Wrestling 2018-19

[scoop85]

Great summary as always, although I wouldn't characterize Womack's win as "comfortable"

It could have been more comfortable.

Ok, I'll go with "marginally comfortable"

[ugarte]

Cornell hosts Penn and Princeton on Saturday. Princeton match is basically for the Ivy title. The Penn match will likely be a blowout. Cornell is a heavy favorite over Princeton too but the Tigers have a handful of ranked guys, including top 5 wrestlers at 149 and 197 and the matchup at 125 is between two freshmen ranked just outside of the top 10.

[mountainred]

Cornell hosts Penn and Princeton on Saturday. Princeton match is basically for the Ivy title. The Penn match will likely be a blowout. Cornell is a heavy favorite over Princeton too but the Tigers have a handful of ranked guys, including top 5 wrestlers at 149 and 197 and the matchup at 125 is between two freshmen ranked just outside of the top 10.

Penn was a blowout as expected, 40-3.  I'm awfully nervous about a match for Cornell to be a heavy favorite.  It would be nice if Vito could get things started with a win at 125.

[ugarte]

Cornell hosts Penn and Princeton on Saturday. Princeton match is basically for the Ivy title. The Penn match will likely be a blowout. Cornell is a heavy favorite over Princeton too but the Tigers have a handful of ranked guys, including top 5 wrestlers at 149 and 197 and the matchup at 125 is between two freshmen ranked just outside of the top 10.

Penn was a blowout as expected, 40-3.  I'm awfully nervous about a match for Cornell to be a heavy favorite.  It would be nice if Vito could get things started with a win at 125.

The middle weights, where we're technically weakest, are not great for Princeton either (with the exception of 149, obvs). I may be overconfident but I don't think i'm crazy.

As for Penn, I watched the first half and we damn near swept. Vito won by tech (with the help of RT), Yianni won by tech (in under 2 minutes) and Santoro won by pin. Tucker is back to his razor's edge ways and won by a point and Furnas came so close to getting a takedown in SV for a huge upset win before getting taken down himself.

Didn't see the second half but Womack won by fall and Honis also won by tech. Berreyesa won close, as did Sweany. Dean took the night off and Taylor came in and won with a major, which is pretty cool (unless it means Dean is hurt, but I suspect they were giving Taylor a start as a Senior on the last home weekend since tomorrow's senior night dual may be closer than I think and we may need Dean to wrestle Parker.)

[mountainred]

Cornell hosts Penn and Princeton on Saturday. Princeton match is basically for the Ivy title. The Penn match will likely be a blowout. Cornell is a heavy favorite over Princeton too but the Tigers have a handful of ranked guys, including top 5 wrestlers at 149 and 197 and the matchup at 125 is between two freshmen ranked just outside of the top 10.

Penn was a blowout as expected, 40-3.  I'm awfully nervous about a match for Cornell to be a heavy favorite.  It would be nice if Vito could get things started with a win at 125.

The middle weights, where we're technically weakest, are not great for Princeton either (with the exception of 149, obvs). I may be overconfident but I don't think i'm crazy.

As for Penn, I watched the first half and we damn near swept. Vito won by tech (with the help of RT), Yianni won by tech (in under 2 minutes) and Santoro won by pin. Tucker is back to his razor's edge ways and won by a point and Furnas came so close to getting a takedown in SV for a huge upset win before getting taken down himself.

Didn't see the second half but Womack won by fall and Honis also won by tech. Berreyesa won close, as did Sweany. Dean took the night off and Taylor came in and won with a major, which is pretty cool (unless it means Dean is hurt, but I suspect they were giving Taylor a start as a Senior on the last home weekend since tomorrow's senior night dual may be closer than I think and we may need Dean to wrestle Parker.)

Can't vouch for his opponent, but Womack was dominant.  The announcer really made it sound like Taylor wrestled in honor of his senior status and that Dean will go today.

And you aren't crazy about today, but there is a path for Princeton.  Ayers has really done a great job at that program.

