Wrestling 2023-24

[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.

Hard fought 4-3 win for Cardenas. He medals at U23 Worlds for the second year in a row, following up his silver in 2022 with a bronze this year. Once again, his only loss was to the gold medalist.

[ugarte]

11/6/23 Rankings

Code Select Expand


WIN Flo Intermat   WrestleStat (ELO)
125: Ungar 9 7 10          9
133: Arujau 1 1 1          1
141: Cornella 9 10 13         18
149: ??? ?? ?? ??         ??
157: Shapiro NR 21 NR        199
165: Ramirez 8 7 7          5
174: Foca 2 2 2          2
184: Loew 17 16 8         11
197: Cardenas 6 7 6          9
285: Fernandes NR 10 11         15
TEAM DUAL: xx xx 2          6
TEAM NCAA: 6 5 3          7


WIN fixed the Ungar issue but are now only giving a top 20 so Shapiro's 22 goes away.
Intermat inexplicably still doesn't have Shapiro even though it has 3 freshman in the rankings.
Flo : Only change is Shapiro moves up a spot after a guy in front of him started his season with a loss.

[scoop85]

11/6/23 Rankings

Code Select Expand


WIN Flo Intermat   WrestleStat (ELO)
125: Ungar 9 7 10          9
133: Arujau 1 1 1          1
141: Cornella 9 10 13         18
149: ??? ?? ?? ??         ??
157: Shapiro NR 21 NR        199
165: Ramirez 8 7 7          5
174: Foca 2 2 2          2
184: Loew 17 16 8         11
197: Cardenas 6 7 6          9
285: Fernandes NR 10 11         15
TEAM DUAL: xx xx 2          6
TEAM NCAA: 6 5 3          7


WIN fixed the Ungar issue but are now only giving a top 20 so Shapiro's 22 goes away.
Intermat inexplicably still doesn't have Shapiro even though it has 3 freshman in the rankings.
Flo : Only change is Shapiro moves up a spot after a guy in front of him started his season with a loss.

Antisemites, obviously

[ugarte]

11/6/23 Rankings...
Intermat inexplicably still doesn't have Shapiro even though it has 3 freshman in the rankings.
Flo : Only change is Shapiro moves up a spot after a guy in front of him started his season with a loss.

Antisemites, obviously

OBVIOUSLY

Preview coming this weekend. Also, a lot of wrestling with the team traveling to the Journeymen Classic, a tournament with pooled round robins that ... idk i'm not sure i understand the structure at all. A lot of people get a handful of matches. As klehner posted on the Cornell Big Red Bears wrestling forum,

This event has very limited seating: 600 total tickets. Fifty percent of the seating opportunities are in the bleachers, while the remaining 50% of the spectating opportunities is via standing room only mat side. This tournament is built for the teams and competition oriented, not spectator driven. The format is modified round robin bracketing - not a traditional championship bracket. Essentially 6 to 8 evenly matched competitors are positioned in a modified round robin bracket : 3 on one side and three on the other . Guaranteeing each competitor 3 to four matches . That said there will be some unbelievable wrestling and marque national level match ups peppered throughout the day. In the end this setting will be very similar to the Bill Farrell (NYAC) Freestyle tournament. 17 teams will participate on 8 mats ( the lower gym), 2 mats in the upper gym. We just want to make sure expectation are met and you understand the setting in advance.

Tea leaves from the team's social media indicate that Colton Yapoujian is the presumptive starter at 149. Very talented but has been plagued with injuries since arriving on campus. He's also now down at 149, after being at 157 since 2019.

[dag14]

Cornell blows away Sacred Heart 48-3 -- 45 minutes from start to finish including intros and national anthem.  No match at 125, no halftime, and barely any breaks between matches.

[George64]

Cornell blows away Sacred Heart 48-3 -- 45 minutes from start to finish including intros and national anthem.  No match at 125, no halftime, and barely any breaks between matches.

And Arujau didn't wrestle. If he did, it would have been 54-0.

[ugarte]

Cornell blows away Sacred Heart 48-3 -- 45 minutes from start to finish including intros and national anthem.  No match at 125, no halftime, and barely any breaks between matches.

