Wrestling 2022-23

[semsox]

Hard fought match. Shame it was the riding time that decided it. In an upset, Ramos of Purdue knocks off the 3-time champ Lee of Iowa.

[Al DeFlorio]

Vito majors into the finals.

[dag14]

Vito majors into the finals.

Ended his opponent's 29 match winning streak as well

[upprdeck]

some crazy wrestling tonight,

[semsox]

Some crazy sports tonight. I don't have enough screens

[ugarte]

Session IV was a wild one. Some great results, some crushing blows and some decent prospects for the future.

Championship Bracket:

133: [3] Vito Arujau v [2] Daton Fix (OK State). Everyone considered this the Big Two weight class, with Penn State's [1] Roman Bravo-Young and Fix a notch above Arujau and then a sizeable gap to fourth. The semifinals did a hell of a job of forcing a reevaluation. Vito started scoring early and never stopped. He scored the only takedown in the first period, countering a clean Fix shot on his leg and gradually working to improve his position for the takedown, then rode out the period to finish it with a 2-0 lead. He started the second period on bottom and got a reversal to improve to 4-0. Fix escaped, then escaped again to start the third period, bringing the match to within two points. Arujau got charged for stalling for backing out of the mat, so he went back on the attack and scored another takedown with a little over a minute to go. After Fix escaped, he really needed to go, and I think he expected Arujau to back away. Instead, Arujau drove right into his chest and took Fix to his back for 2NF, at which point Fix bellied out and stopped fighting and conceded the major decision. MD 11-3. After finishing 4th in 2019 and 3rd last year (with an Olympic redshirt and pandemic in between), he finally reached his first NCAA final.

Meanwhile, on the other mat, RBY was in a dogfight with his opponent, [4] Michael McGee from Arizona State. RBY ultimately won in overtime but he didn't generate much of his own offense and - though McGee was rarely able to finish - McGee kept getting to his ankle. Vito already took out one of the big two - can he get them both?

149: [1] Yianni Diakomihalis v. [12] Shane Van Ness (Penn State). Penn State always has their guys ready to wrestle. There was very little action in the first period, but Van Ness was able to get in on a couple of shots and only Yianni's insane ability to scramble out of danger kept Van Ness off the scoreboard. In the second period, Van Ness escaped quickly to take a 1-0 lead. In the third, Yianni returned the favor and tied the score. About 30 seconds into the third, Yianni took an uncharacteristically sloppy shot and Van Ness made him pay, grabbing his ankle and pushing into him to finish the takedown before Yianni could gumby his way out of it. Yianni escaped almost immediately, leaving himself down a point with 1:15 to go. Everyone watching knew that earlier in the evening, Iowa's 3x champion Spencer Lee lost his semifinal and the idea 2 3x champs could go down within 30 minutes of each other was palpable. With just over a minute remaining, Yianni started shooting. A half shot at a single, backed off then fired a double into Van Ness's waist, then slid off to a high-single, locking his hands underneath Van Ness's crotch and throwing him down to his back for 2 and the lead. His throw left him in great position and he was able to hold Van Ness on his back for NF4 and while he wasn't able to get the fall, he did ride out the rest of the period for the win. Never in doubt, right? W 8-3. Yianni moves on to his 4th NCAA final and he'll face [2] Sammy Sasso (Ohio State), who he beat twice last year, including last year's semifinal.

174: [4] Chris Foca v. [1] Carter Starocci. I know I suggested that Starocci didn't seem invincible after the quarterfinals. He looked invincible against Foca. Starocci scored the only two takedowns of the match, didn't concede an escape, and his positioning was so solid that Foca wasn't able to even take chances when they were on their feet. I was shocked at how dominant Starocci was, and he's a 2x defending champ. L 0-6.

It's not over for Foca, though. In the early session he'll face [11] Nelson Brands (Iowa) in the consolation semifinal. Winner wrestles for 3rd place, loser wrestles for 5th. In the other consy semi, 2019 NCAA champ and 2022 finalist [3] Mekhi Lewis (Va. Tech) faces off against [5] Plott, who Foca pinned in the QF.
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Consolation Bracket / Blood Round:

