed for the backup role too, with Bouyssou seemingly better able to handle the cut to 141 and Ethan Fernandez also returning to 149 after a semester off. Shapiro is the returning 800 lb. gorilla at 157.
Flo WIN IM TOM AWN WSt SHP CR RPI
125: Milani NR NR 33 NR xx 51 35 -- --
133: Ferrara 16 10 13 15 11 11 11 -- --
141: Saunders xx xx 32 NR NR 44 31^ -- --
141: Cornella 12 15 xx xx xx 26 10^ -- --
149: Joy 2 2 2 2 2 3 1 -- --
157: Rogers NR xx NR NR xx 65 26 -- --
165: Cerchio NR NR 28 NR NR 63 36 -- --
174: Ruiz 2 2 2 2 2 5 1^ -- --
184: Hansen 26 NR 31 NR NR 29 25 -- --
197: Hanning NR NR NR NR NR 56 41 -- --
285: Davis NR NR 29 NR NR 31 31 -- --
TEAM NCAA: 9 8 10 9 -- 11 14 -- --
TEAM DUAL: 22 11 18 17 -- 24 41 -- --
Flo Ivy rankings: not updated
125: Milani* 2
133: Ferrara 1
141: Saunders* 4
149: Joy 2
157: Rogers* 3
165: Cerchio 3
174: Ruiz 1
184: Hansen 3
197: Hanning 4
285: Davis 2
* probably replaced in the fall.
Flo (https://www.flowrestling.org/rankings/14300895-2025-26-ncaa-di-wrestling-rankings/55209-ohio-state) ranks to 33.
WIN ranks to 20. TK
Intermat (https://intermatwrestle.com/rankings.html/ncaa-di-r61/) ranks to 33.
Open Mat (https://news.theopenmat.com/rankings/ncaa_d1/125) ranks to 20.
AWN (https://amateurwrestlingnews.com/) ranks to 20.
WrestleStat (https://www.wrestlestat.com/team/20/cornell/profile) ELO updated.
SHP DII (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vR70sW-_cFSQoncYDeyIv-XdEepOqHDzOUnkLUt_kPuW7nVDn3mTstUddDWEeXxRyfgepeyV65gHyQb/pubhtml) SHP's Dual Impact Index is out! Joy and Ruiz both #1, though Ruiz doesn't have enough matches yet for an official DII ranking. (explainer (https://wrestlingbypirate.wordpress.com))
CR and RPI won't be out for a while.
After just one season in Ithaca, Anthony Knox is changing course.
The four-time New Jersey State champion wrestler on Thursday, Dec. 18, announced he'd decommitted from Cornell University.
"It's with very careful consideration I have decided to de commit from Cornell University. This was not an easy decision and I truly do love everyone involved with the Cornell Wrestling Program. However, I'm excited to see what this process has in store for me."
Knox didn't provide a reason for the shift. He was not on the Cornell wrestling roster as of press time and apparently hadn't wrestled in a match yet this season.
https://www.aol.com/news/4x-nj-state-champ-wrestler-021511895.html (https://www.aol.com/news/4x-nj-state-champ-wrestler-021511895.html)
Quote from: Ken711 on December 19, 2025, 11:50:48 AMKnox didn't provide a reason for the shift...
This sucks. The first rumor was Virginia Tech but now looking like he's staying in his backyard and going to rutgers. Most likely reason for the shift is NIL money. Also really sucks because getting Knox probably scared off other very good 125s.
During his greyshirt year Knox has been very good. He dominated five of his six matches - against people he'd be expected to handle - and only lost a close one (7-4) to Nic Bouzakis, who was a top recruit like Knox in '22, went to Ohio State and is currently ranked in the top 5.
Quote from: ugarte on December 19, 2025, 02:31:24 PMQuote from: Ken711 on December 19, 2025, 11:50:48 AMKnox didn't provide a reason for the shift...
This sucks. The first rumor was Virginia Tech but now looking like he's staying in his backyard and going to rutgers. Most likely reason for the shift is NIL money. Also really sucks because getting Knox probably scared off other very good 125s.
During his greyshirt year Knox has been very good. He dominated five of his six matches - against people he'd be expected to handle - and only lost a close one (7-4) to Nic Bouzakis, who was a top recruit like Knox in '22, went to Ohio State and is currently ranked in the top 5.
The winds are increasingly shifting against Cornell and the Ivies being able to compete nationally in even "niche" sports like wrestling. Makes me even more grateful for our lax championship.
Quote from: scoop85 on December 19, 2025, 02:53:54 PMQuote from: ugarte on December 19, 2025, 02:31:24 PMQuote from: Ken711 on December 19, 2025, 11:50:48 AMKnox didn't provide a reason for the shift...
This sucks. The first rumor was Virginia Tech but now looking like he's staying in his backyard and going to rutgers. Most likely reason for the shift is NIL money. Also really sucks because getting Knox probably scared off other very good 125s.
During his greyshirt year Knox has been very good. He dominated five of his six matches - against people he'd be expected to handle - and only lost a close one (7-4) to Nic Bouzakis, who was a top recruit like Knox in '22, went to Ohio State and is currently ranked in the top 5.
The winds are increasingly shifting against Cornell and the Ivies being able to compete nationally in even "niche" sports like wrestling. Makes me even more grateful for our lax championship.
Yes, but also I think "NIL" is thrown around too lazily to explain recruitment decisions in non-football/men's basketball. (Maybe it's true in wrestling, not really sure.) At least in hockey, programs almost universally lose money and have little donor support. There's tremendous pressure to allocate spending towards keeping football and basketball afloat (see eg. BC). Just because we lose a player to Big State School doesn't indicate NIL was the reason, at all. Again, could have been the case here, ugarte knows better than I do, but I've seen people scream NIL in other sports when the funding just doesn't add up.
Anyway, I've been beating this drum for awhile but the Ivies have the richest alums in the country and could easily buy players if they wanted to. The schools themselves also can't really do anything to prevent an NIL fund from popping up. It's up to the donors to do something about this if the Ivies want to stay relevant in the national landscape.
NIL in a meaningful way in wrestling is confined to a small number of programs - basically the top of the B1G, OK State and a few ACC schools - but i do think the money for the best guys i ssignificant. VT is one of the ACC schools and I'd be shocked if Rob Koll wasn't still capable of tickling donors the right way to open their wallets for UNC. Knox is a guy who would draw real money. He's almost certainly going to be in the AA/natty conversation as soon as he's rostered. I'm sort of interested in seeing if he ends up enrolling somewhere in January. If he is headed to Rutgers he'd be better than their current starter.
I should also point out that the scuttlebutt on Knox is that it wasn't an NIL issue (though his current recruitment might turn on that). The whispers are that it was an admissions issue. I don't know what his academic profile is but he has an upcoming trial for a fight he got into at Regionals in NJ last year. You might remember me writing about it at the time. Both he and his father went into the risers and started throwing hands with fans from a rival school. Whatever it was, the desires of the athletic department were overruled. As for the team, apparently Isaiah Cortez - who I thought would compete for the starting spot at 133 - can cut to 125 and is expected to start. He's a good one too. He'll also be in the conversation for AA but not quite the same buzz from the experts.
