Cornell Wrestling at NCAA's

[nshapiro]

Frank Perelli just lost the 3rd place match to finish 4th

[ugarte]

Perrelli won the 125 consolation semifinals over Mango 10-3, then lost 6-4 in OT in the 3d place match to the #2 wrestler in the country. Congratulations to Frank Perrelli for outperforming his seed, finishing in 4th place and graduating as an All-American.

Nevinger won the 7th place match over Little 10-3, Congratulations to Mike Nevinger for outperforming his seed, finishing in 7th place and getting his first All-American placement as a sophomore.

[ugarte]

Update on the team scores... All of the schools did a good job in the medal rounds, so none of the positions changed. It is techinically possible for Iowa to catch Minnesota for second place, if they win all three of their finals and Minnesota loses both of theirs, since 1st place is worth 4 points (second place points are already factored in to the scores). Cornell could catch Iowa if we win all of our finals (reasonable, since we are the higher seed in all - but probably Bosak is still an underdog...), Iowa loses all three of theirs (unlikely that McDonough will lose at 125) AND Cornell picks up bonus points.

All that said, the top of the table last night is the same heading into tonight and is almost certainly going to be the same after the finals.

Current scoring:

                        Score   
1.   Penn State   128.5
2.   Minnesota   113.5
3.   Iowa           103.5
4.   Cornell            90.5

[dag14]

Bosak wins!!!!

[slh10]

Simaz follows up with his own Championship. Great job Big Red!!!!

[ugarte]

I had to stay off of the internet all night so that I could watch the DVR'd finals matches. HOLY SHIT THIS WAS AMAZING.

Kyle Dake completely dominated his opponent in the finals for the third year in a row. St. John barely tried to score on him and never came close.

Steve Bosak did a great job getting out from bottom twice and finished a beautiful shot in sudden victory to win the title.

Cam Simaz just owned Honeycutt after the first period and graduates a champion after finishing 8th, 3d and 3d.

I am so proud of this team. Every seeded wrestler met or exceeded their seed. Mike Nevinger went from being not seeded at all to finishing in 7th place, and he's a sophomore. Nick Arujau, Marshall Peppleman and Maciej Jochym all picked up points for the Red, some of them in upsets. The only wrestler who didn't score for the Red, Chris Villalonga, had an insanely tough draw: both wrestlers he faced were in the top 15 nationally.

Three national champs, five All-Americans, 8 wrestlers who scored points, 9 qualifiers and a 4th place finish for the team. Rob Koll has done an incredible job for this program.

Wow.

[jkahn]

I had to stay off of the internet all night so that I could watch the DVR'd finals matches. HOLY SHIT THIS WAS AMAZING.

Kyle Dake completely dominated his opponent in the finals for the third year in a row. St. John barely tried to score on him and never came close.

Steve Bosak did a great job getting out from bottom twice and finished a beautiful shot in sudden victory to win the title.

Cam Simaz just owned Honeycutt after the first period and graduates a champion after finishing 8th, 3d and 3d.

I am so proud of this team. Every seeded wrestler met or exceeded their seed. Mike Nevinger went from being not seeded at all to finishing in 7th place, and he's a sophomore. Nick Arujau, Marshall Peppleman and Maciej Jochym all picked up points for the Red, some of them in upsets. The only wrestler who didn't score for the Red, Chris Villalonga, had an insanely tough draw: both wrestlers he faced were in the top 15 nationally.

Three national champs, five All-Americans, 8 wrestlers who scored points, 9 qualifiers and a 4th place finish for the team. Rob Koll has done an incredible job for this program.

Wow.

Those matches were lots of fun to watch.  Congrats to Kyle, Steve, Cam, Coach Koll and the entire team and the extended Cornell wrestling community.  Awesome.

[nshapiro]

Every seeded wrestler met or exceeded their seed.

In fact, the only seeded wrestlers who did not exceed their seed were #1 seeds.

I liked the comment at the end of the telecast that said something like - Tonight was all about the Big 10 and the Big Red.

I guess the only question now is does Dake move up to take on Taylor next year.

http://www.ncaa.com/news/wrestling/article/2012-03-17/dake-wins-historic-national-title

[ugarte]

I guess the only question now is does Dake move up to take on Taylor next year.

http://www.ncaa.com/news/wrestling/article/2012-03-17/dake-wins-historic-national-title

That would be incredibly ballsy but my guess is no. There haven't been any whispers that Dake was having trouble cutting to 157 the same way the cuts to 141 and 149 appeared to wear on Dake in prior years. He was still unbeatable but the motor didn't seem to run as well late in matches or tournaments.

