Wrestling 2022-23

[ugarte]

Cornella went down early but rallied to take 5th with a 14-4 tech fall.

Some terrible scoring decisions went against Shapiro, including a pin that wasn't called, but it didn't matter. He won 7-2.

I thought this was the competition to choose the national team, but it turns out the U20 is also a preliminary event. By winning, Shapiro gets a pass into the best of three finals that will be decided at the World Team Trials in Geneva, OH, June 2-4, along with the U23 event. Everyone else will get another chance to challenge for the top spot. I expect Cornella to register but I don't know about anyone else. Canoyer and Fernandez certainly acquitted themselves well enough to take another shot but I think Cornella can actually win it.

[ugarte]

At the Pan Am Wrestling Championships - which I have learned is different from the Pan Am World Wrestling Championships Qualifier and the Pan Am Games - Arujau, Yianni and Dake all took gold. In fact, the USA took gold in 9 weights and a bronze in the 10th.

[ugarte]

Yianni named Cornell Male Senior Athlete of the Year by the Sun.

[Chris H82]

Yianni gets a brief writeup and photo in the June issue of Sports Illustrated, in recognition of being only the 5th four-time national champion wrestler in D1.

[ugarte]

Yianni gets a brief writeup and photo in the June issue of Sports Illustrated, in recognition of being only the 5th four-time national champion wrestler in D1.

https://twitter.com/Sutfin63/status/1660724654309253140

[ugarte]

At the WTT over the weekend, Nahshon Garrett followed up his strong third place showing at the US Open and the 61kg tournament, earning a spot at Final X on June 10th in Newark. He'll face vito Arujau, guaranteeing Cornell will represent the weight for the US.

They will be joined by Yianni (65kg) and Kyle Dake (74kg). And me, weight undisclosed, not fighting.

[ugarte]

This weekend is the final qualification tournament for Team USA's U20 and U23 teams and of course we're sending a lot of people.

U20 Freestyle: June 3
65kg Vince Cornella - Vince will wrestle in the challenge tournament hoping to wrestle in the best 3 final
70kg Meyer Shapiro - Meyer is sitting in the final best 2 of 3 series based off his US Open Championship in April

U23 Greco: June 2
60kg Phillip Moomey - He won this last year and has been an age group representative at Worlds multiple times.

U23 Freestyle: June 3-4
57kg Joe Sciarrone
57kg Brett Ungar

65kg Josh Saunders - A former world age group gold medalist, he hasn't adapted his success to freestyle at Cornell.
65kg Carter Tate
65kg Nate Wade
65kg Myles Griffin

70kg Cole Handlovic

74kg Julian Ramirez - Based on current entries, I can see him winning.

79kg Colt Barley
79kg Evan Canoyer
79kg Brody Oleksak

92kg Jacob Cardenas - He won this last year and took silver at 2022 Worlds.

[ugarte]

U23 Greco: June 2
60kg Phillip Moomey - He won this last year and has been an age group representative at Worlds multiple times.

Moomey is in the finals, winning his first three matches by tech fall, 8-0 (0:37), 8-0 (1:36), 9-1 (4:56).

[ugarte]

U23 Greco: June 2
60kg Phillip Moomey - He won this last year and has been an age group representative at Worlds multiple times.

Moomey is in the finals, winning his first three matches by tech fall, 8-0 (0:37), 8-0 (1:36), 9-1 (4:56).

Wins the best of 3 final. 7-2; 3-1. LGR. Good start to the tournament.

[ugarte]

U20 Freestyle: June 3
65kg Vince Cornella - Vince will wrestle in the challenge tournament hoping to wrestle in the best 3 final
70kg Meyer Shapiro - Meyer is sitting in the final best 2 of 3 series based off his US Open Championship in April

Cornella won his first two matches, 11-0 and 10-1 to make it to the semis. In the semis he lost 10-1. Dropping to the consolation bracket he won his first match 10-0 and will wrestle for third.

Shapiro had a bye to the best of three final and he'll face the same wrestler he beat at the US Open.

[ugarte]

U20 Freestyle: June 3
65kg Vince Cornella - Vince will wrestle in the challenge tournament hoping to wrestle in the best 3 final
70kg Meyer Shapiro - Meyer is sitting in the final best 2 of 3 series based off his US Open Championship in April

Cornella won his first two matches, 11-0 and 10-1 to make it to the semis. In the semis he lost 10-1. Dropping to the consolation bracket he won his first match 10-0 and will wrestle for third.