[Al DeFlorio]

After 165 through 285, it's 21-0 Cornell.  Honis nips #3 Brucki with a late takedown after riding him out in the 2nd period.

[mountainred]

ugarte, you clearly weren't crazy.  34-7 final.  Of course, if you had just told me Berreyesa was going to start things off with a pin, I would have been a lot less nervous.

And Vito dominated Pat Glory at 125.  Huge performance.

[ugarte]

An amazing, amazing performance against Princeton through the whole lineup.

165: Berreyesa won the silver medal at World Juniors in Greco and it really shows in how he wrestles. Really tries almost exclusively for throws, which you almost never see in college because the scoring system doesn't reward it... but when it works, OH BABY! Berreyesa's first attempt at a throw backfired and he ended up taken down himself, but the second was a perfect hold and toss and he put his man right on his back and held him for the pin. [CU 6-0]

174: #14 Womack was facing a talented freshman and I suspect Princeton was eyeing an upset here. Coming off of the Berreyesa pin, Womack almost made it back-to-back falls. Stefanek went right for Womack's leg and got it, but Womack defended, caught Stefanek's head and cradled him to his back for a quick 6 points. No idea how Stefanek avoided the pin. After that, Stefanek was the more aggressive wrestler and nearly caught up, but Womack held on to win 7-5. [CU 9-0]

184: #12 Dean beat Parker 16-0 last year, and things weren't much different today - Dean wins by tech fall 16-1. [CU 14-0]

197: In one of the two feature matches of the day, #14 Honis was facing Princeton's #3, Brucki. Brucki started strong, with a pair of takedowns in the first period, and the period ended with him up 4-2. In the second period, Honis was dominant, starting on top and riding for the entire two minutes. The third period was wild. Honis escaped for 1, and quickly enough that he kept riding time over a minute. Brucki got another takedown, to make the score 6-3, but again Honis got out quickly and preserved his riding time advantage. With around 30 seconds left, Honis took a shot and got Brucki's leg; Brucki defended but after a scramble, Honis finished on top to tie the match with 20 seconds left. Brucki was able to grab Honis' foot, and worked for the escape or reversal, and almost had it, but Honis barely held on until the end of the match, and the riding time point gave him a huge upset win, 7-6. [CU 17-0]

285: Sweany was wrestling against Elfstrum, who was competing at 184 earlier in the year. That's way too much weight to give up. Sweany won by major decision, 10-2. [CU 21-0]

125: In the second feature bout, #11 Arujau was facing #10 Glory, in a matchup of the two top freshmen 125s in the country. It was all Vito from the opening whistle, and he cradled Glory to get the fall in the second period. Glory is known to be a really tough top wrestler, but I don't think he ever got a chance to be on to be on top. [CU 27-0]

133: #13 Tucker is still doing his high-wire act. He scored a takedown in the first period but the rest of the scoring came from escapes for both guys. He was never really in danger of being taken down and won 3-2. [CU 30-0]

141: #1 Diakomihalis had a weird match where the ref was calling everything against him - two stalls, an illegal hold, a takedown off a scramble that seemed a little dubious - and he still won 14-6 for a major decision. [CU 34-0]

149: Furnas was facing #2 Kolodzik - a two-time All-American - and he battled tough. For his third straight match against a ranked wrestler, Furnas kept it close but gave up a takedown in the closing seconds or OT to lose by 2 points, falling 3-1 each time. [CU 34-3]

157: Santoro lost to Monday 16-5 but the match was closer than the score would indicate. Santoro nearly hit a couple of big moves, but missing them was catastrophic as Monday was able to turn the whiffs into points of his own. Still, Santoro kept battling until the end. [CU 34-7]

With the win, Cornell goes 5-0 in the Ivy League for the 17th straight season, winning our 17th straight Ivy title. It is the longest Ivy title streak in any sport for any school, ever.

