Wrestling 2024-25

[upprdeck]

amazing day. in two weeks should be fun

[ugarte]

Oh baby. What a day.  All that jibber-jabber about at-large analysis? WHO CARES! Wrestlers at 10 weights and we qualified everyone for NCAAs. Our worst finish was third place. We won five out of ten weights outright. Cornell took the team title, clinching at 184 with a win in Sudden Victory over second place Penn (but we would have won outright anyway after winning at Heavyweight). So, let's talk about it.

125: Marcello Milani came in as the [4] in a 3-bid weight. He had lost earlier in the season to the top three wrestlers and won by the skin of his teeth against [5] Sulayman Bah, of Columbia. In the past, Milani had gone 2-0 against Bah but both were close (6-3 SV and 4-2, with Bah nearly scoring at the end). It was another close match in the opening round, with Bah scoring the only TD in SV to win 4-1. That sent Milani to the consolation bracket, where he'd need two wins to finish in third. He started against Sotelo, [3] Harvard, who beat him 6-3 at the dual by dominating on top. Milani scored first and it turned out to be the only TD of the match. Unlike the dual, Milani escaped from bottom. Final score 4-2. Waiting in the third place match, Bah. He caught a break early in the match when Bah asked for injury time; the penalty for asking for a stoppage is that your opponent can choose position. Milani chose bottom and escaped. Bah tied the match with an escape to start the second period and, rather than try to ride for a full period, elected to give Milani the lead by conceding an escape to win it on his feet. Didn't work; Milani added a takedown with 45 seconds left in the match. A late escape wasn't enough for Bah, and Milani won 5-2.

In his freshman season, after starting the season as a backup, Milani has earned a trip to the NCAAs.

133:[1] Tyler Ferrara came in as the top seed in a two-bid weight. He earned the top seed with a surprising win over Penn's Ryan Miller. I don't really remember much from either of his matches. After a first round bye he earned a trip to NCAAs with a humdrum 4-2 win over [4] Jones (Princeton), then found himself in a rematch with Miller. Miller scored the only takedown of the match and got his revenge.

Like Milani, Ferrara started the season as a backup and earned a trip to NCAAs when he stepped in to a starting role.

141: [2] Joshua Saunders had one of the easier tasks on the team. With a bye in the first round of a 6-man tournament that placed four, he needed a win in either of his first two matches. He opened in the semis against [3] Rivera (Princeton), who he beat in an exciting 11-7 match at the dual. Saunders' biggest flaws are a hesitance to try to score and a tendency to wear down late. The latter is especially rough if your tactics keep the score low and close. So it was again; nobody really tried to score much for the first 7 minutes and Rivera got the winning TD in SV. Dropped into the consolation match, it was more of the same, as he went to SV at 1-1 again. This time, the extra time was kind to him (as I wrote a few posts up) and he won, guaranteeing himself a spot in the top four. In the 3rd place match, he scored two TDs in the first period and rode those points to victory.

Saunders came to Cornell with an incredible pedigree, having made Team USA for U16. From a fan's perspective, his career has been very frustrating. A combination of injuries and very talented people at his ideal weight meant that he had a lot of trouble cracking the lineup. It probably would have been more of the same this year but Vince Cornella's recovery from his 2024 injury opened up a spot in the lineup. In his senior year, his first as a starter, the 5-star recruit will go to NCAAs.

149: [2] Ethan Fernandez was seeded ahead of a wrestler that he was ranked behind, [3] Ty Whalen (Princeton) and that's who he was facing in the semis. Fernandez scored first, slipping out of an attack and winding up behind, with 2NF to boot. Whalen worked his way back to tie the match heading into the third period. In the third period, PAY ATTENTION upprdeck!, Whalen and Fernandez were in a scramble, stretched out, each holding on to the ankle of the other. Fortunately for Fernandez, he got Whalen into a position where he was holding him with his back exposed for a few swipes of the ref's arm - a position called "neutral danger" which is something like a near-fall, but credited like a takedown. Those points were the difference in the match. Wiith the win, Fernandez guaranteed himself a spot in the final. In the final, he lost to the top seed, Wasilewski (Penn) for the second time this year.