Heading into the Southern Scuffle, everyone (except Greg Diakomihalis at 125) has returned to the mat, so everyone is back in the rankings. The Scuffle is an open tournament that allows schools to send multiple wrestlers at each weight, which Cornell is using as an informal non-binding wrestle-off for a number of weights. Here is how the roster shakes out heading into the Spring:
125: Greg Diakomihalis (constantly injured, high ceiling) v. Marcello Milani (returning NCAA qualifier)
133: Brett Ungar (two-time R12 at 125) v Tyler Ferrara (returning NQ, currently ranked 10-15)
141: Looked like it might be a battle but Joshua Saunders is already wrestling at 149, ceding the weight to Vince Cornella. Saunders had already lost the primary spot to Gabriel Bouyssou, maybe because it became increasingly hard to cut to 141.
149: Saunders would actually probably be #3 at 149. Ethan Fernandez returns to the lineup after a semester off and should slot in as Jaxon Joy's primary backup. Maybe he technically can fight for the starting spot but I doubt it.
157: Meyer Shapiro is back. No competition here. Benny Rogers moved up to 165 for last weekend's duals (more below) and...
165: Louie Cerchio has been good but not great to date. It's possible that Rogers' move up last weekend means competition for the starting spot. I'd be surprised if Rogers bumped Cerchio but it's not impossible.
174: Simon Ruiz has been out for a bit with a nagging injury but should be back for the Scuffle. We don't have anyone who can really fill his shoes. Big drop off to Evan Canoyer or Brady Oleksak.
184-285: Christian Hansen, Aiden Hanning and Ashton Davis are all comfortable starters. Hansen has earned his way into the rankings; Davis, out of them. Hanning was never expected to be ranked afaik. We have solid upper weights coming in next year but this year they've been struggling.
In last week's competition, we split a pair of duals with Illinois (L 14-21) and Arkansas-Little Rock (W 31-10). Ruiz was out for the weekend, but if he's in we likely flip the Illinois dual to a 17-16 W or better. UALR was also sitting one of their stars; if he competes that win is more like 25-14.
Shapiro had a tight 2-1 win against Kannon Webster, a top-10 wrestler for Illinois before dominating his UALR opponent. Ungar returned and lost a competitive match to Lucas Byrd, the returning national champ from Illinois; Ferrara came in for the UALR match and won easily. No real surprises except we got a nice win from Hansen against Illinois and a bad loss for Davis against UALR. Davis is going to have to do some real work to get back into the rankings but he's still a good bet to repeat as Ivy champ.
The tight win over Webster at mostly put Shapiro just ahead of wherever that ranker had Webster and didn't vault him ahead of the very deep class at 157 to his usual spot in the top 2. Cornella also returned to all ballots and, like Ferrara, is ranked a hair below the top tier.
Flo WIN IM TOM AWN WSt SHP CR RPI
125: Milani NR NR NR NR NR 50 36 -- --
133: Ferrara 15 10 12 14 12 10 13* -- --
141: Cornella 13 14 13 13 14 19 9 -- --
149: Joy 2 2 2 2 2 3 1 -- --
157: Shapiro 6 5 7 1 2 1 1^ -- --
165: Cerchio NR NR NR NR NR 65 36 -- --
174: Ruiz 2 2 2 2 4 5 1^ -- --
184: Hansen 20 NR 30 NR NR 28 23 -- --
197: Hanning NR NR NR NR NR 61 39 -- --
285: Davis NR NR NR NR NR 45 36 -- --
TEAM NCAA: 8 8 8 8 -- 8 10 -- --
TEAM DUAL: 22 11 18 17 -- 11 23 -- --
* Ungar, after one match, is at 6 in SHP's DII but until the starter changes I'm leaving Ferrara in the chart.
^ Ruiz and Shapiro don't have enough matches to calculate DII, but placed where their provisional ratings would have them.
Flo Ivy rankings: not updated since 11/20
125: Milani* 2
133: Ferrara 1
141: Saunders* 4
149: Joy 2
157: Rogers* 3
165: Cerchio 3
174: Ruiz 1
184: Hansen 3
197: Hanning 4
285: Davis 2
* probably replaced in the fall.
Flo (https://www.flowrestling.org/rankings/14300895-2025-26-ncaa-di-wrestling-rankings/55251-penn-state) ranks to 33.
WIN (https://www.win-magazine.com/2025/12/23/wins-dec-23-updated-tpi-dual-meet-rankings-and-individual-rankings/) ranks to 20.
Intermat (https://intermatwrestle.com/rankings.html/ncaa-di-r62/) ranks to 33.
Open Mat (https://news.theopenmat.com/rankings/ncaa_d1/125) ranks to 20.
AWN (https://amateurwrestlingnews.com/) ranks to 20.
WrestleStat (https://www.wrestlestat.com/team/20/cornell/profile) ELO updated.
SHP DII (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vQLnE_OGMV-oRlY28KNR6HigPpXYybU8Tuk_xgal0YbZ1GNFnLc-HS4Bs7svyDVGH1DDusToMgG4sEL/pubhtml) Three wrestlers currently considered #1 by the machine, though two don't yet have enough matches for it to really count. (explainer (https://wrestlingbypirate.wordpress.com/))
CR and RPI won't be out for a while.
ugarte -- Thank you for another great update.
We're almost all back? Maybe? We have two dual meets on Saturday - at Lehigh and Bucknell (with a 2ish hour drive between the two), and Coach Grey says we're going to have the full lineups but I feel like I've heard that before. Ruiz hasn't wrestled since October and it's unclear why other starters have been sitting out. Honestly, kind of a bummer that wrestling has - not only at Cornell - started to shift emphasis to optimizing for the postseason instead of season-long competition being a chance to see your stars over and over.
In any event, we had a lot of starters sit out the Southern Scuffle (hosted by UTC over the weekend) but we did get some good results out of it and at least there's more wrestling to base updated rankings on. Starters at 149, 157, 165, 174 and 197 didn't compete and we still took 7th, which is interesting.
At the Scuffle, Vince Cornella (141) had a couple of surprisingly close matches but finished with a dominant win over a 2x All-American in the final - 7-2 over Penn's CJ Composto. His SF win was also over a ranked wrestler.
Greg Diakomihalis (125) returned to competition and didn't look *great* against the better opposition he facedin Chattanooga but he did finish in 4th (ahead of previous starter Milani). Christian Hansen (184) had a decent tournament, losing only to a Penn State backup (who'd be starting in most of the country) and a coin flip match against an App State kid for 3d place. He'll have to win those matches in March if he wants to make the podium.
Tyler Ferrara (133) lost in the QF against a very annoying (stylistically) opponent and he's going to have to learn to deal with the idiosyncratic guys to go as far as he wants to. After one win in the consolation bracket that (a) guaranteed him an 8th place finish and (b) advanced him farther than teammate Brett Ungar, he was withdrawn from the remainder of the tournament. Suggests to me that Ferrara has won the starting spot going forward in this quasi-wrestleoff, not that he has any actual injury.
Greg D. has been substituted in as starter by almost all rankers. He jumped into all of the top-33 rankings and one of the top-20s. Cornella's win over Composto gave him a boost to the top-8 (mostly).
2x NQ Ethan Fernandez returned to action but was underwhelming. Nothing suggests that he has a chance to displace Jaxon Joy in the starting lineup at 149.