Shapiro had a bye to the best of three final and he'll face the same wrestler he beat at the US Open.

Shapiro blew out his opponent in the final, winning consecutive matches 8-0, 11-0. Shapiro will be on Team USA at U20 Worlds.

U23 Freestyle: June 3-4...

57kg Joe Sciarrone - 2-2, DNP
57kg Brett Ungar - 5-2. Lost in the QF but won a few on the back side to finish 7th.

61kg Foster Cardinale - 1-2, DNP
61kg Myles Griffin - 3-2, DNP

65kg Josh Saunders - 6-2. Lost in the QF but won on the back side to finish 5th.
65kg Carter Tate - 0-2, DNP
65kg Nate Wade - 0-2, DNP

70kg Benny Baker - 3-2, DNP
70kg Cole Handlovic  - 8-2. lost in R16 but fought back through the consolation bracket to finish 7th.

74kg Julian Ramirez - See below

79kg Colt Barley - 4-2, DNP
79kg Evan Canoyer - 3-2, DNP
79kg Brody Oleksak - 2-2, DNP

86kg Aiden Hanning - 1-2, DNP

92kg Jacob Cardenas - see below

------

74kg: Julian Ramirez entered the tournament as the 4 seed. He won his first three matches by 10-0 TF in under a minute to reach the QF. He won the QF over Penn's Revano, 7-3. In the semis, he faced WV's Peyton Hall, who pinned him early last season. Hall jumped out to a 9-0 lead, mostly off of counters rather than his own offense. The second period was an entirely different match. Ramirez started the comeback with a 5-point suplex. He kept the pressure on and got a pair of exposures to even the match at 9, though the suplex gave him the lead by criteria. Hall challenged the exposure call but lost, making the score 10-9, which is how it ended.

In the best-of-three final, Ramirez faced Matt Lee, a Penn State backup. In the first match, Ramirez fell behind early and he was getting outmuscled on the shots he took to mount a comeback. He lost by TF, 12-2.

In the second match, Ramirez got a quick point on a step-out. He took a good shot and it looked like he was going to score again, but Lee rolled him through for an exposure to take a 2-1 lead. It was short lived, though, because Ramirez stopped the momentum and held Lee with his back exposed to retake the lead, 3-2. That's how the score stayed until the closing seconds of the match. Lee tried for a throw at the end but Ramirez was able to brace himself and Lee landed flat on his back, making the final score 5-2 and evening up the series.

In the rubber match, things got going early with Lee in on a shot and Ramirez countering. The refs scored it 4 for Lee (since Ramirez landed on his back and 2 for Ramirez on the counter exposure but tbh I thought the call was weak since the momentum came from Ramirez and exposing yourself when you are providing the force isn't supposed to count against you. His coaches agreed, they challenged... they lost. Penalty point for a lost challenge, 5-2 Lee. Ramirez then got a clean takedown and his hold trapped Lee's arm against his body, making it easy to turn him over for another 2. He lost the arm but was able to gut wrench again to make the score 8-5 in his favor. It stayed that way until the closing seconds when Ramirez was hit with a caution for backing away, making the score 8-6. Just as it was in the second match, Lee tried for a big move at the end but Ramirez fought it off and ended up on top for a final score of 10-6 to take the series 2-1. Julian Ramirez may be the Team USA U23 representative. Because of team selection rules, Missouri's Keegan O'Toole - a U23-eligible wrestler - could potentially finish in the top 3 in the Senior rankings at 74kg. If that happens, O'Toole has the option to take Ramirez's spot at U23 Worlds. Though this may seem moderately unfair, Ramirez didn't place at Senior Nationals while O'Toole finished 3rd. As a prelude to Final X next week, O'Toole will wrestle Vincenzo Joseph, who finished in second at Nats, in a "true-third" match for the ranking ladder (behind the Final X participants) since they didn't face each other in the Nats semifinal. If Joseph wins, Ramirez holds the U23 spot.

92kg: Jacob Cardenas, 2 seed but returning World U23 silver medalist, won four straight matches by 10-0 TF to reach the finals against Oklahoma State's Luke Surber. Much like Ramirez' first match, Cardenas was the aggressor but got punished for it. Surber kept blocking and countering his attacks and took the first match by TF 10-0 in a little over 2 minutes.