Indeed. And since it ended before kickoff started and the football game will be relentlessly critiqued in its own thread, I may as well get that damn season preview up, interspersed with a match report.

125: Sacred Heart's 125 got injured last weekend so they forfeited the weight. Cornell 6-0

After coming a heartbeat from All-American last year, Brett Ungar starts the season ranked #7. With Yianni's younger brother Greg Diakomihalis, a 5-time New York State high school champion, coming off of injury, there was some speculation that there might be a competition at the weight. I'm not sure that was ever true, but even if there was it was resolved last weekend. Ungar beat Greg D. at the Journeymen Classic, and Diakomihalis lost to Penn's Miller by fall as well. Ungar is damn good and I want to see him on the podium this year.


133: Vito Arujau took the tournament off and in his stead Ethan Qureshi fought a back and forth match but gave up a late takedown and lost 8-6. Cornell 6-3

There is no doubt that Arujau, the defending 133lb national champion and reigning 61kg world champion, is the starter at this weight. Last week at the Journeymen, he suffered a shocking loss to Lehigh's highly-touted redshirt freshman Ryan Crookham. I wouldn't read too much into it; Arujau was able to get to Crookham's legs, but Crookham was surprisingly savvy at creating scramble positions that Vito clearly didn't anticipate. He's the odds-on favorite to repeat as champion despite this early loss. I'll note that the same thing happened to Yianni early in his final year and it didn't get in the way of his 4th title.

141: Vince Cornella made quick work of his opponent and won with a first period fall. Cornell 12-3

Cornella was an All-American candidate last year when he gave up a shocking pin when he got sloppy late in a match he was dominating. He gave up a takedown when trying for a major decision and then lost concentration when he thought his opponent was letting him up to try to score again; instead his opponent faked a release and then caught Cornella sleeping to wrench him over. I don't think that mistake happens again. Last week, Cornella took last year's #2 to overtime which is a better representation of his ability. He's easily top 12 and if he doesn't AA this year, he will next.

149: Ethan Fernandez got takedowns early, late and middle. He was never threatened; WMD 11-2. The rule change that increased the score of a takedon from 2 to 3 was the difference between a win and a major decision. Cornell 16-3

Ethan Fernandez wrestled very capably last season as Vito's fill-in at 133 but he's bumped to 149 and looks to have secured the starting position after Handlovic went 1-2 at Journeymen and Grey implied that he may be adjusting to the weight (he started at 157 last season). This is the only weight where the starter is genuinely in dispute and I'm interested to see it develop. I don't know that any of our 149s are going to threaten nationally but it would be nice to simply qualify the weight at NCAAs and send a full slate of 10. One wildcard here is Joshua Saunders, one of our best recruits, who has not had the college career people anticipated for a variety of reasons. If he fulfilled his potential he'd probably easily be the starter here.

157: Meyer Shapiro makes his home debut for the Big Red and came out with a bang. A quick takedown a slew of nearfall points, a pin that probably should have been called and a 15-0 Tech Fall early in the second period. Cornell 21-3

Meyer Shapiro is our biggest recruit since Yianni. A two-time Junior world champion, he left his high school in Maryland to come to Ithaca for his senior year to work with the Cornell-affiliated staff at the Spartan Combat Regional Training Center. While there, he wrestled a redshirt-style schedule and went 15-0. The ranking services have him in the low 20's but to be fair, a lot of people are projecting him into the finals at least. Looking forward to it.

165: Julian Ramirez had no problem with an overmatched opponent. Got a TD about a minute in and spent the next minute settling in to WBF. Cornell 27-3

Ramirez has come a single match short of All-American in his first two seasons. He also won the U23 Team USA qualifying tournament and has represented Team USA in some international competition. This is the year he breaks through and finishes on the podium. The elite at the weight are probably a bit better but I have no doubt that he's a top-8 wrestler and will win when it counts.

