Wrestling 2015-16

[dag14]

Those 2 weight classes were likely the difference in the match. As Cornell lost to Lehigh.

The broadcast announcers said Garrett's forfeit was the result of an "undisclosed injury."  Hopefully he will be 100% soon.

[ugarte]

Those 2 weight classes were likely the difference in the match. As Cornell lost to Lehigh.

The broadcast announcers said Garrett's forfeit was the result of an "undisclosed injury."  Hopefully he will be 100% soon.

More than likely, I'd say! Without the points from 133 and 184, Lehigh outscored us 14-13. We were big favorites in both weight classes. I'm really happy with Pickett's win of Presich at 174 and Owen Scott's win over #14 Bolich at 197.

I feel bad for Chavez that he had to wrestle up two weight classes to face #3 Brown at 184. No big surprise that he got teched.

[ugarte]

Cornell beat Columbia 25-13 yesterday with a lot of guys either sick or resting for today's match against #4 Oklahoma State. The dual on ESPN3 right now, and I should have told you this last night.

After the first 5 weights:
125: Macri is still sick and forfeited. [OkSt 6-0]
133: Garrett won by TF at 133; he was up 14-0 midway through the first. [OkSt 6-5]
141: Grey couldn't quite keep it below a major; loses 9-1 to the #1 wrestler in the country. [OkSt. 10-5]
149: Galasso has the flu too, and showed it. Pinned in the first period after getting thrown around. [OKSt 16-5]
157: Palacio is back, baby! Big win over a top 5 wrestler and it was a no-doubter. [OkSt 16-8]
--halftime--
165: I look away for a second and Pickett gets pinned by #1, 2x champ Dierenger. [OkSt 22-8]
Upcoming:
174: OkState's top 5 guy got hurt yesterday so Realbuto MD over his backup. [OkSt 22-12]
184: Gabe Dean... looked like he is still sick. Totally gassed. Lost to the #16 guy in the country for his first L of the year. [OkSt 25-12]
197: Scott can't convert a couple of first period shots and it costs him the match. Gives up an escape but gets ridden out in the third. Loses 2-0. [OKSt 28-12]
Hwt: This will go poorly. EDIT: Could have been worse. Sweaney loses 16-3 but does get a nice TD against the #5 wrestler. [OKSt 32-12]

[ithacat]

Very humbly season continues. Combination of poor recruiting and bad luck (injuries/illness). Man we were spoiled for a few years. Now a good team is a disappointment. Next year looks like it'll be even tougher. Rob needs to step up recruiting big time.

[scoop85]

Very humbly season continues. Combination of poor recruiting and bad luck (injuries/illness). Man we were spoiled for a few years. Now a good team is a disappointment. Next year looks like it'll be even tougher. Rob needs to step up recruiting big time.

Yeah, we used to come at teams in waves. Dean certainly looks like a guy who is not back at full strength. It's hard to imagine Grey (who was, I believe, a top-5 national recruit) ever amounting to a serious threat. Time will tell if Koll can regain his mojo, or if Cornell wrestling is truly in decline like so many other of our teams.

[ugarte]

Rough dual. Someone check the water in Ithaca because a bug has been ripping through this squad. Missing a lot of wrestlers due to illness, not injury, which is just weird.

That said, Dylan Palacio beating a top 5 guy to show that he's back is fantastic.

[George64]

Kyle Dake update.

[RichH]

Kyle Dake update.

The most surprising thing I learned from this link is that the "Redman" mascot guy is in the autograph signing panel.

[ugarte]

The EIWA tournament starts tomorrow at 9AM. No preview from me but here's one at random that I haven't read yet. You can watch with a subscription at flowrestling.com or follow the matches in roughly real time here. At the very least the Cornell Wrestling twitter account will provide real time results if not always in-match updates.

[ugarte]

So far a decent morning:

125: Macri MD in the first round, L in the QF. wBF in the consolation match and is still alive.
133: Garrett WBF in the first round, MD in the QF.
141: D. Realbuto lost on a late TD in the first round. WBF, WBF in the consolation rounds and is still alive.
149: Galasso MD in the first round, W in the QF.
157: Palacio WBF in the first round, W in the QF.
165: Pickett MD in the first round, W in the QF.
174: B Realbuto MD in the first round TF in the QF.
184: Dean WBF in the first round, WBF in the QF.
197: Scott WBF in the first round, L in the QF. W in the consolation match and is still alive.
285: Sweany W in the first round, W in the QF.

Galasso in particular looks to have caught a huge break because the #1 seed forfeited his first round match, so he will face an unseeded wrestler in the semifinal.

After day 1, Cornell is up on Lehigh 91.5 -82.5. Both teams have all 10 wrestlers alive; Cornell with 7 in the championship bracket, Lehigh with 6.