125: [15] Brett Ungar v [28] Killian Cardinale (WVU) - The scoring started about halfway through the first period, with Cardinale using a head swipe to get Ungar to turn away then swept in and grabbed his ankle for a quick takedown. Ungar couldn't do anything to get off bottom, and the period ended with Cardinale up 2-0 and holding over a minute of riding time. And that's all the scoring there was for almost the rest of the match. Cardinale chose neutral to start the second and nobody scored; Ungar took one great, deep single-leg shot but Cardinale stalemated it and almost scored himself. Ungar also chose neutral to start the third and, his strategy became clear. Ungar spent the period trying to get underhooks in - his arms under both of Cardinale's armpits - to throw Cardinale to his back to make up the three point deficit. The first time he did it, Cardinale backed out of the circle for a stall warning. With about 10 seconds left, though, Ungar got a hook in again and hip tossed Cardinale right to his back on the edge of the mat for 2. It looked to all the world like he had him in position for back points and the win but the ref ruled they went out of bounds. If both wrestlers are completely out of bounds, the match stops. Cornell challenged, and ... damn. It's clear on replay that for the smallest fraction of a second, Ungar's momentum carried his trailing foot an inch out of the circle before he got it back in. The takedown temporarily tied the match at 2, but with the riding time from the first period, Cardinale got the W. L 2-3.

Kind of a bummer but ... we've got three more years to watch him wrestle and he'll be back. I don't see him graduating without making the top 8.
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165: [4] Julian Ramirez v. [9] Shane Griffith (Stanford). I don't even know how to describe this match. Both guys went at each other hammer and tongs for seven minutes but until the very end, the only thing they weren't able to do was take each other down. Ramirez scored a reversal to start the second period but Griffith quickly escaped. Griffith then quickly escaped in the third as well, to tie the score at 2. I don't think I've ever seen a 2-2 match that had this much action. Both guys were taking good shots, but both guys were countering, scrambling, escaping danger to keep the score from changing. With 12 seconds left, Ramirez and Griffith both grabbed an ankle at the exact same time, but the way they fell to the mat allowed Griffith to elevate Ramirez's leg straight in the air, putting Ramirez flat on his back without any leverage to move. Holding him in the danger position got Griffith 2NF and a takedown as the clock ran out and leaving Ramirez just shy of the top 8. L 2-6.

After a disappointing first round loss, the run Ramirez made through the consolation bracket was fantastic, even if it ended in disappointment. It's his second straight year losing in the blood round on a last second takedown, which really sucks, but he's got two more years to get over this hurdle and I'm sure he will.
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197: [10] Jacob Cardenas v [12] Zac Braunagel (Illinois) Cardenas' best offensive move is a blast double, when he fires at both of his opponents' legs and drives through them. He opened the scoring by getting inside on his double, switching to a single leg, elevating it, then tripping Braunagel for the takedown. I sometimes worry it's his only move and he's going to have to diversify. Braunagel escaped, then escaped again after choosing to start the second period on bottom to tie the match. With a little over 30 seconds left in the second period, Cardenas hit a clean single leg on Braunagel, switched to a chest lock from behind, lifted him and slammed him to the mat for another takedown. It was beautiful. He rode out the period and finished with 1:07 in RT. Cardenas started the third on bottom, figuring (I assume) that either he gets up quickly and the RT is a bonus point, or Braunagel rides him for a while and as long as he doesn't get turned over, his 4-2 lead will hold up. It took him 11 seconds to escape, which made the decision basically a wash. Braunagel got a takedown with around 10 seconds left, but it only cut the lead to 5-4, so he had to let Cardenas up. Cardenas stood up carefully then ran away for the last few seconds for the victory. W 6-4. It's Cardenas's first All American honor. He is Cornell's 4th All American this year.

Placement match:
The winners of the blood round have one more Session IV match before they can rest: winners advance towards third place, losers head to the 7th place match.  Cardenas's opponent was [14] Jacob Warner (Iowa), who became a 4x All American after his blood round victory. Warner doesn't wrestle pretty, but he wins a lot. About 30 seconds into the first period, Warner did a slick little swim move to turn Cardenas around; Cardenas tried to get some distance but Warner snatched an ankle to trip him for a takedown. Warner is brutal on top and he held Cardenas down for a little over a minute before he could escape. Cardenas chose bottom for the second and that was probably a mistake. Warner held him down for another crushing minute before Cardenas could stand up. Warner escaped quickly in the third. With riding time, Warner effectively had a 4-2 lead, which means you can stall a LOT and he did. He only got called for it once, though, with about 11 seconds left which isn't even a point. Cardenas nearly tripped Warner to his back with just a few seconds left but Warner was able to wriggle out of trouble.