Cornell closes the pre-tournament schedule with three tough matches - Virginia Tech, North Carolina and Ohio State. Looking forward to it.

[mountainred]

With the win, Cornell goes 5-0 in the Ivy League for the 17th straight season, winning our 17th straight Ivy title. It is the longest Ivy title streak in any sport for any school, ever.

Over at WrestlingReport the poster klehner said: "Cornell lost only 7 matches, giving up 26 team points in their five [Ivy] matches. You have to go back to the 2010-11 season to find
a Cornell team that dominated more: the team including Grey, Dake, Simaz, and Bozak lost 6 matches and 21 points that year."

Sure, it's a down year across the IL (except for Princeton), but that's an incredible season.

[ugarte]

Started the weekend with a 17-16 win over VT on the road. Got a huge upset from Dean over the #3 wrestler in the country and got the last team point on tiebreaker criteria. Exciting stuff. More later.

[ugarte]

Cornell went to ACC country for a pair of duals - first to Blacksburg to face Virginia Tech, then to Chapel Hill. Coach Koll was a 4x All-American at UNC and won the national title at 158 his senior year.

Virginia Tech

184: By random draw the dual started at 184, with #13 Dean taking on #3 Zavatsky, who had beaten him in their first two matches. This one was all Dean - he scored early and kept up the pace, never letting Zavatsky get to his feet once he was taken down. Dominant 9-0 win. Huge upset. [CU 4-0]

197: #7 Honis was facing an unranked wrestler. He was a little sloppy but never in danger. [CU 7-0]

Hwt: Tough matchup for Sweany against #18 Miller. He kept it close but a late takedown that he couldn't escape from was the difference. [CU 7-3]

125: #8 Arujau looked to have an early takedown and instead was launched airborne and to his back. He wriggled out before giving up back points but it put him in a 2-0 hole. No matter, Arujau wasn't really threatened the rest of the match, though there wasn't much scoring. Not as close as the score, imo. [CU 10-3]

133: #13 Tucker was facing #14 Meyers. After a couple of weeks of close wins against much less scary competition, I was glad to see Tucker come out firing in this one. He scored early and kept up the pace, cruising to an 8-3 win. [CU 13-3]

141: #1 Diakomihalis was facing an unranked wrestler, but the computer at WrestleStat loves the guy, ranking him #5. He was strong and flexible but not fast enough to defend Yianni's shots or to score his own. The computer was right to keep this one close and give Yianni the win. [CU 16-3]

There was an intermission after the first five, and it was like night and day.

149: Furnas was apparently dinged up last week, so in a huge surprise, Will Koll came back to the lineup for Cornell. His injury early this year seemed like it would be career-ending, but he got one last weekend on the mat. He scored first, but tired late and lost. [CU 16-6]

157: Santoro tried for a throw and ended up on his own back. Never recovered from the deficit. [CU 16-9]

165: Facing #8 Lewis, Berreyesa was never in this one. He kept it under a tech, which didn't seem likely early in the third. [CU 16-13]

174: The bookends to the dual were the feature matches. #14 Womack facing #7 McFadden. Womack had a good reversal and kept it close, but had trouble escaping and lost a close match, bringing the dual to a tie and sending it to criteria. [16-16]

TB: (1) Wins: 5-5; (2) Falls 0-0; (3) Total points, with Cornell 63 - VT 57. [CU 17-16]

On to North Carolina.

