OT: Wrestling

[Al DeFlorio]

Cornell is wrestling four matches today in the Lone Star Duals.  This morning they beat Eastern Michigan, 31-9, and, according to the Duals web site, this afternoon they beat #4 Oklahoma, 22-15.  There are no details yet posted on the Oklahoma match, so I hope they don't have the team scores reversed.  Still to come are matches with Fullerton and Nebraska.

If you haven't been following the team, they have three wrestlers, sophomore Travis Lee at 125, freshman Dustin Manotti at 149, and senior Clint Wattenberg at 184, who have legitimate shots at being NCAA champions.

[Edit:  Wattenberg beat Oklahoma's Josh Lambrecht, ranked #1, 6-3, in today's match.]

[bigred apple]

Manotti (a frosh) and Lee (a soph and a returning All-American) both won their weight classes last week at the Midlands tournament at Northwestern.  We have a very good team again.

The win over Oklahoma must have been sweet for Coach Rob Koll.  Oklahoma head coach Jack Spates left Cornell to take the Oklahoma job; Koll was his assistant at Cornell before taking the top job.

Thanks for the update, Al. I wouldn't have seen this until Monday.

[Al DeFlorio]

Oklahoma's #2-ranked heavyweight didn't wrestle today.  Don't know why.  Might have changed the outcome.  Great win, nonetheless.

[Al DeFlorio]

32-6 win over Fullerton.  

Nebraska match starts at 8--Texas time, I presume.

[Jim Hyla]

Al, I didn't know you watched wrestling. Did you watch CU when you were a student? My fondest memory was my freshman year, spring '64, watching the Easterns at CU. My older brother went to Lehigh, so he got me started.

[Al DeFlorio]

I really enjoy wrestling, Jim.  Remember Jim Nance at those Easterns?  Unreal.

[Rich S]

I've been out of touch with college wrestling for awhile but just read that Dan Gable made a stop in NJ here today on his tour promoting the sport.  Read in that article that SU's program... speaking of Nance...was a casualty of Title IX changes.

Syracuse U without wrestling?   That sounds unbelievable.  Did SU and Cornell have an annual dual match in the past?

[ugarte]

Just to wrap up, Cornell beat Nebraska 20-12, and went undefeated at the Lone Star Duals.  Lee was named low-weight-class wrestler at the tournament, and Wattenberg was named high-weight class wrestler.  Wattenberg was also named conference (EIWA) wrestler of the week.

[Jim Hyla]

Rich S said [Q]Did SU and Cornell have an annual dual match in the past?
[/Q] Yes, they did and they were always fun to go to. [Q]Read in that article that SU's program... speaking of Nance...was a casualty of Title IX changes.
[/Q] Actually I think it was as much, if not more so, money than gender. They would have kept the team if the team could have come up with something like $2 million to endow the program. And they talk about how much the big time football and basketball programs help the athletic department. Give me a break, maybe the coaches and administrators, but I don't know about the students.

[Al DeFlorio]

Jim, check the women's sports section of your Cornellian.  There's exactly one page in mine on women's sports.  We have come a long way.

[Al DeFlorio]

The W.I.N. rankings, released yesterday, now have Cornell at #4, behind Oklahoma State, Iowa, and Minnesota.  Lee and Wattenberg are both #2, Manotti #5.

http://www.collegewrestling.iptv.org/rankings.cfm

[ugarte]

Wow.  We moved up to #6 in the latest NWCA rankings.

[Jim Hyla]

Al, no question that we don't respect woman's athletics as much as we (they) should, but I was just refering to the fact that big time programs in "revenue" sports don't necessarily use that money for the overall good of athletics, men or women.

[Al DeFlorio]

Agree.  Too many people today moan about the effects of Title IX.  Few remember how inequitable things were back in our day.

[Al DeFlorio]

Midlands Tournament is on Fox Sports Chicago now (tape-delayed, of course) and again Monday at 1pm.