Wrestling 2022-23

[ugarte]

It's about that time!

Incoming freshman Vince Cornella won the U20 Pan Am tournament at 65kg.  He'll also be representing the US at the World U20
Championships in August in Bulgaria.

He's looking to be the starter at 141 this coming year.

125:  Greg D/Ungar/Lajoie
133:  Arujau
141:  Cornella/Saunders
149:  Yianni
157:  Yapoujian
165:  Ramirez/Gibson (the best backup around, unless he can drop to 157 and challenge Colton)
174:  Foca
184:  Loew
197:  Cardenas
285:  Fernandes

Greg D. is out for the season getting shoulder surgery. I think Cornella is the likely starter at 141 but it's going to be close - both are very good, with international freestyle experience.

There is a wrestling gossiphound claiming that Gibson might be leaving Cornell but until it's official idk. The rumored landing spot is Penn State, though, and since his younger brother is the more significant recruit, they may be waving NIL possibilities in front of the brothers that we can't.

[upprdeck]

since NIL is not a school thing not sure they can waive much..  But there is nothing stopping an NIL for Cornell kid is there?  do they have some additional rules stopping NIL in the Ivies?

[ugarte]

since NIL is not a school thing not sure they can waive much.. .

lol

But there is nothing stopping an NIL for Cornell kid is there?  do they have some additional rules stopping NIL in the Ivies?

there is definitely NIL in the Ivies; Yianni is definitely getting NIL money.

[ugarte]

i guess now it seems more clear that cornell has lost the gibson brothers.

As Mineo points out in the attached article, they are PA kids, they trained with David Taylor's gym and Dake has left Ithaca for State College as well, so... damn.

[George64]

there is definitely NIL in the Ivies; Yianni is definitely getting NIL money.

As is Jameson Wang, according to Brown announcers.

[ugarte]

Jacob Cardenas goes 3-0 at 92kg and will wrestle in the U23 finals tomorrow. Congrats to him on medaling in his first world team event.

[abmarks]

there is definitely NIL in the Ivies; Yianni is definitely getting NIL money.

As is Jameson Wang, according to Brown announcers.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.ithaca.com/sports/sports_features/cornell-qb-signs-nil-deal-with-degree-joins-breakinglimits-team/article_408f8f98-19af-11ed-b353-af4792a6f089.amp.html

[Swampy]

there is definitely NIL in the Ivies; Yianni is definitely getting NIL money.

As is Jameson Wang, according to Brown announcers.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.ithaca.com/sports/sports_features/cornell-qb-signs-nil-deal-with-degree-joins-breakinglimits-team/article_408f8f98-19af-11ed-b353-af4792a6f089.amp.html

Great article. Thanks.

It's one that shows how NIL can have a silver lining -- it's not just about money-grubbing.

Cornell should be proud of what Wang is accomplishing: "Any Person, Any Study, Any Sport."

[Weder]

there is definitely NIL in the Ivies; Yianni is definitely getting NIL money.

As is Jameson Wang, according to Brown announcers.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.ithaca.com/sports/sports_features/cornell-qb-signs-nil-deal-with-degree-joins-breakinglimits-team/article_408f8f98-19af-11ed-b353-af4792a6f089.amp.html

Great article. Thanks.

It's one that shows how NIL can have a silver lining -- it's not just about money-grubbing.

Cornell should be proud of what Wang is accomplishing: "Any Person, Any Study, Any Sport."

There isn't really a comprehensive site to track NIL deals (well, at least not a free one), but based on what I've found in the past there are a few dozen Cornell athletes getting a small amount (possibly in merchandise and not cash). There's basically no NIL money going to hockey, lacrosse and wrestling athletes, which cuts out a lot of the most prominent Cornell athletes. Like, if Rory Guilday was on Team USA for volleyball instead of hockey, she'd probably have a pretty good NIL deal. (She also wouldn't be at Cornell.)

[ugarte]

It's about that time!

Incoming freshman Vince Cornella won the U20 Pan Am tournament at 65kg.  He'll also be representing the US at the World U20
Championships in August in Bulgaria.

He's looking to be the starter at 141 this coming year.

125:  Greg D/Ungar/Lajoie
133:  Arujau
141:  Cornella/Saunders
149:  Yianni
157:  Yapoujian
165:  Ramirez/Gibson (the best backup around, unless he can drop to 157 and challenge Colton)
174:  Foca
184:  Loew
197:  Cardenas
285:  Fernandes

Couple of early changes as Greg D. is out for he season to get shoulder surgery (surely a bummer that he isn't wrestling in his brother's final season but I expect Yianni to stick around and coach/train at the RTC) and Gibson hasn't officially changed his commitment but the rumor is that he and his younger brother are decommitting and heading to Penn State.

Still, we've got potential national qualifiers at every weight, potential AAs at (very generously) everything but 125 and realistically at 7 and will probably get 4-5. Plus Yianni (likely) and Arujau (possible) as potential national champs. It's going to be a fun year.

