Wrestling 2019-20

[ugarte]

Rob Koll sent out his newsletter, so here's his season preview from the horse's mouth, but first a couple of notes.

First of all, the team will start the season depleted: It appears that Yianni D, Vito Arujau, Andrew Berreyesa (in Greco) and Max Dean are taking an Olympic redshirt this year to train for 2020 qualifying. (Which the Ivies apparently allow as long as you take a leave of absence from school.) Second, Chas Tucker may miss some time because he is competing along with Max Dean at the U23 World Championships in Budapest this October. It doesn't conflict with the wrestling schedule but I wouldn't be surprised if he takes some recovery time after training over the summer. Tucker had said that he was going to skip the tournament to focus on school but I guess Max convinced him to travel and have some fun.

125: With Vito taking the year off this weight has a plenty of question marks. Dom, "Big Body" LaJoie is the most obvious fix, but he didn't get his nickname by chance so he will need to bring his weight down in order to be at his best. Dom struggled with an injury for the majority of last season but he is finally healthy and should make an immediate impact. Two freshman, Phillip Moomey and JJ Wilson, will give us much needed depth at 125 and could be contenders based on their high school accomplishments. Phillip was a three-time state champion at Kearney, NE HS, 2017 Fargo Cadet Greco-Roman national champion while placing third in free style and a 2018 UWW Cadet Greco-Roman World Team member. Wilson was a two-time place-winner at Cedar Cliff, PA HS while wrestling from 106 to 126 pounds, placed twice at the Beast of the East tournament, and was a 2019 Powerade finalist and a three-time place-winner.

133: Chas Tucker returns for his senior campaign with his sights set on a national championship. Chas has been one of our most consistent performers over the past two years and I am certain he will make the NCAA podium in March. Two-time EIWA place-winner Noah Baughman will see a great deal of action this year. I'm not sure he can make 125, but if not, he will undoubtedly see action at 133 and 141. Others to watch: Ian McNitt, Jacob Lehr.

141: With Yianni taking the year off 141 goes from our best weight to our biggest question mark. Sr. Mike Russo, So. Mike Venosa and previously mentioned Baughman are the most likely successors to Yianni. All three have experienced success but have not had the opportunity to see much starting time due to our depth at 133 and 141. Fr. Ryan Moore, two-time state champion and eight-time high school All-American, is the wildcard at this weight. He has an enormous gas tank and will be exciting to watch. Others to watch: Trence Gillem, Danial Koll, Jimmy Overhiser.

149: Hunter Richards started off strong last year then suffered a season ending injury at the South Beach Duals. He had a great summer of training and looks to lead the pack in the preseason. Sr. Christian Schoenherr has seen action from 141-165 over the past three years and expects to finally call 149 his weight. Others who expect to stake a claim include Sr. Matt Russo and Jr. Max Pickett.

157: Fredy Stroker returns for his senior season after sitting out the second half of last year due to a bicep injury. SO. Jacob Brindley has seen action for the Big Red at both 157 and 165 pounds and will be a factor at one or both weight classes this year. FR. Colton Yapoujian, two-time Colorado state champion, two-time NHSCA national champion, Fargo Freestyle national champion and Reno Tournament of Champions title-holder, went 17-2 last year wrestling in college tournaments as a high school senior. He is one of the most powerful young men I have ever encountered and will make an immediate impact. FR. Micah Hoffman placed fourth in the state of Pennsylvania as a senior, and took eighth in his weight class at Flo Nationals could see action from 157-165 depending on how much weight the dining halls add to his frame. Steven Garza has struggled with injures, but if healthy will add great talent to an already loaded weight class. Others to watch: Rami Pellumbi

165: Adam Santoro will move up from 157 pounds. His main competition will come from Milik Dawkins and FR. Andrew Merola. Dawkins was hampered by an injury last season which has been successfully repaired. Merola enjoyed a successful high school career and was a three-time national prep champion, Fargo Greco-Roman Cadet champion, Beast of the East title, multiple time place winner at both UWW Cadet nationals in Akron as well as Cadet and Junior nationals in Fargo. Others to watch: John Stawinski

174: Brandon Womack ranks 44th on the all-times Cornell wins list with 76. He will quickly climb up the ladder board and plans to get back on the podium in March.