Cardenas will wrestle for 7th place against a familiar face: former Big Red wrestler and defending NCAA champion Max Dean, who is now a 4x All American like his big brother Gabe. They wrestled once last year, with Dean winning 4-2. Any chance to stand on the podium is great but it's always better to be on an odd number because it means you won your last match.

Cornell is in third in the team race, with the top four getting a team trophy. Four? Why? No idea. But it's four.

Code Select Expand

               Rem. Score      
 1 Penn State 8 116.5  5 F, 2 3-6, 1 7/8
 2 Iowa         6 77.0  1 F, 5 3-6
 3 Cornell 4 64.0  2 F, 1 3-6, 1 7/8
 4 Ohio State 5 62.0  1 F, 2 3-6, 2 7/8
 5 Missouri 5 55.0  1 F, 2 3-6, 2 7/8
 6 Michigan 3 51.0  1 F, 1 3-6, 1 7/8
   Nebraska 4 51.0  1 F, 3 3-6
 8 Iowa State 2 44.0  1 F, 1 3-6
 9 NC State 2 41.5  0 F, 2 3-6
10 Virginia Tech 5 41.5  0 F, 2 3-6, 3 7/8

Penn State has clinched first. Second is in reach, but a long reach. One of Ohio State's wrestlers is likely to advance to the third place match on a medical forfeit, which sucks because it counts the same as a pin. On the other hand, their finalist is facing Yianni, so it's up to us to take care of business and put more space between us and them.

Other schools with finalists: Purdue, Princeton, Northern Colorado, North Carolina, Northern Iowa, Pitt and South Dakota State. College wrestling is awesome.

[ugarte]

First match of the day is Chris Foca v Nelson Brands (Iowa) in the 3/5 placement match at 174.

Early in the first it looks like Foca is going for a throw but Brands slips his head out and ends up on top for tbe f9rst TD. Brands rides for over two minutes but with time running out on the period, Foca gets a reversal and nearly gets back points. Tied at 2, but Brands has significant riding time.

Brands chooses bottom for the second period and Foca gets to work. He breaks Brands down flat then torques him over for four back points. He almost gets another exposure but the period ends.Foca up 6-2 and riding time back under a minute.

Foca starts the third underneath but Brands has to cut him to try and catch up. No more scoring and Foca advances 7-2, He'll face VT's Mekhi Lewis for 3rd. The win also moves Cornell into a tie with Ohio State in the team standings, at least temporarily.

[ugarte]

197: Jacob Cardenas v Max Dean for 7th

Cardenas gets the first takedown of the match, tries for a turn but can't get it. Dean escapes. Dean gets a TD to go up 3-2 can't get a turn but rides out the period.

Dean chooses bottom, out quickly. 4-2. No more scoring. Not enough action from Cardenas but Dean's defense is rock solid.

Cardenas takes neutral... more of the same. Dean not trying to score but also not blatantly running. Strong positional defense. Dean wins 4-2.

Ohio State won one of their 7th place matches by major decision, so they are ahead of us by 2 for 3rd place again.

[ugarte]

Foca v Lewis for third. Very little scoring, Over the first 9 minutes of action, including OT, the only points scored were the escapes. Lewis came close to scoring but Foca did incredible scrambling work to stalemate the positions.

After a scoreless OT period, they went to rideouts. Foca wins the coin toss and defers his decision. Lewis chooses bottom and escapes in 18 seconds. To win, Foca would have to escape faster than that. On the first restart he stood up but Lewis dragged him out of bounds. RT down to 6 seconds. Foca up and ... OUT with two seconds to spare. Lewis needs to score but Foca sprawls to block the attempt and time runs out. W 3-2. CHRIS FOCA, THIRD PLACE.

Meanwhile, Ohio State's Romero pulled off an upset to win the third place match at 197. Ohio is still up by 2 points for third with only the championship matches to go.

We have two finalists, Ohio State has one: Sasso v Yianni head to head. We've clinched fourth and a win from Yianni locks up third. Unless Vito wins by fall, his match won't affect the team race.

[ugarte]

Finals start at 7 but if you're only interested in Cornell, relax. Matches start at 157 so they can end on Yianni going for number 4.

[ugarte]

Vito time

[jkahn]

Vito dominates Bravo-Young 10-4

[ugarte]

YESSSSSSSSSS VITOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

what an incredible year

[abmarks]

Yanniiiiiiiii!

[ugarte]

incredible match, incredible career from yianni.