149: Koll had a much tougher test, against #4 O'Connor. This one wasn't close and Koll did well to stay off of his back, losing by tech. [UNC 5-0]

157: Santoro faced #20 McClure. After a wild first period scramble where both coaches challenged the same scramble - each saying that they're own wrestler deserved a takedown, the refs said nobody got points and so nobody had any challenges left for the rest of the night. Santoro got the only takedown of the match and barely hung on as the clock was expiring to win 3-2. [UNC 5-3]

165: Again, Cornell got the only takedown of the match and Berreyesa held off his opponent 3-2. [CU 6-5]

174: #14 Womack in another defensive battle. Again, Cornell got the only takedown, but this time Womack also had a really strong ride and didn't let his opponent escape from bottom and won 4-1. [CU 9-5]

184: #13 Dean faced #14 Ness for the 5th time in the last two years. Dean won earlier this year, but Ness won the 7th place match at the NCAA tournament. The refs were active in this match, calling Dean for stalling 3 times, giving Ness his only two points. Koll was mad at the third call but I have to admit that the first two seemed legit. In any event, Dean got the only two takedowns and won 5-2. [CU 12-5]

197: #7 Honis dominated wire to wire and got a last second takedown to push the margin to 8 for the major decision. [CU 16-5]

285: Facing #20 Daniel, Sweany had his second chance to notch a quality win. His counter-moves and strength were the difference here, as a late takedown was the difference in a 6-4 win. [CU 19-5]

125: #8 Arujau was amazing from the opening whistle and needed only a few more seconds to get the tech. [CU 23-5]

133: #13 Tucker faced #20 Harding. Tucker again came out firing and took an early lead that he never gave up. He did give up a rare late takedown, but there wasn't enough time for Harding to threaten again. [CU 26-5]

141: #1 Diakomihalis faced Headlee last year and barely held on for a 7-6 win. He seemed determined to get bonus points this year to make up for it. He came as close as you possibly can, with the ref awarding Headlee an escape with one second left in the match to hold the margin to 7. Yianni did not like the call. [CU 26-6]

Next weekend the team faces Ohio State in Ithaca with the feature match at 141, where Yianni will face #2 McKenna, a two-time All-American who he didn't have to wrestle last year.

Friday 2/15
#9 Cornell 17, #14 Virginia Tech 16
184: #13 Max Dean (C) won by major decision over #3 Zack Zavatsky (VT), 9-0
197: #7 Ben Honis (C) won by decision over Brooks Wilding (VT), 11-5
285: Billy Miller (VT) won by decision over Jeramy Sweany (C), 5-3
125: #8 Vitali Arujau (C) won by decision over Joey Prata (VT), 4-2
133: #13 Chas Tucker (C) won by decision over #14 Korbin Myers (VT), 8-3
141: #1 Yianni Diakomihalis (C) won by decision over Mitch Moore (VT), 6-1
149: Ryan Blees (VT) won by decision over Will Koll (C), 9-6
157: B.C. LaPrade (VT) won by decision over Adam Santoro (C), 10-5
165: #8 Mekhi Lewis (VT) won by major decision over Andrew Berreyesa (C), 14-5
174: #7 David McFadden (VT) won by decision over #14 Brandon Womack (C), 8-6

Saturday 2/16
#9 Cornell 296, #13 North Carolina 5
149: #4 Austin O'Connor (UNC) won by technical fall over Will Koll (C), 23-8
157: Adam Santoro (C) won by decision over #20 Josh McClure (UNC), 3-2
165: Andrew Berreyesa (C) won by decision over Sawyer Davidson (UNC), 3-2
174: #14 Brandon Womack (C) won by decision over Devin Kane (UNC), 4-1
184: #13 Max Dean (C) won by decision over #14 Chip Ness (UNC), 5-2
197: #7 Ben Honis (C) won by decision over Brandon Whitman (UNC), 13-5
285: Jeramy Sweany (C) won by decision over #20 Cory Daniel (UNC), 6-4
125: #8 Vitali Arujau (C) won by major decision over Joe Heilman (UNC), 17-4
133: #13 Chas Tucker (C) won by decision over #20 Gary Wayne Harding (UNC), 6-4
141: #1 Yianni Diakomihalis (C) won by decision over A.C. Headlee (UNC), 9-2

[Jim Hyla]

Cornell went to ACC country for a pair of duals - first to Blacksburg to face Virginia Tech, then to Chapel Hill. Coach Koll was a 4x All-American at UNC and won the national title at 158 his senior year. https://twitter.com/uncwrestling/status/1047885307021070343