College Wrestling Report rankings have been added to the chart.
Flo WIN IM TOM AWN CWR WSt SHP CR RPI
125: Greg D. 26 NR 33 18 NR 32 19 32* -- --
133: Ferrara 21 19 16 19 13 14 16 14 -- --
141: Cornella 5 8 6 7 9 5 9 6 -- --
149: Joy 2 2 2 2 2 2 3 1 -- --
157: Shapiro 6 5 7 1 3 3 1 1^ -- --
165: Cerchio NR NR NR NR NR NR 68 36 -- --
174: Ruiz 2 2 2 2 4 2 5 1^ -- --
184: Hansen 21 20 30 NR NR 28 25 25 -- --
197: Hanning NR NR NR NR NR NR 67 39 -- --
285: Davis 31 NR NR NR NR 32 42 32 -- --
TEAM NCAA: 8 8 8 7 -- 7 7 10 -- --
TEAM DUAL: 22 11 18 17 -- -- 9 26 -- --
* Greg D. not listed as the starter but this is where he'd be if SHP slotted him for Milani like everyone else did (and I assume he will after this weekend).
^ Ruiz and Shapiro don't have enough matches to calculate DII, but placed where their provisional ratings would have
Flo (https://www.flowrestling.org/rankings/14300895-2025-26-ncaa-di-wrestling-rankings/55317-penn-state) ranks to 33.
WIN (https://www.win-magazine.com/2026/01/06/holiday-tournaments-shake-up-wins-157-pound-rankings-set-stage-for-second-semester/) ranks to 20.
Intermat (https://intermatwrestle.com/rankings.html/ncaa-di-r63/) ranks to 33.
Open Mat (https://news.theopenmat.com/rankings/ncaa_d1/125) ranks to 20.
AWN (https://amateurwrestlingnews.com/) ranks to 20.
CWR (https://www.thecollegewrestlingreport.com/rankings)ranks to 33.
WrestleStat (https://www.wrestlestat.com/team/20/cornell/profile) ELO updated.
SHP DII (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vQgWo5FyAh-pzEmgfDZq1-3MohnTbORJC6MrN4YyYm_C-9PtGx9gLRUowB_6LE4F7QwUF2GH_J9tgjy/pubhtml) Three wrestlers currently considered #1 by the machine, though two don't yet have enough matches for it to really count. (explainer (https://wrestlingbypirate.wordpress.com/))
CR and RPI will be out in a week or two. These are factors in at-large bids and tournament seeding.
Quoteflowrestling
After spending the fall in greyshirt at Cornell, Anthony Knox has committed to Rutgers for the 2026-27 season.
Quote from: Ken711 on January 07, 2026, 09:58:50 PMQuoteflowrestling
After spending the fall in greyshirt at Cornell, Anthony Knox has committed to Rutgers for the 2026-27 season.
not a big surprise that he returned close to home. rutgers is a great program.
I try not to be hypercritical about this stuff but the cornellbigred article about the duals on saturday against Lehigh and Bucknell has so many damn errors.
I'll write a bit more about what these results mean with the rankings update on Tuesday but two things to keep in mind with the Lehigh loss are that Lehigh's unranked 133 and 141 are actually returning All-Americans returning from injury, so our guys didn't choke (well, ... Tuesday).
Lehigh:
133: *Crookham 7-3 #16 Ferrara 3-0 Lehigh
141: *Stanich 5-4 #6 Cornella 6-0 Lehigh
149: #2 Joy 9-0 MD Reinsel 6-4 Lehigh
157: #7 Shapiro 18-3 TF Gonzalez 9-6 Cornell
165: #10 Brignola 23-7 TF Cerchio 11-9 Lehigh
174: #2 Ruiz 15-0 TF Grungo 14-11 Cornell
184: #30 Hansen 7-3 #23 Rogers 17-11 Cornell
197: #31 Davis 4-1 Hanning 17-14 Cornell
285: #6 Taylor 4-2 Henderson 17-17
125: #5 Seymour 8-2 #33 Diakomihalis 20-17 Lehigh
Bucknell:
125: #33 Diakomihalis 10-2 MD Davidheiser Cornell 4-0
133: #16 Ferrara 13-4 MD Manera Cornell 8-0
141: #6 Cornella 4-0 Bower Cornell 11-0
149: #2 Joy 17-2 TF Bower Cornell 16-0
157: #7 Shapiro 12-2 MD Wirnsberger Cornell 20-0
165: #22 Mulvaney 4-1 Cerchio Cornell 20-3
174: #2 Ruiz 5-1 #21 Takats Cornell 23-3
184: #30 Hansen 4-1 Bienus Cornell 26-3
197: #10 Bechtold 4-0 Hanning Cornell 26-6
285: #31 Lawler 5-1 Davis Cornell 26-9
New Ivy rankings from Flo came out late last week so they're updated below. WIN now included.
This past weekend, Cornell had a pair of duals against Lehigh and Bucknell. Bucknell had no surprises, though a close loss from Hanning at 197 was nice and a close loss from Davis at 285 was a bummer. Also, Ruiz got revenge for one of his rare surprising losses last year.
Lehigh was another story. This was expected to be a close dual and it was, though maybe deceptively so. Cornell was significantly favored at 149, 157 and 174 and comfortably won all of those by bonus points. We were big underdogs at 125, 197 and 285 and lost all of those, though our guys did well to keep the matches close. Also a big underdog at 165 and that one went as expected.
The remaining bouts were 133, 141 and 184. Good news first. In a close match between two wrestlers hovering in the 20-30 tier, #30 Hansen beat #23 Rogers. It's another solid mid-tier win for Hansen. He isn't likely to AA but he's showing he's also not likely to go 0-2 at NCAAs. He's been very consistent and it's been a nice senior year who spent most of his college career blocked by All-Americans (mostly Foca).
At 133 and 141, Lehigh had a pair of All-Americans returning from injury layoffs. Ryan Crookham beat Arujau twice in 2024 before losing to him in the NCAA semis and placing 3d before an injury derailed his 2025 season. Luke Stanich finished in 4th last season as a freshman. So, injury aside, it wouldn't be unreasonable to call Ferrara and Cornella underdogs, even with Cornella coming into the weekend at #5. As for how the matches played out, at 133, Ferrara kept it close but simply couldn't do anything on offense, falling 7-3. Cornella, on the other hand, got the first takedown and looked like he was going to be able to ride that early score to the end. Alas, with time running out *and* a stall to give, Cornella stayed engaged and ended up giving up a takedown with around 15 seconds left and couldn't escape in time to send the match to OT. It is *very* hard to defend a one-takedown lead for over five minutes while also keeping the ref from penalizing you for stalling and I really, really hate when our guys try to do it against elite opposition. So it goes.
General effects: Ferrara slipped a little even though his loss was to Crookham. Cornella slipped a little, more understandably, since Stanich joined the rankings just ahead of him. Hansen generally moved up a bit but not everywhere, to my surprise. Hanning had two "good losses" but that won't get you ranked. Davis, to my surprise, wasn't bounced from the bubble after his loss at Bucknell and even moved up in a couple of rankings.
I think first CR/RPI comes out on Thursday but don't hold me to that.