Semis and consolation rounds tomorrow morning.

[dag14]

Scott with a 7-5 decision.

[ugarte]

So far a decent morning:

125: Macri MD in the first round, L in the QF. wBF in the consolation match and is still alive.
133: Garrett WBF in the first round, MD in the QF.
141: D. Realbuto lost on a late TD in the first round. WBF, WBF in the consolation rounds and is still alive.
149: Galasso MD in the first round, W in the QF.
157: Palacio WBF in the first round, W in the QF.
165: Pickett MD in the first round, W in the QF.
174: B Realbuto MD in the first round TF in the QF.
184: Dean WBF in the first round, WBF in the QF.
197: Scott WBF in the first round, L in the QF. W in the consolation match and is still alive.
285: Sweany W in the first round, W in the QF.

Galasso in particular looks to have caught a huge break because the #1 seed forfeited his first round match, so he will face an unseeded wrestler in the semifinal.

After day 1, Cornell is up on Lehigh 91.5 -82.5. Both teams have all 10 wrestlers alive; Cornell with 7 in the championship bracket, Lehigh with 6.

Semis and consolation rounds tomorrow morning.

Great day 2 for the Big Red so far.

125: Macri with a TF and a 4-0 win over the 3 seed to move to the 3rd place match. Only 3 automatic qualifiers at this weight so Macri needs a win to punch his ticket to NCAAs. His work here may be enough for an at-large bid but a win would be nice. He'll have to avenge his QF loss to do it.

133: Garrettc cruises into the finals with a TF. Will face the 2 seed in the final.

141: Realbuto lost his morning consolation match and then lost the 7th place match. Only 6 AQ spots and he's a very unlikely candidate for an at-large.

149: Galasso moves into the final with a 5-3 win. Will face the 2 seed in the final.

157: Palacio with another one point win. Will face the 2 seed in the final.

165: Pickett with a comfortable 6-1 win. Will face the 3 seed in the final.

174: Realbuto with a 9-3 win. Will face the 3 seed in the final.

184: Dean with a 5-3 win. Will face the 3 seed in the final. (Huge upset in the 2-3 semi.)

197: Scott with a pair of wins will face the 2 seed for 3rd place.

Hwt: Sweany loses by TF and then LBF and will wrestle an unseeded wrestler for 5th place. This is good enough for a spot at NCAAs.

Finals and other medal rounds at 3:30.

[ugarte]

Decent afternoon session:

125: Dalton Macri loses 4-2 in SV in the 3d place match to Zach Fuentes of Drexel - the same wrestler that beat him in the QF. EIWA only got 3 Automatic Qualifiers so it is touch and go for Macri now. He's not helped by the fact that the 3 seed, #15 Terao of American, is a more likely at-large candidate. Fuentes, by placing third as the 5 seed, may have stolen Macri's slot.

133: #1 Nahshon Garrett whips 2 seed Mason Beckman 12-1 to win the conference championship with a major decision. Garrett will head to the NCAA's as the 1 seed with a 31-0 record. Let's go, Nahshon. Get that title.

149: Joey Galasso loses a close one, 5-4 in the final to the 2 seed, #10 Matt Cimato of Drexel. I didn't get to watch but at least one viewer thought Galasso was robbed on a call at the end [EDIT: as did the coaching staff, who called for a review, hoping to get 2NF points awarded to no avail - read the Cornell recap!]. Either way, Galasso is going to the  NCAAs as a freshman.

157: #7 Dylan Palacio beats #14 Jay Boyle of American 8-3 to win the conference championship. Palacio heads to the NCAAs after a tricky year. He had to withdraw from school during the fall semester because of illness and injury but returned in January firing on all cylinders. He heads to the NCAA tournament with only one loss on the year.

165: #15 Duke Pickett falls 2-1 in the finals to #20 Devon Gobbo of Harvard. Tough loss because Pickett was probably borderline for a seed at NCAAs and now he could end up facing anyone in the first round. Still, a great year for the Senior that will finish up with a trip to NCAAs.

174: #3 Brian Realbuto wins 12-6 over #17 Brian Harvey of Army. With the exception of the Southern Scuffle, where Realbuto lost an inconceivable three matches in a row, Realbuto has been perfect this year. He will head into NCAAs with a realistic shot at a national championship.

184: #1 Gabe Dean wins by fall in 55 seconds over #14 Mathew Miller of Navy. Dean heads into NCAAs as the defending national champion and prohibitive favorite, with only one loss on the year. #3 Nate Brown of Lehigh had a tough tournament, losing to Miller and then again to #16 Lorenzo Thomas of Penn in the third place match.

197: Owen Scott took it to #17 John Bolich of Lehigh, winning 12-6 in the 3rd Place match. Scott heads to NCAAs on a high note.