Virginia Tech

184: By random draw the dual started at 184, with #13 Dean taking on #3 Zavatsky, who had beaten him in their first two matches. This one was all Dean - he scored early and kept up the pace, never letting Zavatsky get to his feet once he was taken down. Dominant 9-0 win. Huge upset. [CU 4-0]

197: #7 Honis was facing an unranked wrestler. He was a little sloppy but never in danger. [CU 7-0]

Hwt: Tough matchup for Sweany against #18 Miller. He kept it close but a late takedown that he couldn't escape from was the difference. [CU 7-3]

125: #8 Arujau looked to have an early takedown and instead was launched airborne and to his back. He wriggled out before giving up back points but it put him in a 2-0 hole. No matter, Arujau wasn't really threatened the rest of the match, though there wasn't much scoring. Not as close as the score, imo. [CU 10-3]

133: #13 Tucker was facing #14 Meyers. After a couple of weeks of close wins against much less scary competition, I was glad to see Tucker come out firing in this one. He scored early and kept up the pace, cruising to an 8-3 win. [CU 13-3]

141: #1 Diakomihalis was facing an unranked wrestler, but the computer at WrestleStat loves the guy, ranking him #5. He was strong and flexible but not fast enough to defend Yianni's shots or to score his own. The computer was right to keep this one close and give Yianni the win. [CU 16-3]

There was an intermission after the first five, and it was like night and day.

149: Furnas was apparently dinged up last week, so in a huge surprise, Will Koll came back to the lineup for Cornell. His injury early this year seemed like it would be career-ending, but he got one last weekend on the mat. He scored first, but tired late and lost. [CU 16-6]

157: Santoro tried for a throw and ended up on his own back. Never recovered from the deficit. [CU 16-9]

165: Facing #8 Lewis, Berreyesa was never in this one. He kept it under a tech, which didn't seem likely early in the third. [CU 16-13]

174: The bookends to the dual were the feature matches. #14 Womack facing #7 McFadden. Womack had a good reversal and kept it close, but had trouble escaping and lost a close match, bringing the dual to a tie and sending it to criteria. [16-16]

TB: (1) Wins: 5-5; (2) Falls 0-0; (3) Total points, with Cornell 63 - VT 57. [CU 17-16]

On to North Carolina.

149: Koll had a much tougher test, against #4 O'Connor. This one wasn't close and Koll did well to stay off of his back, losing by tech. [UNC 5-0]

157: Santoro faced #20 McClure. After a wild first period scramble where both coaches challenged the same scramble - each saying that they're own wrestler deserved a takedown, the refs said nobody got points and so nobody had any challenges left for the rest of the night. Santoro got the only takedown of the match and barely hung on as the clock was expiring to win 3-2. [UNC 5-3]

165: Again, Cornell got the only takedown of the match and Berreyesa held off his opponent 3-2. [CU 6-5]

174: #14 Womack in another defensive battle. Again, Cornell got the only takedown, but this time Womack also had a really strong ride and didn't let his opponent escape from bottom and won 4-1. [CU 9-5]

184: #13 Dean faced #14 Ness for the 5th time in the last two years. Dean won earlier this year, but Ness won the 7th place match at the NCAA tournament. The refs were active in this match, calling Dean for stalling 3 times, giving Ness his only two points. Koll was mad at the third call but I have to admit that the first two seemed legit. In any event, Dean got the only two takedowns and won 5-2. [CU 12-5]

197: #7 Honis dominated wire to wire and got a last second takedown to push the margin to 8 for the major decision. [CU 16-5]

285: Facing #20 Daniel, Sweany had his second chance to notch a quality win. His counter-moves and strength were the difference here, as a late takedown was the difference in a 6-4 win. [CU 19-5]

125: #8 Arujau was amazing from the opening whistle and needed only a few more seconds to get the tech. [CU 23-5]