[mountainred]

The Wrestling team opened the season, as is customary, with an open tournament in Binghamton.  The guys who wrestled the most this summer (Vito, Yianni and World U23 silver medalist Jacob Cardenas) skipped the event.  All in all it was a good day.  Cornell wrestlers won titles at 133 (Ethan Fernandez, who is Vito's back up), 141 with freshman Vince Cornella, 174 with Chris Foca and 184 with Jon Lowe.  Also, Julian Ramirez cruised to the 165 finals, where he got caught and pinned by a returning AA.  Also Also, highly-regarded recruit Meyer Shapiro won at 149.

The less good was that neither 125 had a great day, and heavy Fernandes defaulted out after an easy first round win.  Here's to hoping it just precautionary.

[ugarte]

The Wrestling team opened the season, as is customary, with an open tournament in Binghamton.  The guys who wrestled the most this summer (Vito, Yianni and World U23 silver medalist Jacob Cardenas) skipped the event.  All in all it was a good day.  Cornell wrestlers won titles at 133 (Ethan Fernandez, who is Vito's back up), 141 with freshman Vince Cornella, 174 with Chris Foca and 184 with Jon Lowe.  Also, Julian Ramirez cruised to the 165 finals, where he got caught and pinned by a returning AA.  Also Also, highly-regarded recruit Meyer Shapiro won at 149.

The less good was that neither 125 had a great day, and heavy Fernandes defaulted out after an easy first round win.  Here's to hoping it just precautionary.

Neither 125 had a great day, but Ungar's was better than LaJoie's so he gets the start in the upcoming dual with Wisconsin.

Cardenas is back at 197 and apparently Fernandes wasn't planning on more than one match and will also be wrestling at Wisconsin.

Glad to see that 133 is in decent hands with Fernandez until Arujau comes back. Yianni's backups at 149 are ... not great, especially with Saunders taking either a semester or a year off of school and wrestling with the RTC.

Still don't know who gets the start at 157. Expected starter Colton Yapoujian was injured last year and I'm not sure if he's healed up. Gage McClenahan made it to the semis at Binghamton so I figure he earned at least one start over Handlovic if Yapoujian isn't wrestling.

[Al DeFlorio]

Yianni beaten by #3 Austin Gomez of Wisconsin, 9-3, I think.

[ugarte]

Yianni beaten by #3 Austin Gomez of Wisconsin, 9-3, I think.

And lost the dual meet overall 19-13. Nightmare of a day. Team, except for Vito, was pretty lifeless. A real depressing watch after getting home from the football game.

125: Brett Ungar v. #9 Barnett. Ungar hung tough and got a great 4 point turn at the beginning of the second period. Unfortunately, he couldn't get out from bottom and gave up a couple of takedowns and the riding time point made the difference in a 6-5 loss. [W 3-0]

133: #3 Vito Arujau v. #18 LaMont. No competition and Vito rolled to a 17-6 MD. [C 4-3]

141: #21 Vince Cornella, coming off a tournament win in Binghamton, faced #18 Zargo. He got the only takedown of the match and picked up a riding time point for a 4-1 win. [C 7-3]

149: #1 Yianni Diakomihalis v #3 Gomez in the featured match of the night. Yianni seemed off. Wasn't able to finish his shots and Gomez was very creative in getting to his ankles and effective in finishing despite Yianni's flexibility. Shocking 9-3 win for Gomez. First loss for Yianni in over 2 years and his first home loss ever. [C 7-6]

157: Cole Handlovic v. #16 Model. Handlovic never really came close to scoring but he defended faily well. Model with a 6-2 win. [W 9-7]

165: #8 Julian Ramirez v. #5 Hamiti. Hamiti beat Ramirez twice last year, once by fall and once in a 15-11 barn burner. This year, Ramirez was completely stymied by Hamiti's length. 15-4 Hamiti. [W 13-7]

174: #9 Chris Foca v. Rowley. Rowley was never a threat to score and Foca didn't really try to put points on the board. Foca with a dull 6-3 win over someone he should be looking for bonus against imo. [W 13-10]

184: #7 Jonathan Loew v. Dow. Dow tried for a couple of big moves and Loew took him down both times. On the cusp of a major decision with over a minute left, Loew got oddly passive and settled for a 10-3 win at a time when the team really could have used a bonus point. [13-13]

197: #20 Jacob Cardenas v. #21 Braxton Amos. My big problem with Cardenas last year is that against underwhelming competition he opens up and dominates. Against good competition he turtles and the result is a low scoring coin flip. And so it goes. Amos got a quick escape in the second period and rode Cardenas for the entire third period. Amos 2-0. [W 16-13]

285: #9 Lewis Fernandes v. #12 Trent Hillger. Last year Fernandes won this matchup 12-6. Today, Fernandes looked a step slow and Hillger was all over it. In a must-win match, we fell short. Hillger 5-2. [FINAL: WISCONSIN 19-13]

[Ken711]

Mason Gibson flips his commitment from Cornell to Penn State as well.

https://twitter.com/hwtnation/status/1594058661311102977?s=20&t=oW8Scl6BpfXzp7avDlGL7Q