Flo WIN IM TOM AWN CWR WSt SHP CR RPI
125: Greg D. 26 NR 33 18 NR 32 18 27 -- --
133: Ferrara 22 20 18 NR 14 15 14 17 -- --
141: Cornella 6 8 8 7 8 7 9 6 -- --
149: Joy 2 2 2 2 2 2 3 1 -- --
157: Shapiro 7 6 7 1 4 3 1 3^ -- --
165: Cerchio NR NR NR NR NR NR 84 39 -- --
174: Ruiz 2 2 2 2 4 2 5 1^ -- --
184: Hansen 17 17 20 NR NR 23 22 20 -- --
197: Hanning NR NR NR NR NR NR 72 44 -- --
285: Davis 29 NR NR NR NR 31 44 33 -- --
TEAM NCAA: 8 8 8 6 -- 7 7 10 -- --
TEAM DUAL: 22 14 18 20 -- -- 8 27 -- --
^ Ruiz and Shapiro don't have enough matches to calculate DII, but placed where their provisional ratings would have them.
Flo Ivy rankings: updated 1/8/26
125: Diakomihalis 2 (behind Princeton's McGowan)
133: Ferrara 2 (behind Penn's Mougalian)
141: Cornella 1
149: Joy 1
157: Shapiro 1
165: Cerchio 5 (he's had a tough schedule but 7-9 is 7-9 and this is definitely the deepest weight in the Ivies)
174: Ruiz 1
184: Hansen 2 (behind Columbia's Ayzerov but ahead of Princeton's Mulhauser)
197: Hanning 4
285: Davis 1 (not sure why he moved ahead of Columbia's Mueller based on this season after November but he did beat him last season)
Flo (https://www.flowrestling.org/rankings/) ranks to 33.
WIN (https://www.win-magazine.com/) ranks to 20.
Intermat (https://intermatwrestle.com/) ranks to 33.
Open Mat (https://news.theopenmat.com/rankings/ncaa_d1/125) ranks to 20.
AWN (https://amateurwrestlingnews.com/) ranks to 20.
College Wrestling Report (https://www.thecollegewrestlingreport.com/rankings) ranks to 33.
WrestleStat (https://www.wrestlestat.com/team/20/cornell/profile) ELO updated.
SHP DII (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vQ11CYR5oV7kjhXd4oFYpyLp9R2fhiYUbFpMuKrMJAUU6lQXxecsPrFcurynwNwDBNzKVW0kIr2VIIS/pubhtml) Three wrestlers currently considered #1 by the machine, though two don't yet have enough matches for it to really count. (explainer (https://wrestlingbypirate.wordpress.com))
Cornell had one dual meet this weekend, against Army. Military salute aside, the more Cornell-specific relevance was a reunion with Cornell '10 Troy Nickerson, a 4x AA and the 2009 champ at 125. After a few years as the head coach at Northern Colorardo, he returned to his native New York to take over the program at West Point. The dual was mostly uneventful; our big guns romped and most of the balance went to the favorite. We didn't put in our starters at 125 or 285 and the backups lost. The exception was at 133, where Ferrara came in a slight underdog to Berginc but outlasted him in the tiebreaker rideout periods.
General effects: Ferrara moved up a little in some places after beating Army's Berginc but it generally hurt Berginc more than it helped him.
Hansen also didn't move a lot but his general body of work is getting some recognition. AWN, in particular, appeared to have finally noticed that he beat their #13 and moved him up to 12.
Davis is lingering around the bubble because 25-40 among heavies are basically coin flips so even when he rests or loses, losses by peers keep him in the 30s.
First Coaches Ranking comes out on 1/29 (https://ncaaorg.s3.amazonaws.com/championships/sports/wrestling/d1/men/2025-26D1MWR_ChampionshipsTimeline.pdf). First RPI/Second CR comes out on 2/12.
Ruiz and Shapiro finally have enough matches for SHP's rankings but it's still going to be touch and go for getting 15 to qualify for RPI as at-large factors (though I'm not particularly concerned that either will not AQ at Ivies).
Flo WIN IM TOM AWN CWR WSt SHP CR RPI
125: Greg D. 26 NR 33 18 NR 33 18 28 -- --
133: Ferrara 19 20 17 18 14 14 14 18 -- --
141: Cornella 6 8 7 7 7 6 9 6 -- --
149: Joy 2 2 2 2 2 2 3 1 -- --
157: Shapiro 7 6 7 1 4 3 1 3 -- --
165: Cerchio NR NR NR NR NR NR 86 41 -- --
174: Ruiz 2 2 2 2 4 2 4 1 -- --
184: Hansen 16 18 20 20 12 22 20 20 -- --
197: Hanning NR NR NR NR NR NR 75 50 -- --
285: Davis 29 NR NR NR NR 33 47 32 -- --
TEAM NCAA: 9 8 9 6 -- 7 7 7 -- --
TEAM DUAL: 23 13 18 22 -- -- 7 9 -- --
Flo Ivy rankings: updated 1/8/26
125: Diakomihalis 2
133: Ferrara 2
141: Cornella 1
149: Joy 1
157: Shapiro 1
165: Cerchio 5
174: Ruiz 1
184: Hansen 2
197: Hanning 4
285: Davis 1
Flo (https://www.flowrestling.org/rankings/) ranks to 33.
WIN (https://www.win-magazine.com/) ranks to 20.
Intermat (https://intermatwrestle.com/) ranks to 33.
Open Mat (https://news.theopenmat.com/rankings/ncaa_d1/125) ranks to 20.
AWN (https://amateurwrestlingnews.com/) ranks to 20.
College Wrestling Report (https://www.thecollegewrestlingreport.com/rankings) ranks to 33.
WrestleStat (https://www.wrestlestat.com/team/20/cornell/profile) ELO updated.
SHP DII (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vQ11CYR5oV7kjhXd4oFYpyLp9R2fhiYUbFpMuKrMJAUU6lQXxecsPrFcurynwNwDBNzKVW0kIr2VIIS/pubhtml) (explainer (https://wrestlingbypirate.wordpress.com/))
Last week: We had a pair of duals against Harvard and Brown (https://cornellbigred.com/news/2026/1/24/wrestling-sweeps-ivy-league-doubleheader-at-home.aspx) and they both went pretty much according to chalk. We were expected to blow out both and did. We mixed it up a little with our lineup, sending Greg D. to get a little more action in at a tournament at Bloomsburg, Tyler Ferrara got a weekend off to rest and they split the matches at heavyweight, with Cy Kruse stepping in for Ashton Davis in the Harvard dual. I don't think it means much, since Davis got the harder match (Brown's Semenenko) and lost a heartbreaker after OT.
In terms of "interesting" outcomes, from worst to best:
Aiden Hanning tried to escape against Brown and took a lurching dive off the mat, sliding headfirst into the bleachers. He didn't continue after the concussion protocol or face Harvard.
For the third straight time, Davis went to extra time against Brown's Semenenko. For the first time, he lost. Tough year for Davis and a step back from how he performed last year, imo. He's 11-11 without any standout win. He's had a tough schedule too, but hasn't looked as aggressive as he did last year.