184: Ben Darmstadt was out last year but returns to the line-up down from 197 pounds. It is a great problem when a freshman places 6th at the NCAA tournament and is disappointed. We expect Ben to be on the very top of the podium this year! Jonah Barley will give us a solid wrestler at this weight if Ben is ever unable to go and will also challenge at 197.

197: Fr. Jonathon Loew, NY state champion, NHSCA senior national title, and Jon Fagen, four-time Idaho state champion, Cadet Greco-Roman national champion and USA World team member, and
2X NHSCA All-America, have big shoes to fill replacing All-American Ben Honis.

285: Brendan Furman and Seth Janney will battle it out for the starting roll vacated due to graduation of Jeramy Sweany. Both wrestlers enjoyed stellar high school careers and we expect for one them to have a break out year. Others to watch: Fr. Drew Flynn

I still can't believe that Darmstadt is going to go 184. He was tall for 197 in '17-'18 and his length was hell on the opposition. At 184 ... whooooooo.

In terms of who I think will win the weight battles...

125 is a tough one but by resume Moomey over LaJoie.
141 No idea. Moore or Venosa, I guess.
149 was Hunter Richard's to lose but Schoenherr has good results when he gets to compete. I still think Schoenherr.
157 Yapoujian will probably take the spot from the inconsistent Stroker.
165 I love Santoro but don't think he'll hold off Merola.
197 Good depth but I figure Loew over Fagan.
285 This is Furman's weight now.

Tucker, Womack, Darmstadt are all unchallenged. If Darmstadt can't hold 184, 197 becomes interesting (as does 184 because I don't know who could go up or down).

[George64]

Dake again wins World Championship.

[George64]

Post-match interview.

[mountainred]

Hey ugarte, do you know if the Wrestling Report forum is completely broken?

[ugarte]

Hey ugarte, do you know if the Wrestling Report forum completely broken?

it appears to be. someone reached out to the operator (i think) but hasn't heard back. some of the Cornell forum regulars are on themat.com forum and they may start a cornell thread there. someone mentioned this forum and i said "come on over" but nobody seems to have bit.

[scoop85]

Hey ugarte, do you know if the Wrestling Report forum completely broken?

it appears to be. someone reached out to the operator (i think) but hasn't heard back. some of the Cornell forum regulars are on themat.com forum and they may start a cornell thread there. someone mentioned this forum and i said "come on over" but nobody seems to have bit.

Yeah, I've mostly lurked on the wrestling report forum and wondered what's happened to it.

[mountainred]

Hey ugarte, do you know if the Wrestling Report forum completely broken?

it appears to be. someone reached out to the operator (i think) but hasn't heard back. some of the Cornell forum regulars are on themat.com forum and they may start a cornell thread there. someone mentioned this forum and i said "come on over" but nobody seems to have bit.

Thanks for the tip, I may head over there.  I hope the person who was running Wrestling Report is okay.  It always seemed to be a one person affair and had become little more than place for Cornell and Lehigh fans to post and taunt each other.

[cu155]

I hope people pick somewhere to congregate, whether TheMat or here.  I don't say much but have enjoyed lurking on WR threads over the years.

[ugarte]

A few preseason notes...

Another cool wrestling story: Ben Honis '19 is using his graduate eligibility to walk on as a linebacker for Syracuse.

Honis is listed as a Tight End on the Syracuse roster but from the stat sheet, he appears to be getting all of his playing time on special teams. He has 1 tackle in 4 games.

Chas Tucker, Max Dean and Andrew Berreyesa are all heading to the U23 wrestling championships next week. The tournament runs from Monday through Sunday. Tucker (FS 61kg) and Dean (FS 86kg) gold medal bracket matches start next Tuesday; Berreyesa (GR 82 kg) starts a week from Saturday. The first day of competition for each weight goes through the semifinals. Gold/repechage for bronze is the following day. Video is on TrackWrestling.com but if past is prologue, the tournament will cost $30 or so.