In his second season as the starter at 149 - after starting his career as a backup to Arujau at 133 - Fernandez has earned his way into his second NCAA tournament.  

The win by Wasilewski was Penn's third straight champion, after losing in the 125 final. The win pushed Penn's team lead to 6 points.

157: [1] Meyer Shapiro is by far the best in the conference and a lot of people's pick to win NCAAs. He won his first match 9-0 despite taking a couple of head-butts to the face which seemed to shake him up a little. In the final, he dominated the [2] Jude Swisher (Penn) who in previous matches appeared content to run away and keep the score close while having no shot of actually winning. Not today; 17-2 tech fall.

With the title, and a bonus for a tech fall, Penn's lead was down to 2.5.

Coming off a third place finish as a freshman, in 2024, Shapiro is heading back to his second NCAA tournament. Did I mention that he was named the Most Oustanding Wrestler* of the ILT by the coaches?

165: [1] Julian Ramirez open his tournament in the semifinals. His opponent tried to use an upper-body move to throw Ramirez to his back, but Ramirez ended up on top, in good position, and ended the match in 35 seconds. A bold move from a wrestler with a losing record, but possibly the result of a match from earlier this season. At the Columbia dual, [2] Cesar Alvan had temporary success with upper-body throws, putting Ramirez on his back twice. A different ref, on a different day, might have given Alvan the pin on the second one. I think you can guess who Ramirez faced in the final. Ramirez came out fast, scoring twice in the opening period. Alvan got one TD back and after the first period, Ramirez led 7-5. That basically finished the scoring for the match and Ramirez won his third straight conference^ championship.

Penn's lead was down to half a point.

This will be the fourth time Ramirez qualified for the NCAAs. His first three times he was defeated in the "blood round" - one win shy of finishing in the top eight for AA. Hoping 4th time is the charm. He's wrestling well and will probably receive a top 5 seed.

174: [1] Simon Ruiz had no issues in his opening match, scoring a takedown and NF2 in the closing seconds to win by tech, 17-2. In his finals match, he faced [3] McGill (Columbia). McGill defeated [2] Incontrera (Penn) for the second time this year; Incontrera was Ruiz's only conference loss. McGill himself gave Ruiz fits at the dual, though Ruiz won 10-8. No such trouble today. McGill went back to some of the upper-body throws that were effective the first time, but Ruiz responded better, rolling to an 8-0 major decision.

With the major, Cornell moved ahead of Penn by two points. While Cornell had finalists at the last three weights, Penn's final wrestler was at 184.

In his freshman season, Ruiz won his first conference title and qualified for his first NCAA tournament.

184: [1] Chris Foca had no trouble with Columbia's [4] Nick Fine in the opening round, taking an 11-2 MD. In the final, against [2] Max Hale. This was the fourth matchup between the two, with Foca winning the prior three - most recently, a 17-0 dismantling at the Penn dual. Scoring was hard to come by, as Hale was backing away. It was kind of insane that he wasn't called for stalling sooner. In any event, after backpedaling for almost five minutes, the ref finally blew his whistle. Shortly after, Hale sprang to life, scoring the first takedown of the match to take a 3-1 lead. Foca worked a reversal to tie the score, followed by a reversal back by Hale and nearly held Foca on his back. It was a little unclear, but I think Hale was given a second stall warning for holding on to Foca's ankles for too long. In any event, that stall call and Foca's escape on the restart sent the match to SV. In SV, Foca locked his arms around Hale's body and started trying to trip him back. As they tumbled to the ground, Foca landed on his back, setting off cheers from the Penn supporters, but Foca rolled through, emerged on top, and held Hale down. The ref raised his hand, awarding three points - and the Ivy title - to Foca. Penn challenged to no avail.

With the win, Cornell moved 4 points ahead of Penn and clinched the first Ivy League Tournament title in history.

This is Foca's second conference^ title and fourth NCAA bid. His first two years, he wrestled at 174. As a freshman, he was expected to wrestle at 184 and had to cut weight right before the season and never felt quite right. As a soph, he won the EIWA title and finished in 3rd at NCAAs. Moving up to 184 as a junior, he sometimes seemed undersized. His talent took him to the tournament again, and for the second time in three years he lost shy of AA. This season, he's looked comfortable and strong. His only loss was back in December against another wrestler in the top 10. Despite a schedule that, through no fault of his own, has been somewhat weak, I'm still feeling good about him heading into NCAAs.