[billhoward]

I guess the only question now is does Dake move up to take on Taylor next year.
http://www.ncaa.com/news/wrestling/article/2012-03-17/dake-wins-historic-national-title

That would be incredibly ballsy but my guess is no. There haven't been any whispers that Dake was having trouble cutting to 157 the same way the cuts to 141 and 149 appeared to wear on Dake in prior years. He was still unbeatable but the motor didn't seem to run as well late in matches or tournaments.

4 classes and 4 NCAA titles has a certainy symmetry. He'd get a mention in SI's Faces in the Crowd and it would give Mister Lacrosse Who Also Covers Wrestling Quint Kessenich something to talk about in the post-bout interview. But if he didn't win it all next year at 157 ...

Success of the wrestling team was a nice antidote to the men's and women's hockey teams that didn't reach their pinnacles of achievement.

[ugarte]

I guess the only question now is does Dake move up to take on Taylor next year.
http://www.ncaa.com/news/wrestling/article/2012-03-17/dake-wins-historic-national-title

That would be incredibly ballsy but my guess is no. There haven't been any whispers that Dake was having trouble cutting to 157 the same way the cuts to 141 and 149 appeared to wear on Dake in prior years. He was still unbeatable but the motor didn't seem to run as well late in matches or tournaments.

4 classes and 4 NCAA titles has a certainy symmetry. He'd get a mention in SI's Faces in the Crowd and it would give Mister Lacrosse Who Also Covers Wrestling Quint Kessenich something to talk about in the post-bout interview. But if he didn't win it all next year at 157 ...

Success of the wrestling team was a nice antidote to the men's and women's hockey teams that didn't reach their pinnacles of achievement.

First, it remains to be seen what the men's hockey team will do.

Second, as symmetrical as it would be to get titles at four weights... Taylor is insane. I'd love to see them wrestle but I don't think it is worth it for Dake. I'm already looking forward to next year, whatever he decides to do.

[Jim Hyla]

I guess the only question now is does Dake move up to take on Taylor next year.
http://www.ncaa.com/news/wrestling/article/2012-03-17/dake-wins-historic-national-title

That would be incredibly ballsy but my guess is no. There haven't been any whispers that Dake was having trouble cutting to 157 the same way the cuts to 141 and 149 appeared to wear on Dake in prior years. He was still unbeatable but the motor didn't seem to run as well late in matches or tournaments.

4 classes and 4 NCAA titles has a certainy symmetry. He'd get a mention in SI's Faces in the Crowd and it would give Mister Lacrosse Who Also Covers Wrestling Quint Kessenich something to talk about in the post-bout interview. But if he didn't win it all next year at 157 ...

Success of the wrestling team was a nice antidote to the men's and women's hockey teams that didn't reach their pinnacles of achievement.

The women's team did at least as well as the wrestling team did. Let's not try and underplay it. Individual wrestlers reached their "pinnacles of achievement", but the team didn't.

[nshapiro]

Taylor is insane. I'd love to see them wrestle but I don't think it is worth it for Dake. I'm already looking forward to next year, whatever he decides to do.

I agree Taylor is insane, but in Dake's post-match interview with Quint he talked about looking for new challenges, saying something like he was more motivated than he would have been just beating the same guys again.

[CAS]

The Cornell wrestling team scored more points this year than in the two prior years, when the team finished second.  Having 3 national champs is an amazing accomplishment.

[ugarte]

I guess the only question now is does Dake move up to take on Taylor next year.
http://www.ncaa.com/news/wrestling/article/2012-03-17/dake-wins-historic-national-title

That would be incredibly ballsy but my guess is no. There haven't been any whispers that Dake was having trouble cutting to 157 the same way the cuts to 141 and 149 appeared to wear on Dake in prior years. He was still unbeatable but the motor didn't seem to run as well late in matches or tournaments.

4 classes and 4 NCAA titles has a certainy symmetry. He'd get a mention in SI's Faces in the Crowd and it would give Mister Lacrosse Who Also Covers Wrestling Quint Kessenich something to talk about in the post-bout interview. But if he didn't win it all next year at 157 ...

Success of the wrestling team was a nice antidote to the men's and women's hockey teams that didn't reach their pinnacles of achievement.

The women's team did at least as well as the wrestling team did. Let's not try and underplay it. Individual wrestlers reached their "pinnacles of achievement", but the team didn't.

This is just a quibble - both the wrestling team and the women's hockey team achieved tremendous things - but while the women's team is likely disappointed that they didn't win the national title, Cornell was, quite literally, the fourth best tournament team in the country and that is exactly where they finished. Unless the Penn State bus crashed on the way to the arena, there was no chance to take away their title.