Wrestling [2016-2017]

[ugarte]

By beating Princeton and clinching the Ivy title (15 in a row, baby!) Cornell gets a spot in the National Duals where we're going to face #4 Ohio State. Tough matchup that we are likely to lose (especially with the injuries big and small) but one that I'm sorry I won't be able to see.

I'm scraping this from a post over at the wrestlingreport.com forums but the expected matchups are:

125: Noah Baughman (C) vs. #18 Jose Rodriguez
133: #20 Mark Grey (C) vs. #1 Nathan Tomasello
141: Will Koll (C), 5-3 vs. #15 Luke Pletcher
149: Jon Furnas (C) vs. #5 Micah Jordan
157: Taylor Simaz (C) vs. Anthony DeCarlo
165: Brandon Womack (C) vs. Cody Burcher
174: #3 Brian Realbuto (C) vs. #1 Bo Jordan
184: #1 Gabe Dean (C) vs. #10 Myles Martin
197: Ben Honis (C) vs. #4 Kollin Moore
285: Craig Scott (C) vs.

We are big underdogs at 133, 149 and 197; moderate dogs at 125, 141 and 174 (sorry Brian); toss up at 165. Favorites at 157 and 184.

At Heavyweight we are either going to get pinned by returning national champion / Olympic gold medalist Kyle Snyder or are a moderate favorite against his backup. Snyder has the World Championships in Iran that same weekend (assuming the status of the Muslim ban litigation on tournament day doesn't mean the entire US team gets turned away at the airport) so I'm guessing he's going to sit this one out.

Our lineup could see some changes. It would be better - but probably not enough - to have Galasso at 149. It would also be nice to have Palacio back and healthy at 157; I'm not at all sure that he'd be better than Womack at 165 given his rust. 197 is a deep weight. though either Honis or Owen Scott would be a serious underdog to Moore at 197. If Craig Scott's dings from the Princeton match persist, Sweany may not even be favored at Heavyweight. And if Grey can't go at 133, we probably see a pin in under 30 seconds.

[KenP]

From:  http://www.ncaa.com/news/wrestling/article/2017-02-13/college-wrestling-2017-nwca-national-duals-championship-series

Sunday's action will begin in Ithaca, New York, as No. 8 Cornell (12-2) comes out of the EIWA and the Ivy League to host No. 4 Ohio State (11-2) at 1 p.m. Eastern at the Friedman Center. The Buckeyes have been ranked in the top four all season long and finished third in the Big Ten during the regular season with a 7-2 conference record. Cornell dealt with a number lineup combinations this season and managed to carve out an 8-0 record in the EIWA. The Big Red also won their 15th straight Ivy League championship and have won 78 straight duals against Ivy opponents. After 13 prior meetings, the series is tied at 6-6-1. The dual will be streamed live by Trackwrestling.com

[Al DeFlorio]

From:  http://www.ncaa.com/news/wrestling/article/2017-02-13/college-wrestling-2017-nwca-national-duals-championship-series

Sunday's action will begin in Ithaca, New York, as No. 8 Cornell (12-2) comes out of the EIWA and the Ivy League to host No. 4 Ohio State (11-2) at 1 p.m. Eastern at the Friedman Center.

Cornell write-up says meet is in Newman.

[ugarte]

Our lineup could see some changes. It would be better - but probably not enough - to have Galasso at 149. It would also be nice to have Palacio back and healthy at 157; I'm not at all sure that he'd be better than Womack at 165 given his rust. 197 is a deep weight. though either Honis or Owen Scott would be a serious underdog to Moore at 197. If Craig Scott's dings from the Princeton match persist, Sweany may not even be favored at Heavyweight. And if Grey can't go at 133, we probably see a pin in under 30 seconds.

The match notes now say either Simaz or Palacio at 157, which would be pretty great. Also says Scott or Sweany at Heavy, which is less great.

[mountainred]

Our lineup could see some changes. It would be better - but probably not enough - to have Galasso at 149. It would also be nice to have Palacio back and healthy at 157; I'm not at all sure that he'd be better than Womack at 165 given his rust. 197 is a deep weight. though either Honis or Owen Scott would be a serious underdog to Moore at 197. If Craig Scott's dings from the Princeton match persist, Sweany may not even be favored at Heavyweight. And if Grey can't go at 133, we probably see a pin in under 30 seconds.

The match notes now say either Simaz or Palacio at 157, which would be pretty great. Also says Scott or Sweany at Heavy, which is less great.

I bet we see Sweany.  Winning this dual is unlikely and Scott is needed for Easterns.

I'm torn on Palacio.  As a fan, a healthy, ready Dylan is the best choice at 157. But Simaz has answered the bell all season.

[mountainred]

I bet we see Sweany.  Winning this dual is unlikely and Scott is needed for Easterns.

I was half right.  We saw Sweany, but Cornell beats #4 OSU 19-18.  

I will let ugarte do his usual amazing summary, but huge wins by Baughman at 125 and Realbuto over no longer undefeated Bo Jordan at 174.

[CU77]

Cornell beats #4 OSU 19-18. ... huge wins by Baughman at 125 and Realbuto over no longer undefeated Bo Jordan at 174.