197: [2] Mikey Dellagatta was one of two wrestlers that were far ahead of the rest of the 197s and both earned the conference an allocated bid. The top 2 proved it in the semis, both winning by fall (Dellagatta in under a minute) and clinching a trip to NCAAs. In their first matchup, Dellagatta lost to [1] Luke Stout by tech fall and yesterday it was more of the same. By the end of the match Dellagatta was gassed and, tbh, looked totally defeated in a 20-5 tech fall loss.

Despite the loss, Dellagatta finishes his freshman season with a 14-4 record and his first trip to the NCAAs.

285: [1] Ashton Davis went 5-0 in Ivy competition during dual meet season, locking up the top seed. The Ivies That said, the top four Ivy heavies were clustered together in people's general opinion. In his first round match, Davis faced [4] Alex Semenenko (Brown), who was the top ranked Ivy heavy before Davis beat him in SV at the dual. It was more of the same yesterday, with Davis again winning in SV. At the Columbia dual, the Lions sent out a backup, so [3] Vincent Mueller was a new face. Mueller is a hulking guy, tall and solidly built, compared with Davis's more classic bulky heavyweight look, and he came into the final by way of two first period pins. There's big, though, and there's strong, and Davis is strong. He scored the first points of the match on a second period reversal and stayed on top for over 90 seconds without allowing an escape. In the third period, he lifted Mueller and threw him down in a way that reminded me of Rocky vs Thunderlips. With riding time, Davis won the match 6-1 and with it, the Ivy title.

Davis' sophomore year is his first as the starter and he's had a very solid year. He's spent the last month ranked on the fringes of the top-33, proof that even though the Ivy's bid wasn't "earned" by any one wrestler, he deserves to be at this NCAA tournament.

I'll probably write a short tournament preview before the tourney (in two weeks). For now, I'm proud of this team. It might be the first time that we sent all 10 weights to the tournament by qualifying at the conference tournament. Last year we qualified 10, including an at-large, but we didn't send 10 because Cornella had to decline his at-large bid because of the injury he sustained at the conference tournament. The lowest anyone on Cornell finished yesterday was 3rd place. Great work from everyone.

* Going strictly by results, I thought Luke Stout might win MOW. First, we were in Princeton. Second, he won by fall and tech, whereas Shapiro won by MD and tech. Ultimately, I think the coaches thought it made more sense to give the award to a national title contender rather than a good wrestler who dominated a weight where we are likely not going to put anyone on the podium.

^ This was the first ILT, but Ramirez and Foca both won EIWA titles before the Ivies broke away. The ILT crowd was small. It was a shame not to have the large, loud fanbase from Lehigh and the passionate fans from across the conference. I'll miss the EIWA.

[upprdeck]

My question I think was in the Fernandez match. At the end of the period he had take down with about 2 secs left and then they went OB.

They didn't review it and said Cornell could not challenge it because they had already lost an earlier review?

But Princeton lost a review in a later match and then reviewed another in the same match so maybe thats not the rule?

I was just wondering why a scoring decision was not looked at with a review even if not challenged

They reviewed the same type of play in another match without a coaches challenge.

It was a close play both in timing and control.  

Much like the later Cornell one where they had to decide if the takedown happened in play with the strange sideline

I always wonder why these places have locations where the guys can be in bounds but off the mats given the reach and use of toes to stay in bounds .

[ugarte]

I see. There are two kinds of reviews: Officials' Review (the on-mat officials look at the replay to make sure they got it right (either on their own initiative or because Cael Sanderson asks them to)) and Coach's Challenge (disinterested matside officials review the call). You only get one coach's challenge.