In the second match, Cardenas got out much faster, taking a 6-0 lead on a 4 point takedown and an additional exposure. A minute later, Surber countered with a counter exposure from a Cardenas shot, then scrambled behind, locked up a leg lace and turned Cardenas five times before going out of bounds, to take a 12-6 lead into the break. Off the whistle in the second period, Cardenas fired a blast double at Surber's thighs and took him straight back; Surber used Cardenas' momentum to flip him over. The officials awarded 4 points to Surber, but Cardenas challenged the ruling, believing it was his offensive move. After review, the officials agreed. From a series-ending 16-6 loss, Cardenas now only trailed 12-10. Again Cardenas shot, and AGAIN Surber countered for an exposure, but this time Cardenas was able to get an exposure of his own in the scramble, get control and get a second exposure to even the score at 14. With his two 4-point moves, Cardenas led on criteria with two minutes to go. In those last two minutes, Cardenas got a point on a step-out, a clean takedown and a jiu jitsu step-out point while being penalized once for an illegal grip for an 18-15 win to even up the series.

In the rubber match, Cardenas again took a shot and again Surber tried to counter but this time Cardenas finished clean, got a leg lace of his own and quickly turned Surber four times for a blink-and-you-miss-it 10-0 tech fall and a series win. Jacob Cardenas is the Team USA U23 representative for Worlds. Cardenas can give some pointers to Ramirez on how to sweat out waiting for true-third results. Last year, Cardenas was in the same position - he needed Isaac Trumble to lose his true-third match to hold on to his spot... and he did, with literally one second left in the match.

[scoop85]

Ugarte, thanks for your usual terrific recap of the matches. While enjoy wrestling and following our guys I'm certainly no expert, and I'm curious to know if you think either the freestyle or folk style versions of the sport presents a "truer" test of wrestling ability, and which version (if either) you prefer.

[ugarte]

Ugarte, thanks for your usual terrific recap of the matches. While enjoy wrestling and following our guys I'm certainly no expert, and I'm curious to know if you think either the freestyle or folk style versions of the sport presents a "truer" test of wrestling ability, and which version (if either) you prefer.

weasel answer: i like aspects of both. if i had to choose, i think freestyle is a more coherent competition. the riding-time permission/culture of folk chews up time on boring stuff. the rules of freestyle

1) force you to engage; backing away is penalized more quickly and thoroughly to the point that you don't really see it at the top level
2) put the wrestlers back at neutral quickly instead of the riding time and pseudo-scoring attempts that folk encourages. score exposure points fast or you restart.
3) step-out point further penalizes backing up because edge wrestling is so dangerous
4) an escape worth half a TD is too much and the freestyle scoring on escaping is a hearty "attaboy"

i don't love criteria as a tiebreaker, tbh, but i also don't hate it. and i definitely like folk a lot, i just think the international competition is more geared to forcing wrestling action than a demonstration of strength/dominance.

[scoop85]

Ugarte, thanks for your usual terrific recap of the matches. While enjoy wrestling and following our guys I'm certainly no expert, and I'm curious to know if you think either the freestyle or folk style versions of the sport presents a "truer" test of wrestling ability, and which version (if either) you prefer.

weasel answer: i like aspects of both. if i had to choose, i think freestyle is a more coherent competition. the riding-time permission/culture of folk chews up time on boring stuff. the rules of freestyle

1) force you to engage; backing away is penalized more quickly and thoroughly to the point that you don't really see it at the top level
2) put the wrestlers back at neutral quickly instead of the riding time and pseudo-scoring attempts that folk encourages. score exposure points fast or you restart.
3) step-out point further penalizes backing up because edge wrestling is so dangerous
4) an escape worth half a TD is too much and the freestyle scoring on escaping is a hearty "attaboy"

i don't love criteria as a tiebreaker, tbh, but i also don't hate it. and i definitely like folk a lot, i just think the international competition is more geared to forcing wrestling action than a demonstration of strength/dominance.

That's helpful. I agree that in folkstyle the takedown-escape scoring seems disproportionate. And it does seem there's more constant action in freestyle.

[upprdeck]

The new wrestling rule changes are interesting to see..  going to 3 for a takedown rewards guys attacking