133: #13 Tucker faced #20 Harding. Tucker again came out firing and took an early lead that he never gave up. He did give up a rare late takedown, but there wasn't enough time for Harding to threaten again. [CU 26-5]

141: #1 Diakomihalis faced Headlee last year and barely held on for a 7-6 win. He seemed determined to get bonus points this year to make up for it. He came as close as you possibly can, with the ref awarding Headlee an escape with one second left in the match to hold the margin to 7. Yianni did not like the call. [CU 26-6]

Next weekend the team faces Ohio State in Ithaca with the feature match at 141, where Yianni will face #2 McKenna, a two-time All-American who he didn't have to wrestle last year.

Friday 2/15
#9 Cornell 17, #14 Virginia Tech 16
184: #13 Max Dean (C) won by major decision over #3 Zack Zavatsky (VT), 9-0
197: #7 Ben Honis (C) won by decision over Brooks Wilding (VT), 11-5
285: Billy Miller (VT) won by decision over Jeramy Sweany (C), 5-3
125: #8 Vitali Arujau (C) won by decision over Joey Prata (VT), 4-2
133: #13 Chas Tucker (C) won by decision over #14 Korbin Myers (VT), 8-3
141: #1 Yianni Diakomihalis (C) won by decision over Mitch Moore (VT), 6-1
149: Ryan Blees (VT) won by decision over Will Koll (C), 9-6
157: B.C. LaPrade (VT) won by decision over Adam Santoro (C), 10-5
165: #8 Mekhi Lewis (VT) won by major decision over Andrew Berreyesa (C), 14-5
174: #7 David McFadden (VT) won by decision over #14 Brandon Womack (C), 8-6

Saturday 2/16
#9 Cornell 296, #13 North Carolina 5
149: #4 Austin O'Connor (UNC) won by technical fall over Will Koll (C), 23-8
157: Adam Santoro (C) won by decision over #20 Josh McClure (UNC), 3-2
165: Andrew Berreyesa (C) won by decision over Sawyer Davidson (UNC), 3-2
174: #14 Brandon Womack (C) won by decision over Devin Kane (UNC), 4-1
184: #13 Max Dean (C) won by decision over #14 Chip Ness (UNC), 5-2
197: #7 Ben Honis (C) won by decision over Brandon Whitman (UNC), 13-5
285: Jeramy Sweany (C) won by decision over #20 Cory Daniel (UNC), 6-4
125: #8 Vitali Arujau (C) won by major decision over Joe Heilman (UNC), 17-4
133: #13 Chas Tucker (C) won by decision over #20 Gary Wayne Harding (UNC), 6-4
141: #1 Yianni Diakomihalis (C) won by decision over A.C. Headlee (UNC), 9-2

That Saturday score must be an all-time record, no?

[ugarte]

#9 Cornell 296, #13 North Carolina 5

That Saturday score must be an all-time record, no?

ha. I noticed the typo on the cornell athletics site but forgot to fix it.

[ugarte]

coach koll's national championship match:
https://mobile.twitter.com/UNCWrestling/status/1047885307021070343

[ugarte]

Regular season closes tonight with a dual against #5 Ohio State. Chalk says the Buckeyes are the favorites at seven of ten weights but surprisingly the computer at WrestleStat.com (which ranks wrestlers ELO-style but compares them one-on-one inscrutably) is picking the Big Red (with upsets at 133, 165 and 197). A lot of great matches here, particularly 141 and 197.

125: #8 Arujau vs. #17 Heinselman
133: #13 Tucker vs. #6 Pletcher
141: #1 Diakomihalis vs. #3 McKenna
149: Furnas vs. #3 Jordan
157: Santoro vs. #6 Hayes
165: Berreyesa vs. #12 Campbell
174: #14 Womack vs. #19 Smith
184: #7 Dean vs. #1 Martin
197: #7 Honis vs. #2 Moore
285: Sweany vs. #11 Singletary

6:30 on ESPN+.