Nice!

[ugarte]

I bet we see Sweany.  Winning this dual is unlikely and Scott is needed for Easterns.

I was half right.  We saw Sweany, but Cornell beats #4 OSU 19-18.  

I will let ugarte do his usual amazing summary, but huge wins by Baughman at 125 and Realbuto over no longer undefeated Bo Jordan at 174.

No long write-up - I'm in Guadeloupe and don't have my laptop and only read the result myself - but I am really psyched about this win.

At 125 Baughman beat the #16 wrestler in the country.

At 141 Koll had his second straight close loss against a top 15 wrestler.

Dylan Palacio made weight at 157 and in his first match at the weight, won by major decision. The competition was weak, so we didn't learn a lot, but it does mean that we are closer to our best lineup for the conference tournament.

Brandon Womack beat Cody Burcher for the second time this season at 165. He's going to go into the conference tournament on the fringes of the top 20.

 In the match of the night, #3 Brian Realbuto beat #1 (and undefeated and a finalist from 2016) Bo Jordan. According to the write up on the Cornell website The OSU coaches were mad about a couple of no-calls but all the same, this will move BReal up to #2, past Jordan.

At 184, for the second time this season, #1 Gabe Dean beat #7 Myles Martin, the 2016 champ at 174. This time the score was 10-5 and Cornell reported that he was close to a pin when time ran out. This may have been the first takedown Dean gave up all season, though, since that's the only way the shire makes sense. (I don't know for sure and maybe the ref was awarding a lot of stalling points, though that doesn't sound like Dean.)

The big win came at the end, though. With Olympic champ Kyle Snyder off at the World Championships in Iran*, two backups faced off at Heavyweight. With the team down 18-16 and needing a win, Jeramy Sweany won 4-0, under pressure, and that's awesome.

The matches we lost big, we were going to lose big. Mark Grey, Jonathan Furnas and Ben Honis were all facing top 5 guys and... are not on that level.

A great result heading into the conference tournament and I guess I did write more than I intended.


* Snyder lost one match in the semis, which was a surprise, but the team advanced to the final. In the final, Snyder did win his match, but unfortunately Iran beat the US for the title.

[ugarte]

OKi watched the Dean and Realbuto matches.

In the Dean match the refs absolutely missed Dean getting a pin not once but twice. I have no idea how they missed it. You are allowed to call for a review on a takedown and I can't imagine that video review wouldn't have given Dean the pin. Then, up 9-3 with the clock winding down Dean tried for one last TD to get the major decision and ended up losing a scramble on the edge of the mat with two seconds left. First points he's given up all year that weren't an escape. Bummer. The good news is that he's light years better than Martin.

The Realbuto match was amazing. Jordan is huge. BReal got the only takedown 15 seconds into the match. He also got in on single leg shots multiple times but waft able to convert because Jordan did a great job getting to a stalemate position. There was one scramble at the end of the songs that definitely looked like 2 for Realbuto but Jordan had his foot. At the end of the third they got in a scramble and if there was literally one more second Jordan would have fourteen the points he needed to win but the buzzer came and the refs made the right call after review.

Both matches are at trackwrestling.com if you want to watch. Apparently the free video feed was frustrating and awful but the archived video is great.

[mountainred]

OKi watched the Dean and Realbuto matches.

In the Dean match the refs absolutely missed Dean getting a pin not once but twice. I have no idea how they missed it. You are allowed to call for a review on a takedown and I can't imagine that video review wouldn't have given Dean the pin. Then, up 9-3 with the clock winding down Dean tried for one last TD to get the major decision and ended up losing a scramble on the edge of the mat with two seconds left. First points he's given up all year that weren't an escape. Bummer. The good news is that he's light years better than Martin.

The Realbuto match was amazing. Jordan is huge. BReal got the only takedown 15 seconds into the match. He also got in on single leg shots multiple times but waft able to convert because Jordan did a great job getting to a stalemate position. There was one scramble at the end of the songs that definitely looked like 2 for Realbuto but Jordan had his foot. At the end of the third they got in a scramble and if there was literally one more second Jordan would have fourteen the points he needed to win but the buzzer came and the refs made the right call after review.

Both matches are at trackwrestling.com if you want to watch. Apparently the free video feed was frustrating and awful but the archived video is great.

Here is a link to the Dean match:  http://s200.trackwrestling.com/tw/PortalPlayer.jsp?TIM=1487599536303&twSessionId=prnyheksmeovkmw&videoId=358384076  (just click continue on the ad).  The Realbuto match is available in "related content."  

Turn down the volume as the sound mixing is almost as bad as the video stream was.

I thought Realbuto forced the action pretty much throughout his match, but a rematch at the NCAAs is no more than a toss-up.  Still, it cements Brian's position as a true contender for the title at 174 (along with 4-5 others).  

As for Dean, Cornell had used a video review earlier, I think in Womack's match, so maybe they didn't have a challenge left?  Martin was doing everything he could to avoid Gabe and probably deserved a couple more stall warnings.  Good strategy for Ohio State, but lousy wrestling.

