Wrestling 2023-24

[ugarte]

Gossipy but fun: The author was accused of plagiarism while writing for the New Republican in the 1990s. But, The Atlantic said in a editors' note after the 2020 sports article, "We decided to assign Barrett this freelance story in part because more than two decades separated her from her journalistic malpractice at The New Republic and because in recent years her work has appeared in reputable magazines."

PDF the 2020 article which The Atlantic to its credit kept alive: chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://cdn.theatlantic.com/assets/media/files/20201101_nichesports.pdf

This story was plagued by the same hyperbolic bullshit that ruined her career the first time around.

[billhoward]

What did you think about the article overall? Despite the factual issues (no parent in Gold Coast Connecticut built an Olympic-size hockey rink in the back yard) and her apparent personal involvement with some of the story's subjects ... did you feel it gave a general sense of how some affluent parents, the ones Trotsky would have strung up, went way overboard defining their kids lives by their athletics as a springboard to a good college?

I subscribe to the undecided-jurors legal theory that where there's smoke, there's fire.

[ugarte]

What did you think about the article overall? Despite the factual issues (no parent in Gold Coast Connecticut built an Olympic-size hockey rink in the back yard) and her apparent personal involvement with some of the story's subjects ... did you feel it gave a general sense of how some affluent parents, the ones Trotsky would have strung up, went way overboard defining their kids lives by their athletics as a springboard to a good college?

I subscribe to the undecided-jurors legal theory that where there's smoke, there's fire.

I thought it was too good to be true, written to appeal to the preexisting prejudices of the readership, which is basically the Ruth Shalit/Stephen Glass stock in trade. Yes, I think there is pressure to get your kid a lot of extracurriculars. Yes, I think a lot of elite college admissions are a gamified scam. This has been true for decades. There was a decent teen romcom about it in 1989. It was truthy in a way you didn't need a Ruth Shalit article to already know.

[ugarte]

Coming up 9/16-24 are the Senior World Championships with two three Cornell representatives. I've talked about Vito Arujau '24 (61kg, unseeded) and Kyle Dake '13  (74kg, 2 seed) but to my surprise, another Big Red alum is going to be in Belgrade.

Ben Honis '19 will be wrestling for Italy at 97kg and I guess he's been competing in all the ranking events because he's seeded #5. Team Italy has another Cornell connection, as Brian Realbuto's little brother, Colin, will also be wrestling for Italy. Colin started at Brown and will be a senior at Northern Iowa this year. He isn't as talented as Brian was, but his knee did not get wrecked his junior year. As far as I can tell, Brian left his shoes on the mat after graduation.

On day 1, Vito rolled into the finals with three tech falls among his four wins. In the final he has Russian Abasgadzhi Magomedov, the 2021 World Champ. Great start for the USA. Three of our four wrestlers are in the finals and the fourth will wrestle for bronze.

[ugarte]

Coming up 9/16-24 are the Senior World Championships with two three Cornell representatives. I've talked about Vito Arujau '24 (61kg, unseeded) and Kyle Dake '13  (74kg, 2 seed) but to my surprise, another Big Red alum is going to be in Belgrade.

Ben Honis '19 will be wrestling for Italy at 97kg and I guess he's been competing in all the ranking events because he's seeded #5. Team Italy has another Cornell connection, as Brian Realbuto's little brother, Colin, will also be wrestling for Italy. Colin started at Brown and will be a senior at Northern Iowa this year. He isn't as talented as Brian was, but his knee did not get wrecked his junior year. As far as I can tell, Brian left his shoes on the mat after graduation.

On day 1, Vito rolled into the finals with three tech falls among his four wins. In the final he has Russian Abasgadzhi Magomedov, the 2021 World Champ. Great start for the USA. Three of our four wrestlers are in the finals and the fourth will wrestle for bronze.

Day 2, Kyle Dake is also into the finals, but clearly not the dominant wrestler he once was. No tech falls after the opening round (12-2, 9-4, 6-4,* 4-1). His opponent in the final is Sidakov, a Russian allowed to compete as an "independent," who won the world/olympic titles from 2018-20 before Russia was suspended from international competition.

Not as good a day for the US overall. Our 57kg (Zane Richards) and 86kg (Chance Marsteller), both first-time wrestlers who beat Team USA stalwarts/medalists, lost early and did not get pulled into repechage and can't medal. Zahid Valencia (82kg), another first time team member, also lost in the QF but will wrestle in tomorrow's repechage for bronze. In US-adjacent, news, Stevan Micic - an American wrestling internationally for Serbia after Michigan - is a finalist at 57kg, which has the live crowd in Belgrade fired up.

