Wrestling 2025-26

[ugarte]

Another modest recruiting update: the Ironman HS wrestling tournament is in progress. We have one wrestler in the finals at 175 and two in the 7th place match (138 and 150) and two more wrestlers finishing one match shy of the podium (150 and 157).

At 175, Joseph Jeter beat Nick Singer 6-4. Coming into the match, Singer was ranked #1; Jeter #2. They had split their two prior meetings. Jeter is #19 on Flo's all-weights "Big Board" for 2026 and Singer is #4 for 2027 (and headed to Iowa).

At 138, Evan Stanley won by medical forfeit to take 7th place. Stanley was the 11 seed and #96 on the 2027 Big Board.

At 150, Tyler Traves won 6-1 (SV) to take 7th place. Traves was the 6 seed. He isn't on the Big Board, but outperformed Michael Turi (36) in the same bracket. Turi is a fellow Cornell recruit graduating this Spring and lost in R12.

[mountainred]

At 150, Tyler Traves won 6-1 (SV) to take 7th place. Traves was the 6 seed. He isn't on the Big Board, but outperformed Michael Turi (36) in the same bracket. Turi is a fellow Cornell recruit graduating this Spring and lost in R12.

Could be an interesting battle in the room for the next few seasons.

[ugarte]

At 150, Tyler Traves won 6-1 (SV) to take 7th place. Traves was the 6 seed. He isn't on the Big Board, but outperformed Michael Turi (36) in the same bracket. Turi is a fellow Cornell recruit graduating this Spring and lost in R12.

Could be an interesting battle in the room for the next few seasons.

who knows ... joy and shapiro have 149 and 157 locked down for a couple of years. parentin looks like the best candidate for 165 (barring the other guys growing into the weight).

In any event... Cornella is back in the rankings at Flo, but only at Flo (WIN never took him out and also never dropped Shapiro, who they have at 5). Saunders is still in the chart because Cornella isn't being ranked but between Cornella's return at 141 and Joy's rocket to #2 at 149, he appears to be an odd man out. Saunders appears squeezed for the backup role too, with Bouyssou seemingly better able to handle the cut to 141 and Ethan Fernandez also returning to 149 after a semester off. Shapiro is the returning 800 lb. gorilla at 157.

Code Select Expand

                Flo WIN IM TOM AWN WSt SHP CR   RPI
125: Milani NR NR 33 NR xx 51 35 --   --
133: Ferrara 16 10 13 15 11 11 11 --   --
141: Saunders xx xx 32 NR NR 44 31^ --   --
141: Cornella 12 15 xx xx xx 26 10^ --   --
149: Joy 2 2 2 2 2 3 1 --   --
157: Rogers NR xx NR NR xx 65 26 --   --
165: Cerchio NR NR 28 NR NR 63 36 --   --
174: Ruiz 2 2 2 2 2 5 1^ --   --
184: Hansen  26 NR 31 NR NR 29 25 --   --
197: Hanning NR NR NR NR NR 56 41 --   -- 
285: Davis NR NR 29 NR NR 31 31 --   --
TEAM NCAA: 9 8 10 9 -- 11 14 --   --
TEAM DUAL:      22 11 18 17 -- 24 41 --   --

Flo Ivy rankings: not updated
125: Milani* 2
133: Ferrara 1
141: Saunders* 4
149: Joy 2
157: Rogers* 3
165: Cerchio 3
174: Ruiz 1
184: Hansen 3
197: Hanning 4
285: Davis 2
* probably replaced in the fall.

Flo ranks to 33.
WIN ranks to 20. TK
Intermat ranks to 33.
Open Mat ranks to 20.
AWN ranks to 20.
WrestleStat ELO updated.
SHP DII SHP's Dual Impact Index is out! Joy and Ruiz both #1, though Ruiz doesn't have enough matches yet for an official DII ranking. (explainer)

CR and RPI won't be out for a while.

[Ken711]

After just one season in Ithaca, Anthony Knox is changing course.

The four-time New Jersey State champion wrestler on Thursday, Dec. 18, announced he'd decommitted from Cornell University.