174: Benny Baker makes a start at 174 and runs through his opponent for a second period TF that also probably could have been a pin. Cornell 32-3

Baker may start for the Red in the future but for now, this weight is Chris Foca's. Foca finished in third place last year and is currently ranked #2 in the country after the graduation of one finalist. He's getting back on the podium.

184: Chris Foca bumped up to take on his opponent at 184. He got a quick takedown and turned his opponent multiple times before sticking his shoulders to the mat for the fall. Cornell 38-3

Foca will go back to 174 and the starter spot at 184 will return to 2022 All-American Jonathan Loew, but not yet. His 2022-23 season was ended with a serious shoulder injury. He is taking off the first semester to comply with Ivy eligibility rules and return to the lineup after the winter break. If he's back in form, he's a good candidate to return to the podium at NCAAs. If he is not, this weight is more like 149 without a real national threat. Look for Christian Hansen, Ethan Hatcher or Benny Baker to step up.

197: Jacob Cardenas, like Ramirez and Foca, made very quick work of his opponent and WTF. Cornell 43-3

Cardenas is the man at 197. He was an All-American in 2023 and has back-to-back medals at the World U23 championships at 92kg (2022 silver, 2023 bronze). He can wrestle with anyone but sometimes needs to diversify his offense against the top contenders. He's likely to get back on the podium imo.

285: Lewis Fernandes got an early takedown and continued his history of being a dominant top wrestler with mutliple near falls. He did give up a reversal but quickly recovered for a first period tech fall. FINAL: Cornell 48-3

Fernandes was a terrible stalemate call from finishing as Cornell's first heavyweight All-American in 2022 before losing in OT of the Round of 12. Last year, he was plagued by injuries and wasn't really himself. He was a top recruit and an All-American contender but hasn't quite had the results to be considered a favorite. He's a little small for the weight, which can be a problem against some of the top big men. He's incredibly strong on top, but also a risk taker trying to score extra points which can lead to reversals, and he is not as good on bottom. I am hoping for a return to form because at his best he's a fun heavyweight to watch with a rare skill set.

The team looks collectively fantastic, as you can see from the rankings. 6 of 10 are considered all-american contenders and that doesn't even include Shapiro, who is only being asked to earn the "real" ranking people have in their minds. The NCAA has shrunk the team podium from four to three (literally, allegedly, to save money on trophies) so getting another team trophy got a little harder but nobody would be surprised if they pulled it off even with the strength of Big 10 programs that enhance themselves by poaching "small" school All-Americans for transfer to fill the gaps in their lineups.

It's going to be fun.


11/14/23 Rankings

Code Select Expand


WIN Flo Intermat   WrestleStat (ELO)
125: Ungar 9 7 10         12
133: Arujau 1 2 2          1
141: Cornella 9 8 13         16
149: ??? ?? ?? ??         ??
157: Shapiro NR 21 22         28
165: Ramirez 8 7 7          5
174: Foca 2 2 2          2
184: Loew 17 15 7         13
197: Cardenas 6 7 6          8
285: Fernandes NR 16 21         21
TEAM DUAL: xx xx 2          6
TEAM NCAA: 6 2 4          4


[ugarte]

11/20/23 Rankings

Code Select Expand


WIN Flo Intermat OpenMat AWN WS(ELO)
125: Ungar 5 6 11 12 20 12
133: Arujau 1 2 2  3  1 1
141: Cornella 8 8 14 13  9 16
149: ??? ?? ?? ?? ??      ?? ??
157: Shapiro NR 19 21 10 NR 28
165: Ramirez 8 7 7        7  7 5
174: Foca 2 xx xx xx  4 xx
184: Foca   xx 3 4  4 xx 2
197: Cardenas 6 6 6  6  6 8
285: Fernandes NR 16 21 16 NR 21
TEAM DUAL: xx xx 2  6 xx 6
TEAM NCAA: 2 3 9 10 xx 4


I can't fight City Hall. If he's getting ranked at 184, Foca's the 184. I'd be surprised if Loew gets bumped from the lineup his final year but I guess not that surprised, since Foca is the big dawg now after finishing in second last year and Loew's continued health is less certain. 184 is also lacking a real dominant #1 and while I don't know if Foca will be able to carry over his success, I'm not sure I'd put a post-surgery Loew in semifinals contention either. All subject to change in January anyway so... it is what it is and I'll keep posting the services who keep Loew in the rankings or Foca at 174.