Noah's win was huge, not just for the team but for him.  The video crapped out, so I missed his takedown, but he looked every bit on the level of a guy who majored him earlier this year.  The win may get Noah to crack the coach's top 33, which could earn the EIWA another ticket for nationals at 125.  I've seen estimates that give the EIWA just 2 bids, which would require Noah to make the finals to qualify.  He could do that, but one more bid would be nice flexibility.

[ugarte]

This has most if not all of the dual, starting at 125. I haven't watched yet.  https://youtu.be/-si0KcuQdnE

[mountainred]

This has most if not all of the dual, starting at 125. I haven't watched yet.  https://youtu.be/-si0KcuQdnE

Thanks!

I watched the parts of Noah's match that I missed.  His TD was a simple go behind; nice, but nothing spectacular.  What was impressive was his ride out to close the last 43 seconds of the second after his TD and then the full third period.

[ugarte]

This has most if not all of the dual, starting at 125. I haven't watched yet.  https://youtu.be/-si0KcuQdnE

Thanks!

I watched the parts of Noah's match that I missed.  His TD was a simple go behind; nice, but nothing spectacular.  What was impressive was his ride out to close the last 43 seconds of the second after his TD and then the full third period.

I really liked Womack-Burcher too. Damn shame they burned the challenge since it was rejected and Womack won anyway.

Micah Jordan looked two weight classes larger than Furnas. How is that possible?

[ugarte]

The automatic bids for each conference at each weight came out and Cornell has a lot of challenges to qualify. There are multiple weights where our guys will have to outperform their seed at the EIWA conference tournament (Easterns) next week to get an automatic bid. Some may still get wild cards if they come up short but the fewer bids a weight class has, the tougher it will be.

Weight - # of AQ:
(Coaches' ranking)
125 - 2.  - Baughman (32) is the third ranked wrestler in the conference in a two-bid weight. Terao (10) is going to be the 2 seed, though Baughman beat him earlier this year. Finishing in third would give him a very good shot at a wild card.

133 - 4. Grey (20) is third in the conference and will qualify if he wrestles to seed. He's actually 11th in RPI, so he is a prime candidate for an at-large even if he stumbles.

141 - 5. Koll is in a deep weight class - unranked himself but with 6 ranked wrestlers ahead if him. He's 33d in RPI and might qualify for a wild card but his best bet is to get in by the tournament. He's definitely capable of a run to the top 5.

149 - 3. Galasso (30) is the #4 wrestler in the conference but injuries have kept him from qualifying for an RPI ranking (minimum of 17 bouts at a weight). Given his limited reps, he's a tough call for a wild card. If injury means Furnas has to go he's unlikely to qualify on the mat and has no chance at a wild card.

157 - 4. Palacio started the year #2 but skipped the first semester and spent most of his return at 165. He's unranked because he has barely been on the mat. He's apparently wrestling tomorrow at a tournament not many national qualifiers attend. It's unclear why but probably to shake off the mat rust and give the committee a reason to give him a WC if he gets upset at Easterns. He'd be the one seed at Easterns if he had wrestled all year.

165 - 3. With Palacio returning to his best weight, Womack (19) is now set to be our guy at 165. He's probably going to be the top seed at Easterns. At #11 in RPI he probably gets a WC even if he has a bad tournament.

174 - 6. Realbuto (2) should have no trouble qualifying with only one wrestler even in his range (Lehigh's Preisch) despite it being one if the deepest  weight classes in the conference. He's #1 in RPI to boot. Just don't get hurt, Brian.

184 - 7. Dean (1) is going to qualify unless he gets injured and will try to pin everyone as he tries to get the Hodge trophy for Outstanding Wrestler at NCAAs.

197 - 4. Honis (31) is only 6th in the conference despite being nationally ranked. His win over Harner (14) a few weeks ago shows that he has the stuff to place top 4. He's also 22 in RPI so even if he only wrestles to seed he may come in by WC. At this point I predict Honis has replaced Owen Scott in the lineup butif he wrestled Scott reasonably could finish top four if given the chance but would be unlikely to get a WC.

285 - 4. With only three ranked wrestlers this was a generous number of AQ slots. I could definitely see Craig Scott, if healthy, winning one despite not being ranked. If Scott is still hurt, Sweany was awarded a WC injury replacement last year after Lehigh's guy hurt himself in his final match. He hasn't shown that he could win his way in this year. Tough to get a WC from either guy if they don't finish top 4.

I think we get 6 or 7 guys in. Will be tough to keep Lehigh from taking the title from us but if we can sweep 157 - 184 it could happen. Fingers crossed. Let's go Red!

[mountainred]

Thanks for the summary, ugarte.  I'm not quite as bullish on Koll's chances.  He's capable, but he's on a 3-11 skid where he seems to wrestle just well enough to drop a close one. If the Koll who battles top 5 guys shows up, you may be right.

If things click, I really could see 7 finalists (Baughman, Palacio, Womack, Realbuto, Dean, Craig Scott and whoever goes at 197).  Cornell should out bonus point Lehigh. How healthy is Lehigh's Kulter?  I'm talking myself into thinking title 11 could happen. ::demented::