Greg Diakomilalis finished in third at Bloomsburg, dropping a match to Lehigh's Mason Ziegler. This is only interesting insofar as Zielgler is a so-so 133 but a very good 125 and he'll be Lehigh's 125 next year after their returning AA Sheldon Seymour graduates. Ziegler spent last semester filling in for Ryan Crookham (another AA) at 133 while he was rehabbing an injury but almost as soon as Crookham came back, he got hurt again, so Ziegler is back to being a mediocre starting 133 instead of a very strong backup at 125.
Louie Cerchio *finally* broke his losing streak. He was leading deep into his match against a solid Brown wrestler until he got caught in a very slick move with ~30 seconds left and pinned. Later, against Harvard, he scored a pair of takedowns and won against a wrestler with a very similar college resume to his. He's had a very tough schedule and has lost a lot of close matches to tough competition. The upshot is that he's better than his 8-11 record would suggest. Good to see him getting breaking the streak against a credible opponent. He's going to have a hard time keeping the starting spot when next year's class comes in, so it'd be nice to see him make a run at the ILT and get to NCAAs.
General effects: Not much movement from Harvard and Brown. This Saturday, Cornell hosts Arizona State and Columbia.
The latter is a useful test for Davis. Having lost to Semenenko, if Davis wants a bye at the ILT he'll need to beat Columbia's Mueller. Big weekend for Shapiro too, as he faces a good opponent in Kai Owen in the Columbia dual but that's just a warmup for an afternoon match against Arizona State's Kaleb Larkin, who is undefeated since moving up to 157 (after getting ragdolled by Jaxon Joy at CKLV) including wins over Zerban and Watters.
First Coaches Ranking comes out on Thursday (https://ncaaorg.s3.amazonaws.com/championships/sports/wrestling/d1/men/2025-26D1MWR_ChampionshipsTimeline.pdf). First RPI/Second CR comes out on 2/12.
Flo WIN IM TOM AWN* CWR WSt SHP CR RPI
125: Greg D. 26 NR 33 NR NR NR 26 33 -- --
133: Ferrara 19 19 17 16 14 15 14 22 -- --
141: Cornella 6 8 7 7 7 6 9 9 -- --
149: Joy 2 2 2 2 2 2 3 1 -- --
157: Shapiro 7 6 7 1 4 3 1 4 -- --
165: Cerchio NR NR NR NR NR NR 88 41 -- --
174: Ruiz 2 2 2 2 4 2 4 4 -- --
184: Hansen 15 16 19 18 12 22 18 23 -- --
197: Hanning NR NR NR NR NR NR 78 49 -- --
285: Davis 30 NR NR NR NR 32 50 33 -- --
TEAM NCAA: 8 8 9 7 -- 7 7 8 -- --
TEAM DUAL: 23 13 18 22 -- -- 9 10 -- --
* not updated yet
Flo Ivy rankings: updated 1/21/26
125: Diakomihalis 2
133: Ferrara 2
141: Cornella 1
149: Joy 1
157: Shapiro 1
165: Cerchio 6
174: Ruiz 1
184: Hansen 2
197: Hanning 4
285: Davis 1
Flo (https://www.flowrestling.org/rankings/) ranks to 33.
WIN (https://www.win-magazine.com/) ranks to 20.
Intermat (https://intermatwrestle.com/) ranks to 33.
Open Mat (https://news.theopenmat.com/rankings/ncaa_d1/125) ranks to 20 individual; 25 team.
AWN (https://amateurwrestlingnews.com/) ranks to 20.
College Wrestling Report (https://www.thecollegewrestlingreport.com/rankings) ranks to 33.
WrestleStat (https://www.wrestlestat.com/team/20/cornell/profile) ELO updated.
SHP DII (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vRNyYWFqpl1SijNxGN3H0p_FWkyETOm1UzI36hRp_tXBROUfoU9ur7A_5u75391YXBFBseXg2ak48Ek/pubhtml) Three wrestlers currently considered #1 by the machine, though two don't yet have enough matches for it to really count. (explainer (https://wrestlingbypirate.wordpress.com/))
Per NJ.com, 200,000 reasons for Anthony Knox to wrestle at Rutgers not Cornell:
QuoteRutgers star recruit Anthony Knox, father sentenced for roles in district wrestling brawl [Joe Zedalis | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com 1/28/26]
Nearly a year after four-time New Jersey state wrestling champion and Rutgers University recruit Anthony Knox Jr. followed his father into the stands, triggering a brawl at a high school district tournament, both received penalties in a Collingswood municipal court Wednesday.
In a plea bargain deal with the prosecution, the charges against Knox Jr. were reduced to disorderly conduct.
Judge Brian Herman imposed one year probation on Knox Jr., who did not address the court beyond yes or no answers.
If Knox Jr. abides by all conditions of the the probationary period, charges will be dismissed. If he does not, he will face the original charges, Herman said.
On Jan. 8, Knox Jr. signed a lucrative NIL (Name, Image and Likeness) agreement with Rutgers believed to be in the range of $200,000 annually. The brawl and charges did not deter Rutgers from signing Knox, who was the No. 1-ranked 126-pound wrestler in the country last season. Knox originally committed to Cornell University but reopened his recruitment on Jan. 18.
Knox Sr., a former MMA fighter, spoke to the court and said "It was a truly, truly unfortunate incident."
Court records indicate Knox Sr. and Jr. went into the stands and a melee ensued. "Some of the stuff that was said just enraged me in a way I haven't been enraged before ... I need to do a better job of controlling my emotions, no matter what. No matter what was said - didn't make it right. I do apologize," Knox Sr. told the judge.
Really bad weekend! Cornell lost the duals to Columbia (22-21) and Arizona State (18-17) because of a total breakdown at the upper weights.
GOOD: Ferrara, Cornella, Joy, Shapiro and Ruiz all went 2-0 with a lot of bonus points and a great win from Shapiro over #2 Kaleb Larkin of ASU.
BAD: Greg Diakomihalis, Louie Cerchio and our entrants at 197 and heavyweight went 0-2 including Greg D. getting pinned after taking a significant early lead and Ashton Davis losing again to an Ivy opponent.
UGLY: Christian Hansen, after ascending to the top 20 in his senior year - his only year as a starter - injured his knee against Columbia and it looked pretty bad. If any further information about the extent of the injury has come out, I haven't seen it. I don't think they've said he's done for the year but they aren't saying he'll be back either. As bad as it is for Hansen himself, it was terrible for the team. Losing by injury default (a) gave Columbia six team points and (b) gave Columbia the tiebreaker advantage when the dual finished at 21-21, with both teams winning five bouts, giving an additional team point to Columbia. The first time we've lost to them in 40 years. On top of that, Hansen would have been the favorite in the ASU dual as well. His backup, Matt Furman, got pinned when simply going the distance probably wins the dual for Cornell.
Penn and Princeton this weekend. Hard to imagine anyone but Columbia winning the regular season Ivy title, their first since 1982.
General effects: Greg D. isn't ranked by anyone anymore after his 0-2 weekend against unranked wrestlers. Davis still hung on to his two rankings, but he's almost certainly going to get seeded third at the ILT after the loss to Mueller, so say goodbye to the bye. Shapiro, unsurprisingly jumped into the top 3 everywhere but WIN after beating Larkin. Rankings haven't counted Hansen out yet, and I hope he is ok by the ILT.