Looks like Loew reinjured his shoulder and he's done, so I'm taking him off the chart. Next week's rankings will have everyone ranking Foca at 184 and we aren't going to have anyone ranked at 174.

WIN Ungar up to 5. Shapiro still not ranked, though Iowa State's Chittum is. Didn't get the memo about Foca.
Intermat Up now. In the same range as others.
Flo : As mentioned, Foca now the 184, leaving no ranked wrestlers at 149 or 174.
Amateur Wrestling News Adding AWN to the chart (thanks jdalu). Down on our lower weights but gave Vito a break on his loss. No team rankings.
The Open Mat Adding The Open Mat to the chart. They are relatively down on a lot of guys and punished Vito the most for his loss to Crookham but are the first to put Shapiro in the top 10.
Wrestlestat Shapiro gets some respect from the computer with his 4-0 start. A little surprising that he jumped so much after a 3-0 first week since his 4th opponent is his lowest ranked this season.

This Sunday most of the team will be at the Mat Town Open at Lock Haven and it will probably go a long way to settling who gets the early nod at 149 and 174 for dual season. Whoever gets the start at CKLV on December 1 gets to be on the grid.

[David Harding]

Mat Town Open from report from the https://cornellsun.com/2023/11/27/six-cornell-wrestlers-take-first-at-mat-town-open/

[ugarte]

11/27/23 Rankings

Code Select Expand


WIN Flo Intermat OpenMat AWN WS(ELO)
125: Ungar 4 6 8 13 20 11
133: Arujau 1 2 2  3  1 1
141: Cornella 8 8 14 13  9 15
149: Fernandez NR NR NR NR      NR 44
157: Shapiro NR 19 21 10 NR 28
165: Ramirez 8 7 7        7  7 5
174: Baker NR NR NR NR NR     51
184: Foca   4 3 4  4 xx 2
197: Cardenas 6 6 6  6  6 8
285: Fernandes NR 16 21 16 NR 21
TEAM DUAL: xx xx 2  6 xx 5
TEAM NCAA: 4 4 6  9 xx 7


AWN didn't update, and they're the only ranker left with Foca at 174 so I took that line off the chart. I've put the starters at CKLV on the grid but NB that Saunders is supposedly returning to the team in January and there's a reasonable likelihood he'll take over as the starter at 149.

WIN Shapiro still not ranked! This weekend's CKLV tournament should change that if he wrestles as expected. They still have Loew ranked at 184 as well (at 18), but I think that's just being sloppy. He's out for the year.
Flo They have Shapiro ranked at 19 but also predict that he'll win CKLV. An artifact of a ranking philosophy where they don't let their gut override actual results. He might be #1 or 2 if they were forced to betray their ranker's oath.
Intermat Not much change.
The Open Mat Not much change.
Amateur Wrestling News No update yet. I've been told they are really bad about updating the site.
Wrestlestat Fernandez and Baker get their first ELO rankings on the grid.

All the starters but Vito are going to Las Vegas. Arujau is set to return to the mid-December dual meets after recovering from an unknown but apparently not serious injury.

[ugarte]

Big midseason tournament starting at noon eastern today, the Cliff Keen Invitational in Las Vegas (CKLV). We are sending almost all of our starters, with only Vito taking the weekend off as he recovers from a mystery injury. He is supposed to be back for dual season in a couple of weeks.