I'll have to rewatch but I think the incident you're referring to in the Fernandez match had two potentially reviewable (1) did Fernandez's toe stay in-bounds as he completed the takedown and (2) did Whalen touch off the mat at all. The rule in college wrestling is that you are in-bounds if any part of your body is in the cylinder (which extends to the sky, like breaking the plane in the end zone), but the rubber mat is a hard limit because in many places there's a hard floor or other obstruction like the scorer's table. In international wrestling, the hard limit is the edge of the circle, but individual moves that start in the ring can finish outside of it as long as the motion is continuous.(EDIT: The cylinder/off the mat challenge was on a takedown by Davis in the Heavyweight match. It was called a TD on the mat and confirmed after both an Official's review and Coach's challenge.)

They don't announce what they are reviewing, which is very annoying. I thought it was for the toe, a colleague from the wrestling forum who I was sitting near thought it was the off-the-mat call. There was another sideline takedown that we thought was being called OOB but was actually not given because the clock hit 0 in the round (I think in the Foca match? I was sitting next to a very fired up Foca dad, who runs a highly-regarded wrestling gym in NJ. UPDATE: see below.) If you can tell me the time stamp of the match, I can answer better. (Fernandez' semi starts at 2:27:30 here.There's another move at ~9:12:05 in the final here that Fernandez wasn't given credit for because he started the move in bounds but they rolled on the ground and Fernandez didn't get control until they were off the mat.)

UPDATE: I think you mean the call at around 9:19:22 in the finals; that was the call where Fernandez looked like he scored a takedown at the end of the second period. You can see Kellen Russell, a Cornell assistant coach begging the ref to check the clock. In the ref's estimation, Fernandez doesn't have control while Wasilewski is still in the splits, and by the time he fully has control, the round is over. The ref probably doesn't check the call because there is a guy who follows the ref around starting at ~:10 in the round who audibly counts down the clock and says "TIME" when it hits 0. The move I described in the parenthetical above is when they lost the Coach's Challenge brick. The toe-drag on the edge doesn't seem to be a Fernandez match and I don't remember who it was anymore. I think it was in the finals, though.

[ugarte]

Ivy automatic qualifiers:

Cornell: 10
Penn: 6
Princeton: 5
Columbia: 5
Brown: 0
Harvard:0

Still some guys who can/will get at-large bids. Incontrera (Penn 174 the most obvious).

[upprdeck]

So it was the finals vs Wasiewski

First right at he beginning Fernadez took him down and I think they rule no control in bounds or something Cornell challenged and the TV guys though it was good for pts

but the one I questioned was the 2nd one atAt about 9:18 of the finals the end of the 2nd period

[scoop85]

I've only seen Stoudt against Dellegatta, but I'm surprised (per Ugarte) that Stoudt's not considered a contender for the podium. He's looked quite skilled and strong in manhandling Dellegatta both times, so I assume 197 is a deep weight, including our former stud Cardenas who's doing his 5th year at Michigan and won the Big 10 yesterday.

[upprdeck]

Cardenas  on Cornell this year Would help in the team race

[ugarte]

Cardenas  on Cornell this year Would help in the team race

Well, yeah, but he graduated! I'm rooting for him to take the national title. He's almost certainly going into the tournament as the top seed after finishing the regular season at #3 and avenging losses against the two wrestlers ranked ahead of him to win the Big 10 title. 2021 champ AJ Ferrari has emerged from the ashes of his own misbehavior in Stillwater wrestling for CSUB and is also in the running for a top seed. All four are incredible wrestlers.


I know you mean your point in the context of Ivy rules but tbh I don't even think about that anymore. Guys graduate then wrestle someplace else. It's the water we swim in and I don't belabor it outside of the context of a specific discussion regarding the utility of the rule itself.

[nshapiro]

At 184, the ref ruled that Hale had reversed back over Foca (which is why Foca was down on the restart), but Hale did not realize it, and got penalized for locking hands which he is allowed to do in the neutral position, but not when he is on top.

Ugarte, Thanks for your excellent coverage.

[ugarte]

At 184, the ref ruled that Hale had reversed back over Foca (which is why Foca was down on the restart), but Hale did not realize it, and got penalized for locking hands which he is allowed to do in the neutral position, but not when he is on top.

THANK YOU! To the extent it was explained at Jadwin, the ref appeared to say "stalling" (which is repeated on Arena) and that just didn't make sense. A lot of confusion in our seats, and I was sitting right in front of Foca's dad while it was going down. He's a well-respected coach and while he is a liiiiiiittle too biased to totally rely on him while a match involving Cornell and especially Chris is going on, that review had us all flummoxed.