The medal round for yesterday's weight classes (including Vito) starts at noon on Flo.

* He was trailing the QF against Japan until getting a push out to take a 5-4 lead; the final point was a lost challenge about whether Japan scored before the final whistle but it was a YOLO challenge - Dake let up after the whistle and everyone knew it.

[ugarte]

Congratulations to World Champion Vito Arujau! A 10-9 victory over Magomedov that was only that close due to some dubious scoring calls (and an unwise challenge from Vito).

[scoop85]

Congratulations to World Champion Vito Arujau! A 10-9 victory over Magomedov that was only that close due to some dubious scoring calls (and an unwise challenge from Vito).

Remarkable achievement

[Al DeFlorio]

Arujau's final match: https://youtu.be/XUnZn-KGwo4?si=z_euiZdhcHBVCbh1

[ugarte]

Congratulations to World Champion Vito Arujau! A 10-9 victory over Magomedov that was only that close due to some dubious scoring calls (and an unwise challenge from Vito).

Remarkable achievement

And especially cool because his father was a 2x World Champion (once for USSR, once for Russia), a world silver medalist (for Belarus) and an Olympic bronze medalist (for the Unified Team) at 48kg. Still a tough resume to catch but two generations of world champs is pretty amazing.

[ugarte]

Tough finish for Dake. Going against Zaurbek Sidakov, the World/Olympic champ from 2018-20, he lost 10-7 in a wild, fun match. Dake took Bronze at the 2020 Olympics and had won the last two world titles. Somehow this was their first meeting.

[ugarte]

Two Cornell wrestlers competing in the U23 world championships in Albania, starting on 10/23: Jacob Cardenas '24, our 197 going at 92kg in freestyle and Phillip Moomey '24, a backup at 133 and Greco specialist, wrestling (duh) in Greco at 60kg. Both have been World team members in the past, with Cardenas taking silver in this event last year and Moomey taking bronze at 2021 Junior PanAms.

[ugarte]

Two Cornell wrestlers competing in the U23 world championships in Albania, starting on 10/23: Jacob Cardenas '24, our 197 going at 92kg in freestyle and Phillip Moomey '24, a backup at 133 and Greco specialist, wrestling (duh) in Greco at 60kg. Both have been World team members in the past, with Cardenas taking silver in this event last year and Moomey taking bronze at 2021 Junior PanAms.

Cardenas goes 1-1 in the morning session, with a win over Russia (wrestling flagless) and a loss to Turkey. He needs the Turkish wrestler to win his semifinal later today to be pulled into repechage and compete for bronze. He'd have to win a pair of matches tomorrow against Japan and India for the medal.

[ugarte]

Cardenas goes 1-1 in the morning session, with a win over Russia (wrestling flagless) and a loss to Turkey. He needs the Turkish wrestler to win his semifinal later today to be pulled into repechage and compete for bronze. He'd have to win a pair of matches tomorrow against Japan and India for the medal.

Cardenas gets the win he needed from Gimli and will be in tomorrow's repechage for bronze at an hour too obscene in NYC to watch live but if he wins against Japan, the India match will be at a reasonable time (noon eastern).

[ugarte]

In recruiting news, five guys with commitments to attend Cornell in the future were in Greensboro, NC for the Super 32 tournament (which has over 128 guys at some weights now). Of those 5 we had 3 medalists: Ayden Smith (5th at 113), Jaxon Joy (3rd at 144) and Alessio Perentin (5th at 165). (I thought Joy, the top seed, was robbed in his QF. He had a one point lead late and was hit with a dubious penalty point.)

Meanwhile, this is what the 120 lb champ, Anthony Knox, put on before he got his hand raised.

[ugarte]

Cardenas goes 1-1 in the morning session, with a win over Russia (wrestling flagless) and a loss to Turkey. He needs the Turkish wrestler to win his semifinal later today to be pulled into repechage and compete for bronze. He'd have to win a pair of matches tomorrow against Japan and India for the medal.

Cardenas gets the win he needed from Gimli and will be in tomorrow's repechage for bronze at an hour too obscene in NYC to watch live but if he wins against Japan, the India match will be at a reasonable time (noon eastern).

Cardenas wins 6-0. On to the bronze medal match.