"It's with very careful consideration I have decided to de commit from Cornell University. This was not an easy decision and I truly do love everyone involved with the Cornell Wrestling Program. However, I'm excited to see what this process has in store for me."

Knox didn't provide a reason for the shift. He was not on the Cornell wrestling roster as of press time and apparently hadn't wrestled in a match yet this season.

https://www.aol.com/news/4x-nj-state-champ-wrestler-021511895.html

[ugarte]

Knox didn't provide a reason for the shift...

This sucks. The first rumor was Virginia Tech but now looking like he's staying in his backyard and going to rutgers. Most likely reason for the shift is NIL money. Also really sucks because getting Knox probably scared off other very good 125s.

During his greyshirt year Knox has been very good. He dominated five of his six matches - against people he'd be expected to handle - and only lost a close one (7-4) to Nic Bouzakis, who was a top recruit like Knox in '22, went to Ohio State and is currently ranked in the top 5.

[scoop85]

Knox didn't provide a reason for the shift...

This sucks. The first rumor was Virginia Tech but now looking like he's staying in his backyard and going to rutgers. Most likely reason for the shift is NIL money. Also really sucks because getting Knox probably scared off other very good 125s.

During his greyshirt year Knox has been very good. He dominated five of his six matches - against people he'd be expected to handle - and only lost a close one (7-4) to Nic Bouzakis, who was a top recruit like Knox in '22, went to Ohio State and is currently ranked in the top 5.

The winds are increasingly shifting against Cornell and the Ivies being able to compete nationally in even "niche" sports like wrestling. Makes me even more grateful for our lax championship.

[BearLover]

Knox didn't provide a reason for the shift...

This sucks. The first rumor was Virginia Tech but now looking like he's staying in his backyard and going to rutgers. Most likely reason for the shift is NIL money. Also really sucks because getting Knox probably scared off other very good 125s.

During his greyshirt year Knox has been very good. He dominated five of his six matches - against people he'd be expected to handle - and only lost a close one (7-4) to Nic Bouzakis, who was a top recruit like Knox in '22, went to Ohio State and is currently ranked in the top 5.

The winds are increasingly shifting against Cornell and the Ivies being able to compete nationally in even "niche" sports like wrestling. Makes me even more grateful for our lax championship.

Yes, but also I think "NIL" is thrown around too lazily to explain recruitment decisions in non-football/men's basketball. (Maybe it's true in wrestling, not really sure.) At least in hockey, programs almost universally lose money and have little donor support. There's tremendous pressure to allocate spending towards keeping football and basketball afloat (see eg. BC). Just because we lose a player to Big State School doesn't indicate NIL was the reason, at all. Again, could have been the case here, ugarte knows better than I do, but I've seen people scream NIL in other sports when the funding just doesn't add up.

Anyway, I've been beating this drum for awhile but the Ivies have the richest alums in the country and could easily buy players if they wanted to. The schools themselves also can't really do anything to prevent an NIL fund from popping up. It's up to the donors to do something about this if the Ivies want to stay relevant in the national landscape.

[ugarte]

NIL in a meaningful way in wrestling is confined to a small number of programs - basically the top of the B1G, OK State and a few ACC schools - but i do think the money for the best guys i ssignificant. VT is one of the ACC schools and I'd be shocked if Rob Koll wasn't still capable of tickling donors the right way to open their wallets for UNC. Knox is a guy who would draw real money. He's almost certainly going to be in the AA/natty conversation as soon as he's rostered. I'm sort of interested in seeing if he ends up enrolling somewhere in January. If he is headed to Rutgers he'd be better than their current starter.

I should also point out that the scuttlebutt on Knox is that it wasn't an NIL issue (though his current recruitment might turn on that). The whispers are that it was an admissions issue. I don't know what his academic profile is but he has an upcoming trial for a fight he got into at Regionals in NJ last year. You might remember me writing about it at the time. Both he and his father went into the risers and started throwing hands with fans from a rival school. Whatever it was, the desires of the athletic department were overruled. As for the team, apparently Isaiah Cortez - who I thought would compete for the starting spot at 133 - can cut to 125 and is expected to start. He's a good one too. He'll also be in the conversation for AA but not quite the same buzz from the experts.