Our starters, and their tournament seeds, are:

125: Brett Ungar (3) v Wagner (Binghamton)
133: Ethan Qureshi (U) v Ramos (Citadel) - winner faces Orine (1) in R16
141: Vince Cornella (6) v Vandervere (Northwestern)
149: Ethan Fernandez (U) v Rivera (Campbell) - winner faces Parco (2) in R16
157: Meyer Shapiro (14) v Cangro (Harvard) - winner faces Andonian (3) in R16
165: Julian Ramirez (4) v Bell (Maryland)
174: Benny Baker (U) v Uliano (Appalachian St.) - winner faces DeVos (3) in R16
184: Chris Foca (3) v Rowley (Purdue)
197: Jacob Cardenas (3) v Kendricks (Morgan St.)
285: Lewis Fernandes (10) v Berisha (Sacred Heart) - Fernandes teched him in under 2 minutes a couple of weeks ago

We have no seeded opponents in the first round but our unseeded (and low-seeded) wrestlers have very tough R16 matchups. Not to look past anyone, but Andonian looks to be the first real test of Shapiro's Cornell career and beating him will vault him into the rankings where people already lowkey think he should be ranked but for wanting him to prove it on the mat.

[ugarte]

Mixed results from day 1 at CKLV. We'll start with the good news, move on to the "as expected" and then close with the bad. Why? idk man.

Good news (guys in the semis):
125: He ran through his first round opponent and then got a pair of grinding one point wins. He beat Harvard's Sotelo in the second round, his third straight win over Sotelo after losing 1-0 in last year's Harvard dual. In the next round, he won after two rounds of overtime. He can use the rest. Up next is DeAugustino (Michigan), a 2022 All-American.

165: Julian Ramirez has been destroying worlds. A pin in just over 2 minutes, an 18-1 TF then another pin over a top-10 wrestler. Up next is a big jump: 3x all-american and 2021 national champ David Carr (Iowa State). Ramirez kept it pretty close but lost last year.

197: Jacob Cardenas has had an incredible tournament. A tech fall, a major decision and then another tech fall over last year's B1G champion. Up next is 3x all-american Trent Hidlay (NC State).

Stayin' Alive:
141: Vince Cornella is still fighting in the consolation bracket. After an easy tech and a dominant major decision, Cornella got blown out by Mendez (Ohio State) in the QF. He won by major in his first consolation match, so he'll finish top 8. His next opponent is Jamison (OK State), who doesn't have much of a college record.

285: Lewis Fernandes opened the day with a 15-0 tech fall over a guy he dominated in similar fashion two weeks ago. He then got majored by Ohio State's heavy. In the consolation round, he started slow, winning 2-0. He followed up with a tech fall and a win over Catka (VT), who was seeded above him. His next opponent is McDermott (OR State).

More or less what we expected:
133: Ethan Qureshi had a nice MD to kick off his day, followed by a tech fall loss to the top seed and another tech fall loss to a top 10 wrestler who got upset in the first round and knocked down to the consolation bracket.

149: Ethan Fernandez started with a win before getting majored by a 2x all-american and medically forfeiting his consolation match. I didn't see the loss so I'm not sure what happened.

174: Benny Baker got the first takedown of his first match but couldn't hang on. He strung together three wins, including two bonus point wins, before falling to a seeded wrestler.

WTF:
157: Meyer Shapiro started his day with a tech fall and a dominant win over a 2x All-American before losing to a wrestler he dominated in freestyle and then losing again. In both of his losses he seemed out of sorts. Slow to return to center, multiple injury breaks. Not sure what's going on but he was having a lot of trouble scoring from neutral off of his own offense, though he did great work on counter-offense against the AA. I can't tell if he was injured or got tired. Hope he's OK.

184: Chris Foca opened his day with a one-point win over a wrestler with no resume to speak of. He then lost back-to-back and apparently may have injured himself as well. Not sure what's going on there. He apparently had a recent death in the family and he may be temporarily off his game or out of conditioning. In any event, it was shocking to see him struggle.

After day 1 the team sits in 4th place with 5 wrestlers still alive.

[dag14]

Tuned into day 2 a little late; got confused about the start time.  My initial observation watching Cornella wrestle:  I HATE THOSE SINGLETS! The design reminds me of Ithaca High School athletic apparel.  Too "cute" for grown men [and women should any of the women's team adopt something similar].

[ugarte]

Rough day so far with a couple of bright spots.