Second CR/First RPI comes out on 2/12 (https://ncaaorg.s3.amazonaws.com/championships/sports/wrestling/d1/men/2025-26D1MWR_ChampionshipsTimeline.pdf).
Flo WIN IM TOM AWN CWR WSt SHP CR RPI
125: Greg D. NR NR NR NR NR NR 48 46 NR --
133: Ferrara 18 18 16 15 14 14 14 22 15 --
141: Cornella 6 8 7 7 7 6 7 6 6 --
149: Joy 2 2 2 2 2 2 3 2 2 --
157: Shapiro 3 4 2 1 2 3 1 1 -- --
165: Cerchio NR NR NR NR NR NR 91 41 NR --
174: Ruiz 2 2 2 2 5 2 4 5 -- --
184: Hansen 16 17 18 20 12 21 19 24 16 --
197: Hanning NR NR NR NR NR NR 78 49 NR --
285: Davis 29 NR NR NR NR 32 53 33 32 --
TEAM NCAA: 7 8 9 7 -- 7 7 7 -- --
TEAM DUAL: NR NR 21 NR -- -- 10 12 -- --
Flo Ivy rankings: updated 1/21/26
125: Diakomihalis 2
133: Ferrara 2
141: Cornella 1
149: Joy 1
157: Shapiro 1
165: Cerchio 6
174: Ruiz 1
184: Hansen 2
197: Hanning 4
285: Davis 1
Flo (https://www.flowrestling.org/rankings/) ranks to 33.
WIN (https://www.win-magazine.com/) ranks to 20.
Intermat (https://intermatwrestle.com/) ranks to 33.
Open Mat (https://news.theopenmat.com/rankings/ncaa_d1/125) ranks to 20 individual; 25 team.
AWN (https://amateurwrestlingnews.com/) ranks to 20.
College Wrestling Report (https://www.thecollegewrestlingreport.com/rankings) ranks to 33.
WrestleStat (https://www.wrestlestat.com/team/20/cornell/profile) ELO updated.
SHP DII (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vRNyYWFqpl1SijNxGN3H0p_FWkyETOm1UzI36hRp_tXBROUfoU9ur7A_5u75391YXBFBseXg2ak48Ek/pubhtml) SHP is treating Kruse as the starter, which would be news to me. Kruse would be 32 in the rankings. (explainer (https://wrestlingbypirate.wordpress.com/))
Coaches Ranking (https://www.themat.com/news/2026/january/29/ncaa-releases-first-coaches-ranking-for-2026-division-i-wrestling-championships) doesn't include Shapiro or Ruiz because they didn't have enough matches before the rankings came out on Thursday. They do now.
Rough weekend. Didn't they shut out Columbia last year? Hasn't there also been some lost recruits the last couple of years? I don't follow wrestling like I used to, but is the trend no longer our friend?
Quote from: ithacat on February 04, 2026, 11:39:36 AMRough weekend. Didn't they shut out Columbia last year? Hasn't there also been some lost recruits the last couple of years? I don't follow wrestling like I used to, but is the trend no longer our friend?
It's easy to exaggerate but we only lost two guys. Great guys, alas.
One went to Oklahoma State presumably lured by the star power of their new HC and a healthy NIL collective plus the ability to compete immediately. He'd have been a greyshirt at Cornell both because we greyshirt almost everyone as well as having an All-American candidate with two seasons of eligibility left. The other was Knox, about whom, 'nuff said.
We have a very good recruiting class coming in next year, plus one NQ returning from injury. All of our elite wrestlers this season are coming back. Our likely lineup in 2027 is:
125: Isaiah Cortez (FR)
133:
#16 Tyler Ferrara (JR) or Elijah Cortez (FR)
141:
#6 Vince Cornella (SR)149:
#2 Jaxon Joy (SO)157:
#2 Meyer Shapiro (SR)165: Alessio Perentin (FR), likely replacing Louie Cerchio (SO) but it'll be close.
174:
#2 Simon Ruiz (JR)184: Mikey Dellagatta (SO) or Elijah Diakomihalis (FR)
197: Jude Correa (FR)
285: Rocco Dellagatta (FR), Ashton Davis (JR), Cy Kruse (SO) and Cash Henderson (SO) in the running.
The new guys are a very good slate from the Class of 2025, with Perentin (25), Dellagatta (45), Isaiah (56) and Elijah (61) Cortez and Elijah Diakomihalis (66) appearing on Flo's "2025 Big Board (https://www.flowrestling.org/rankings/7727055-class-of-2025-high-school-big-board/53971-top-100-recruits-in-the-class-of-2025)," the top 100 graduating seniors at all weights. #78 Adrian DeJesus doesn't even look like he'll crack the lineup. The latest 2026 Big Board (https://www.flowrestling.org/rankings/11241937-class-of-2026-high-school-big-board/54884-top-100-recruits-in-the-class-of-2026) includes the Joseph Jeter (19), Joseph Toscano (34), Michael Turi (36) and Thomas Verrette (99) - and Verrette keeps outperforming Turi at big tournaments. 2027 (https://www.flowrestling.org/rankings/13624348-class-of-2027-high-school-wrestling-big-board/54959-top-100-wrestling-recruits-in-the-class-of-2027)doesn't look as strong but (a) it's very early and (b) still has three recruits in the 75-100 range.
Also returning, Mikey Dellagatta qualified for NCAAs at 197 in 2024-25 because he was blocked by Foca at 184, a better weight for him. I think he'll be the starter but others on the Cornell wrestling forum think the newest Diakomihalis is more likely. I'm not sold; he's been hurt a lot and is 2-2 in his limited action this year against unimpressive competition.
For Columbia specifically, our team is very different from the squad that shut them out in 2025 and, tbh, the shutout last year had some very close matches that went our way. Columbia benefitted from a surprise pin at 125 and an injury at 184 for a ton of bonus points. Finally, they simply have the better wrestler at some weights after our lineup changes: Ramirez (165) graduated and Dellagatta (197), as mentioned, is out for the year. Their best wrestlers in 2025 were a terrible matchup for who we had in the lineup last year. Columbia has its best team in decades and the stars aligned for them on Saturday.
Great reply. Thanks. Sounds more like one of those weekends/years. Also, recruiting seems to be doing just fine.
Big lineup changes. As feared, Christian Hansen (184) is out for the year, so we lose one of our top-20 wrestlers. Louie Cerchio bumps up from 165 to 184 to replace him and already looks much better than he did at 165, starting with a pair of wins. Rogers goes from backing up Shapiro at 157 to starting at 165. Rogers wrestled well as the temporary starter during the fall semester, so it'll be interesting to see his adjustment. He had a very tough opening weekend, though, with a pair of ranked opponents.
Cy Kruse started both matches at heavyweight this past weekend over Davis. It's unclear if the change is permanent, but Seton Hall Pirate seems to think so. I'm putting both Davis and Kruse in the chart because some rankers are still ranking Davis despite the possible demotion. Coach Grey sends out an email much like Casey's no-longer-public comments and his last one is unclear. Also unclear is whether Hanning is still the starter at 197, but until I know otherwise, I'm not putting Crace in the chart yet.
