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.