Good news (guys in the finals):
125: Ungar was leading his semifinal against DeAugustino 5-1 after the second period and in the course of getting a reversal, something not great happened to DeAugustino's knee. He tried to continue but after giving up another escape on the reset, DeAugustino threw in the towel. Up next for Ungar is Nico Provo, a Stanford soph who was on track to come to Cornell before following Koll west (but not back east). Probably for the best for both of them that they aren't in the same room (especially with Vito at 133). Ungar is the higher seeded/ranked wrestler, but Provo has had an incredible tournament that includes a win over a 2023 NCAA finalist.

165: Ramirez had a fun, wild match with Carr that was belied by the low score. For 6.5 minutes these guys fired off tons of real shots at each other without success. With extra time looming, Carr got in on a deep shot but after a sprawl and scramble, Ramirez ended up on top for a 3 point takedown. Probably the wisest course would have been to cut Carr for 1 then run away because it's unlikely he'd have been dinged for stalling more than once. Then again, easy to say from my office chair. What he did was try to ride out the period and with ~8 seconds left, Carr reversed him (for 2) and plausibly held him with his back exposed (for another 2) but the exposure points weren't awarded, even after a challenge, and Ramirez notched his second career victory over a former NCAA champion. In the finals, he'll face Izzak Olejnik, a 2023 All-American who is off to a great start to his grad transfer season, with a pair of wins over top-5 wrestlers.

Stayin' Alive:
197: Cardenas relies largely on going low - blast doubles and low doubles, and Hidlay is very hard to go low on. Not a good matchup for him, and he lost his semifinal 10-2. That loss dropped him into the consolation semifinals against VT's Sonny Sasso, who he dominated 14-4. The win sets up a fight for third place with the 1 seed and defending NCAA finalist, SDSU's Tanner Sloan. Sloan beat Cardenas in the NCAA tournament last year and I don't think this is a particularly good matchup for him either.


Not great, Bob!
141: Cornella lost a pair of major decisions to wrestlers ranked lower than him, falling to 8th place.

285: Fernandes was leading 1-0 after an early third period escape against a wrestler who was unwilling to go underneath him. After that, he gave up a takedown, 2NF and couldn't get up, losing 6-1 and falling to the 7th place match. He then took a medical forfeit in that match, so I hope he didn't get hurt on the takedown or struggling to stand.

Cornell has now fallen to 6th but could possibly pass Oregon State for 5th.

[ugarte]

Woof. 0-5 in the CKLV medal round. Two silvers, a 4th and two 8ths. Plus. two elite wrestlers go 0-2 in the consolation bracket and miss the medal round entirely and while neither looked like they had an injury that should linger, it's still a bummer.

At 125, Ungar was in another low scoring match and nearly got the takedown he needed at the end when he was down 2-1* but Provo countered and finished the takedown himself to win 5-1 and gets 2d place.

At 165, nip and tuck the whole way and once again a single takedown decides it and Ramirez falls to Olejnik 4-2 and finsihes in 2d

At 197, Cardenas comes up short again against Tanner Sloan, 7-2, for 4th place.

At 149, Cornella, seeded 6 finished in 8th.
At 184, Foca, seeded 3, missed the podium.
A5 157, forget Shapiro's seed; he knocked off the 3 seed and then looked hurt. I'm not worried about his ability but it's a dissapointing result and if the injury is serious, it's devastating on a human level and for the team.
At Hwt, Fernandes, seeded 10, finished 8, and while that's ok, i guess, it's only due to a resetting of expectations from when he was ranked in the top 10 and a hair's breadth from All-American as a frosh.

Can't be upset about: Cardenas finishing in 4th despite being seeded 3d. He only lost to the 1 and 2 seeds. Ramirez came in the 4 seed and lost to 3 after beating 1. Ungar, 3, beat 2 before losing to 9 but that's hard to complain about too - Provo beat 8, 4 and 1 on his way to the final and sometimes a guy is just on a heater. And 133, 149 and 174 were expected to struggle and I give Baker credit for winning 3 on the back side.

Unfortunately, the We need Arujau back at 133 and a healthy Shapiro and Foca returning to form or this very promising season is going to a dark place really fast.