The past weekend had Cornell facing off with Princeton (https://cornellbigred.com/news/2026/2/7/statement-made-in-jadwin-wrestling-rolls-past-princeton.aspx) and Penn (https://cornellbigred.com/news/2026/2/8/wrestling-cornell-moves-to-4-1-in-ivy-with-19-13-win-at-penn.aspx). No big surprises, except Greg D. lost twice again. The match against Princeton was no surprise but his 1-0 loss to a barely-ranked Penn opponent was troubling. He needs to get his strength back and fast; not a lot of time before the postseason. On the other hand, Cerchio stepped up to 184 with a pair of wins, Kruse came up big in the clutch to pull out a close dual with Penn and our usual hammers all won when they were supposed to. We host Binghamton next week.
Second CR/First RPI supposedly, out on Thursday (https://ncaaorg.s3.amazonaws.com/championships/sports/wrestling/d1/men/2025-26D1MWR_ChampionshipsTimeline.pdf).
Flo WIN IM TOM AWN CWR WSt SHP CR RPI
125: Greg D. NR NR NR NR NR NR 52 45 NR --
133: Ferrara 18 18 15 15 15 13 19 23 15 --
141: Cornella 6 8 7 6 6 6 6 6 6 --
149: Joy 2 2 2 2 2 2 3 2 2 --
157: Shapiro 3 4 2 1 2 3 1 3 -- xx
165: Rogers NR NR NR NR NR NR 70 45* xx xx
174: Ruiz 2 2 2 2 5 2 2 5 -- xx
184: Cerchio xx xx NR NR NR NR 55 11* xx xx
197: Hanning NR NR NR NR NR NR 80 54 NR --
285: Davis 30 NR NR NR NR 33 51 36 32 --
285: Kruse xx NR NR NR NR xx 58 31 xx --
TEAM NCAA: 7 8 7 7 -- 7 7 7 -- --
TEAM DUAL: NR NR 21 NR -- -- 15 12 -- --
*not enough matches, so especially take Cerchio's #11 with a grain of salt. he's 2-0 vs a couple of guys ranked in the 40s and one of them just bumped up himself.
Flo Ivy rankings: updated 1/21/26
125: Diakomihalis 2
133: Ferrara 2
141: Cornella 1
149: Joy 1
157: Shapiro 1
165: Cerchio 6
174: Ruiz 1
184: Hansen 2
197: Hanning 4
285: Davis 1
Flo (https://www.flowrestling.org/rankings/) ranks to 33; dual to 25.
WIN (https://www.win-magazine.com/) ranks to 20.
Intermat (https://intermatwrestle.com/) ranks to 33.
Open Mat (https://news.theopenmat.com/rankings/ncaa_d1/125) ranks to 20 individual; 25 team.
AWN (https://amateurwrestlingnews.com/) ranks to 20.
College Wrestling Report (https://www.thecollegewrestlingreport.com/rankings) ranks to 33.
WrestleStat (https://www.wrestlestat.com/team/20/cornell/profile) ELO updated.
SHP DII (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vRNyYWFqpl1SijNxGN3H0p_FWkyETOm1UzI36hRp_tXBROUfoU9ur7A_5u75391YXBFBseXg2ak48Ek/pubhtml)(explainer) (https://wrestlingbypirate.wordpress.com/)
Coaches Ranking (https://www.themat.com/news/2026/january/29/ncaa-releases-first-coaches-ranking-for-2026-division-i-wrestling-championships) didn't include Shapiro or Ruiz because they didn't have eight matches before the last rankings came out (they do now) and should appear in the Thursday release. Still not enough for RPI, but they should have 15 matches by the end of the ILT.
Chart updated with the midseason RPI and Coaches Rankings (https://www.ncaa.com/news/wrestling-men/article/2026-02-12/ncaa-releases-midseason-coaches-rank-and-rpi-2026-division-i-wrestling). Shapiro and Ruiz are still shy of 15 bouts necessary for RPI; Rogers and Cerchio don't have eight at their current weight for CR or RPI.
Quote Flo WIN IM TOM AWN CWR WSt SHP CR RPI
125: Greg D. NR NR NR NR NR NR 52 45 NR NR
133: Ferrara 18 18 15 15 15 13 19 23 15 10
141: Cornella 6 8 7 6 6 6 6 6 6 3
149: Joy 2 2 2 2 2 2 3 2 2 1
157: Shapiro 3 4 2 1 2 3 1 3 4 xx
165: Rogers NR NR NR NR NR NR 70 45* xx xx
174: Ruiz 2 2 2 2 5 2 2 5 2 xx
184: Cerchio xx xx NR NR NR NR 55 11* xx xx
197: Hanning NR NR NR NR NR NR 80 54 NR NR
285: Davis 30 NR NR NR NR 33 51 36 NR NR
285: Kruse xx NR NR NR NR xx 58 31 NR NR
TEAM NCAA: 7 8 7 7 -- 7 7 7 -- --
TEAM DUAL: NR NR 21 NR -- -- 15 12 -- --
General effects: Binghamton didn't affect much. Kruse's loss hurt him with the computers. Any other movement was minor. Big question remains who will start for Cornell for the upper weights in the ILT and it's looking like Crace/Kruse.
NC State / Duke will have more tests. To my surprise, Wrestlestat has Cornell over NC State 19-14 (with Crace; 22-11 with Hanning) and over Duke, 40-0 regardless of who starts at 197 or 285.
Flo WIN IM TOM AWN CWR WSt SHP CR RPI
125: Greg D. NR NR NR NR NR NR 51 43 NR NR
133: Ferrara 17 17 13 15 14 12 17 22 15 10
141: Cornella 6 8 7 6 6 6 6 6 6 3
149: Joy 2 2 2 2 2 2 3 1 2 1
157: Shapiro 2 4 2 1 1 3 1 2 4 xx
165: Rogers NR NR NR NR NR NR 70 42* xx xx
174: Ruiz 2 2 2 2 5 2 2 5 2 xx
184: Cerchio NR xx NR NR NR NR 51 11* xx xx
197: Hanning NR NR NR NR NR NR 83 55 NR NR
285: Davis 30 NR NR NR NR NR 54 34 NR NR
285: Kruse xx NR NR NR NR xx 73 35 NR NR
TEAM NCAA: 7 8 7 7 -- 7 6 7 -- --
TEAM DUAL: NR NR 21 NR -- -- 14 12 -- --
*not enough matches, so especially take Cerchio's #11 with a grain of salt.
Flo Ivy rankings: updated 1/21/26
125: Diakomihalis 2
133: Ferrara 2
141: Cornella 1
149: Joy 1
157: Shapiro 1
165: Cerchio 6
174: Ruiz 1
184: Hansen 2
197: Hanning 4
285: Davis 1
Flo (https://www.flowrestling.org/rankings/) ranks to 33; dual to 25.
WIN (https://www.win-magazine.com/) ranks to 20. hasn't received the memo on Hansen.
Intermat (https://intermatwrestle.com/) ranks to 33.
Open Mat (https://news.theopenmat.com/rankings/ncaa_d1/125) ranks to 20 individual; 25 team.
AWN (https://amateurwrestlingnews.com/) ranks to 20.
College Wrestling Report (https://www.thecollegewrestlingreport.com/rankings) ranks to 33.
WrestleStat (https://www.wrestlestat.com/team/20/cornell/profile) ELO updated.