Hwt: Jeramy Sweany loses 9-7 to Antonio Peluso of F&M to finish in 6th place. Tough finish for Sweany but he's an undersized true freshman heavyweight and he qualified for NCAAs, which is pretty impressive.

Cornell won the team title, 170.5-160 over Lehigh. Princeton was the closest Ivy, in fifth place with 71.5 points. The Cornell recap is here.

Cornell qualified 8 wrestlers for NCAAs and will hopefully get at least one more in with an at large bid. NCAA's start on March 17th at noon; there is probably going to be a livestream on ESPN3, though I hope to be at MSG to see day one in person.

[ugarte]

125: Dalton Macri loses 4-2 in SV in the 3d place match ... EIWA only got 3 Automatic Qualifiers so it is touch and go for Macri now. He's not helped by the fact that the 3 seed, #15 Terao of American, is a more likely at-large candidate. ...

Cornell qualified 8 wrestlers for NCAAs and will hopefully get at least one more in with an at large bid. NCAA's start on March 17th at noon; there is probably going to be a livestream on ESPN3, though I hope to be at MSG to see day one in person.

Make it 9 qualifiers. Dalton Macri gets an at-large bid at 125. So did Terao. Glad there was room for both.

It's a little disappointing that we didn't get 10, though not surprising. Dylan Realbuto didn't have the resume for an at-large bid. 141 was snakebit all year. The on-paper best wrestler, Mark Grey, never could quite get healthy, a problem he's had throughout his career. Will Koll, who was opening eyes early in the year, had his knee torn up in a match. Dylan Realbuto had injury issues of his own this year but recovered and came within a single match of qualifying for NCAAs at the conference tournament. It will be an interesting weight for the team next year.

[ugarte]

Brackets are out
Mini-preview:

125: Dalton Macri comes in unseeded and will face #11 Rios (Oregon St.) in the first round. If he wins, he'll face either Youtsey (Mich) or #7 Klimara (Oklahoma State). Not a terrible draw.

133: #1 Nahshon Garrett faces Mason Beckman (Lehigh) in the first round. Beckman is a two-time AA and was torture last year for Grey, beating him over and over in close matches. That made it particularly satisfying when Garrett whipped him in the EIWA finals.

149: Joey Galasso will open with #7 Jake Sueflohn (Nebraska). Sueflohn dominated this matchup earlier in the year, coincidentally also at MSG, winning a 12-4 MD. Galasso is coming off of a bad-call loss to the #4 seed in the conference final, so hopefully he can carry that momentum forward. A win would give him a winnable second round match.

157: #5 Dylan Palacio will face LeRoy Barnes (Missouri) in the first round, who he beat in a close match earlier this year in Palacio's first match back from injury. Projecting forward, the interesting match for Palacio would be in the QF against #4 Ian Miller (Kent State). Last year's big tournament controversy came during the 157 QF when the scorer's table forgot to give Miller credit for an escape, an error that cost Miller a point and sent his match against Brian Realbuto to OT, where Realbuto won. Arguably Realbuto would have wrestled differently had the scoreboard been accurate, but time was very short in the match and this was a pretty serious screwjob. Miller will be looking for revenge, even if someone else is wearing the Cornell singlet.

165: Duke Pickett comes into the tournament unseeded after slipping a bit in the rankings and will start with #6 Rodrigues (Illinois). Pickett was the only Cornellian to go 0-2 last year, so I'm hoping he can get at least one win this year.

174: #2 Brian Realbuto opens with Lelund Weatherspoon (Iowa State) and, barring catastrophe will have a clear path to the semis where he'll probably face #3 Blaise Butler (Missouri). He defeated Butler 3-2 earlier in the year.

184: #1 Gabe Dean has a crazy draw for a top seed. He faces the winner of the pigtail (basically the play-in), which would usually be cool, but the play-in somehow includes and unseeded Jack Dechow. Dechow was an All-American in 2014 and came in to the 2015 tournament seeded #3 before crashing out. After that, he's got a decent Penn State wrestler and then Nolan Boyd (Oklahoma State), the one guy to beat him this year. An oddly tough path. I'm not worried though - not after the way Dean ripped through EIWAs.

197: Owen Scott opens with #13 Jacob Smith (WV) but, naturally the second round gets tough. (I mean, it already starts tough, but the 13 seed is about as good a first round you can get as an unseeded wrestler.)

Hwt: Jeramy Sweany faces #7 Amarveer Dhesi in the first round with #10 Joe Stolfi (Bucknell) in the second round. I know nothing about Dhesi but I know that Stolfi killed Sweany at EIWAs.

The tournament starts Thursday at noon. I can't wait.

EDIT: Got my tickets for Session 1. If you're going, PM me and maybe we can say hi.