The ILT officials do not make good use of the PA to communicate the reasons for a challenge or their rulings, even in the finals when there aren't multiple mats going and it could be distracting.

[ugarte]

OK, I've watched this again and it was a stalling call. Hale doesn't lock his hands; he's grabbing his opposite wrist. You can see the ref counting out the swipes for holding on to an ankle to prevent an escape and he blows the whistle to stop action for the stalling. The review was because Penn wanted back points for the time that Foca was upside down from the reversal but even in slow mo it looks like he rolled off his back immediately.

[George64]

Oh baby. What a day.  All that jibber-jabber about at-large analysis? WHO CARES! Wrestlers at 10 weights and we qualified everyone for NCAAs. Our worst finish was third place. We won five out of ten weights outright. Cornell took the team title, clinching at 184 with a win in Sudden Victory over second place Penn (but we would have won outright anyway after winning at Heavyweight). So, let's talk about it.

Fun fact:  Cornell hosted the 1964 NCAA Wrestling Championships at Barton Hall.  I can't recall if any Cornell wrestlers competed, but if any did, they didn't reach the podium. As I recall, Iowa State had a slew of wrestlers there wearing robes like prize fighters.  It was pretty intimidating as they walked in.
.

[upprdeck]

Chuck Bush at 115 was the 4 seed lost in the quarters to the 5 came in 5th

Geoff Stephens 157 unseeded had a good run got the quarters lost to the 2 seed and came in 6th

we had several others in it

ncaa at cornell

[ugarte]

Final subjective/outside rankings of the season.

Leaving the last regular season CR and RPI in place but I'm adding a slash for the post-tournament RPI approximation on Wrestlestat. It's different than their ELO ranking and may give some predictive insight on seeding.

SHP isn't updating his DII until later in the week. WIN and BEG haven't published at the time I decided to do this but I'll update as necessary.

No more Ivy rankings because the ILT is over and we've got all our bids. No more dual rankings because ... who cares! All that's left is the big tournament.

Code Select Expand


                Flo WIN* IM TOM AWN BEG* WSt SHP* CR   RPI
125: Milani NR -- 29 NR NR -- 62 -- NR   26/30
133: Ferrara 27 -- 30 NR NR -- 32 -- 31   28/21
141: Saunders 21 -- 23 20 19 -- 28 -- 26   30/23
149: Fernandez 16 -- 16 19 15 -- 21 -- 23   23/23
157: Shapiro 2 -- 2 1 1 -- 1 -- 2   xx/ 3*
165: Ramirez 5 -- 4 3 4 -- 5 -- 5   16/10
174: Ruiz 11 -- 10 8 9 -- 11 -- 12   15/ 9
184: Foca   6 -- 5 6 6 -- 7 -- 8    4/ 8
197: Mike D. 25 -- 24 NR 19 -- 27 -- 21   23/18  
285: Davis NR -- 29 NR NR -- 45 -- NR   32/14
TEAM NCAA: 9 -- T8 7 xx -- 8 -- 9   --


Flo ranks to 33. Not much movement, but Foca took a little hop from 8 to 6 and Fernandez moved up a few notches. Flo put the top three Ivy 149s at 15/16/17. Milani doesn't make the top 33, even over the kid from CSUB who he might face in the pigtail. Neither does Davis, but since they don't respect his Ivy competition either... Check out Davis's RPI, though.
WIN ranks to 20. TK?
Intermat ranks to 33. Milani and Davis get nods from IM. Tick up for Foca, Ruiz and Fernandez. Slight pop in tournament projection (tied with Northern Iowa).
Open Mat ranks to 20. Fernandez back in the rankings, Saunders barely hangs on. Little bumps for Fernandez and Ruiz. Team slips a little in the tournament projection.
AWN ranks to 20. Saunders returns to the rankings and Fernandez hops in at 15. One-space moves here and there.
BEG Rank to 33. TK?
WrestleStat ELO updated.
SHP DII (explainer)
CR and RPI[/b] 3d CR and 2d RPI from 2/27.  NCAA team coaches' poll from 2/23.