SHP DII (https://wrestlingbypirate.wordpress.com/) (explainer) (https://wrestlingbypirate.wordpress.com/)
Coaches Ranking and RPI are out (https://www.ncaa.com/news/wrestling-men/article/2026-02-12/ncaa-releases-midseason-coaches-rank-and-rpi-2026-division-i-wrestling). Shapiro and Ruiz don't have 15 bouts; Rodgers and Cerchio don't have 8 at their current weights.
Quote from: ithacat on February 04, 2026, 03:49:59 PMGreat reply. Thanks. Sounds more like one of those weekends/years. Also, recruiting seems to be doing just fine.
Two more recruits to add to the Class of 2027. First, Lucas Boe (https://intermatwrestle.com/articles.html/recruiting/19-junior-boe-commits-to-cornell-r100829/), Flo's #21 in the Class of 2027 committed to Cornell yesterday. Second, at that link, Intermat notes that Arseni Kikiniou - the son of a Belarusian Olympic Greco wrestler (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aliaksandr_Kikiniou) has also committed to Cornell but Flo hasn't updated their Big Board, where he is listed at 33. Crazy, but after representing Belarus at the Olympics in 2004 and 2012, Aliaksandr emigrated to the US and in 2024 was Team USA's representative at Worlds at
44. Not great news about the state of US Greco but impressive nevertheless.
Intermat's own recruit lists are at the Lucas Boe link, above, but Intermat seems to be loading slowly so you can find them yourselves. I'm hitting POST.
Mixed weekend in the Triangle.
On Friday, in Raleigh, we faced a very good NC State team (https://cornellbigred.com/news/2026/2/20/wrestling-late-surge-not-enough-as-cornell-drops-19-18-dual-at-nc-state.aspx) and nearly pulled off a win but for Jaxon Joy's first loss of the year to Koy Buesgens, another top 5 wrestler. Good results elsewhere, including wins in the other two ranked matches at 141 and 174. Alas, for the third dual this season, we lost by a single point, 19-18.
On Sunday, against a not-very-good Duke team (https://cornellbigred.com/news/2026/2/22/wrestling-cornell-finishes-regular-season-with-42-4-victory-over-duke.aspx), we steamrolled them. Bonus points in seven of ten matches, two close wins and a loss at heavyweight to Duke's only ranked wrestler. 42-4.
General effects: Very little change - some sites didn't penalize Joy at all for losing to Buesgens, to my surprise. Mostly, Buesgens moved somewhere in the top five but not everyone had him leap over Joy. Otherwise, just little inscrutable movements here and there.
The final pre-allocation CR/RPI will come out on Thursday (https://ncaaorg.s3.amazonaws.com/championships/sports/wrestling/d1/men/2025-26D1MWR_ChampionshipsTimeline.pdf), along with the number of allocated bids every conference gets at each weight. I'll update and bump after that on Thursday.
Shapiro and Ruiz have 15 matches now so they'll jump into a high RPI; Cerchio and Rogers won't finish with enough matches to get an RPI. Cerchio also probably doesn't get ranked if he does anything short of win the ILT and qualify for NCAAs directly but has the slimmest of chances at an at-large if he gets a low seed and goes 2-1, losing to the top seed, Columbia's 184.
Flo WIN IM TOM AWN CWR WSt SHP CR RPI
125: Greg D. NR NR NR NR NR NR 50 43 NR NR
133: Ferrara 17 17 13 15 14 12 18 21 15 10
141: Cornella 6 8 7 7 6 6 6 6 6 3
149: Joy 4 3 3 4 2 2 3 2 2 1
157: Shapiro 2 4 2 1 1 3 1 2 4 xx
165: Rogers NR NR NR NR NR NR 66 33 xx xx
174: Ruiz 2 2 2 2 5 2 2 4 2 xx
184: Cerchio NR xx NR NR NR NR 50 17 xx xx
197: Hanning NR NR NR NR NR NR 87 56 NR NR
285: Davis 29 NR NR NR NR NR 48 33 NR NR
285: Kruse xx NR NR NR NR xx 81 35 NR NR
TEAM NCAA: 7 8 7 8 -- 8 6 7 -- --
TEAM DUAL: NR NR 20 NR -- -- 11 12 -- --
Flo Ivy rankings: updated 1/21/26
125: Diakomihalis 2
133: Ferrara 2
141: Cornella 1
149: Joy 1
157: Shapiro 1
165: Cerchio 6
174: Ruiz 1
184: Hansen 2
197: Hanning 4
285: Davis 1
Flo (https://www.flowrestling.org/rankings/) ranks to 33; dual to 25.
WIN (https://www.win-magazine.com/) ranks to 20. still didn't get the hansen memo.
Intermat (https://intermatwrestle.com/) ranks to 33.
Open Mat (https://news.theopenmat.com/rankings/ncaa_d1/125) ranks to 20 individual; 25 team.
AWN (https://amateurwrestlingnews.com/) ranks to 20.
College Wrestling Report (https://www.thecollegewrestlingreport.com/rankings) ranks to 33.
WrestleStat (https://www.wrestlestat.com/team/20/cornell/profile) ELO updated.
SHP DII (https://wrestlingbypirate.wordpress.com/) (explainer) (https://wrestlingbypirate.wordpress.com)
Second Coaches Ranking and RPI are out (https://www.ncaa.com/news/wrestling-men/article/2026-02-12/ncaa-releases-midseason-coaches-rank-and-rpi-2026-division-i-wrestling).
that last match vs NC st was pretty crazy as the Cornell kid chased the NC st kid around all match and just needed one more stall to win it.
Quote from: upprdeck on Today at 12:29:34 PMthat last match vs NC st was pretty crazy as the Cornell kid chased the NC st kid around all match and just needed one more stall to win it.
yeah, it's pretty bad that the ref held his whistle when the kid was very clearly doing all he could to keep the match from turning into a tech. the ref took FOREVER to call the 4th violation and never called the 5th. very frustrating.
Quote from: ugarte on Today at 01:49:03 PMQuote from: upprdeck on Today at 12:29:34 PMthat last match vs NC st was pretty crazy as the Cornell kid chased the NC st kid around all match and just needed one more stall to win it.
yeah, it's pretty bad that the ref held his whistle when the kid was very clearly doing all he could to keep the match from turning into a tech. the ref took FOREVER to call the 4th violation and never called the 5th. very frustrating.
Specifically, the fifth stall is a forfeit, which is tantamount to a win by fall, and is worth 6 team points. Also, a quicker 4th stalling call would have forced the NC State wrestler to engage more to avoid the final penalty. Cerchio won the match by 6; stretching the lead to 8 would have been worth 4 team points for a major decision. Having watched the match, if they had to actively wrestle, this is an easy MD for Cerchio. Instead, Cornell got 3 points for the win.
A forfeit or tech fall (15 point mercy rule) by Cerchio would have flipped the dual to Cornell outright. A major decision would have led to tiebreaking criteria. First criteria is matches (5-5), then falls (0-0), then points from matches that weren't falls/forfeits/defaults. Heading into the last match, NC State led 70-58, so a 13 point win by Cerchio would have flipped the match by giving Cornell the TB. If Cerchio won by *exactly 12,* I'd have to rewatch to see the actual scoring of NF points in each match to see who would win (lol) and any win of up to 11 points would have meant NC State still wins the dual.