Cornell lost out on a top recruit; Cam Picklo is a decent prospect coming to Cornell next year (or maybe after a greyshirt year at FLWC) but his younger brother (a *top* prospect) Tate Picklo, is staying at home and going to Oklahoma. Bummer.

[Jim Hyla]

A few preseason notes...

Cornell lost out on a top recruit; Cam Picklo is a decent prospect coming to Cornell next year (or maybe after a greyshirt year at FLWC) but his younger brother (a *top* prospect) Tate Picklo, is staying at home and going to Oklahoma. Bummer.

Do we know if he was accepted? Maybe, just maybe, he couldn't get in?

[ugarte]

A few preseason notes...

Cornell lost out on a top recruit; Cam Picklo is a decent prospect coming to Cornell next year (or maybe after a greyshirt year at FLWC) but his younger brother (a *top* prospect) Tate Picklo, is staying at home and going to Oklahoma. Bummer.

Do we know if he was accepted? Maybe, just maybe, he couldn't get in?

We don't but tbh I think that kind of speculation is arrogant and insulting, particularly given what Varsity Blues showed about how flexible admissions departments are with preferred athletes.

[upprdeck]

Cornell has a pretty deep history of not letting preferred athletes get in though.

[jkahn]

A few preseason notes...

Cornell lost out on a top recruit; Cam Picklo is a decent prospect coming to Cornell next year (or maybe after a greyshirt year at FLWC) but his younger brother (a *top* prospect) Tate Picklo, is staying at home and going to Oklahoma. Bummer.

Do we know if he was accepted? Maybe, just maybe, he couldn't get in?

We don't but tbh I think that kind of speculation is arrogant and insulting, particularly given what Varsity Blues showed about how flexible admissions departments are with preferred athletes.

Recent historical example: John McCarron, a sophomore at the time Michael McCarron, a more highly rated prospect, was not admitted.  We know that as Michael made it public by tweeting something like "I guess Cornell didn't like my ACT's."  Obviously, though, that has nothing to do with Tate Picklo's choice.

[ugarte]

A few preseason notes...

Cornell lost out on a top recruit; Cam Picklo is a decent prospect coming to Cornell next year (or maybe after a greyshirt year at FLWC) but his younger brother (a *top* prospect) Tate Picklo, is staying at home and going to Oklahoma. Bummer.

Do we know if he was accepted? Maybe, just maybe, he couldn't get in?

We don't but tbh I think that kind of speculation is arrogant and insulting, particularly given what Varsity Blues showed about how flexible admissions departments are with preferred athletes.

Recent historical example: John McCarron, a sophomore at the time Michael McCarron, a more highly rated prospect, was not admitted.  We know that as Michael made it public by tweeting something like "I guess Cornell didn't like my ACT's."  Obviously, though, that has nothing to do with Tate Picklo's choice.

as it turns out, we lost both brothers lol https://twitter.com/Camjpick22/status/1186343863960657921

[ugarte]

Chas Tucker, Max Dean and Andrew Berreyesa are all heading to the U23 wrestling championships next week. The tournament runs from Monday through Sunday. Tucker (FS 61kg) and Dean (FS 86kg) gold medal bracket matches start next Tuesday; Berreyesa (GR 82 kg) starts a week from Saturday.

Tucker and Dean both had tough draws and lost their opening matches.

Tucker was facing an Iranian wrestler with Senior level experience - 5th at Senior Worlds and gold at Yasar Dogu in Turkey. Tucker scored two early takedowns but gave up 6(!) step-outs to lose 6-4.

Dean was facing the 2018 Junior Worlds gold medalist from Japan and lost by tech fall (12-2).

Both will have to wait to see if their opponents make it to the gold medal match in order to be pulled back into the repechage for bronze. Ishiguro has advanced to the semifinals, so Dean is almost back in it.

UPDATE: The guy who beat Tucker lost in the QF, so he is eliminated from repechage.
UPDATE 2: Ishiguro lost in the semis, so Dean is eliminated from repechage.