The Big Red wrestling team traveled down to Long Island, N.Y., this past weekend for the New York State Collegiate Championships. Seniors Corey Anderson and Leo Urbinelli were the big winners this weekend winning in the 197 and 157 pound classes, respectively.
Overall, the Big Red placed second behind Army (172.5-167). To outsiders not familiar with the program this performance might be deemed as a success.
“We wrestled differently in the finals. We were not ourselves,” lamented Urbinelli.
Nonetheless, this did not stop Urbinelli from picking up Cornell’s Athlete of the Week honor.
The Big Red is used to facing slightly tougher competition and managed to only to whip out two victories even after placing seven guys in the finals.
“The tournament was essentially a dual meet. Cornell versus everybody else,” exclaimed Urbinelli.
Army and Columbia were the other Division I big hitters in conjunction with the Big Red in this tournament.
Top seeded Urbinelli, walked through his four matches without any major snags. He dropped NYU.’s Mike Oldham 6-2 in the finals. Anderson followed suit and worked Army’s Jon Paxton 18-1 in his final match.
The name of the game is momentum. The Big Red witnessed a heartbreaking defeat in the finals of the 125 pound weight class. Alejandro Alvarez fell 6-3 to Ithaca College’s Carlos Restrepo who made a fantastic move in the final closing seconds of the match for the victory.
Concluded Urbinelli, “We lost our momentum a bit for the proceeding matches after watching our first matches.”
Tom Waldron dropped a close 2-0 match in the 141-pound final to Buffalo’s Ryan Bentley. Gabe Webster lost 3-1 in his 149-pound final to Columbia’s Erik Norgaard by giving up one takedown. A first round fall doomed Randy Stout in his 165-pound final against Buffalo’s Josh States. In the 174-pound class, Army’s Maurice Worthy defeated Jim Stanec 16-5.
All is not bad though for the Big Red.
“This tournament allowed some of the younger guys to get some experience and confidence under their belt with some victories,” noted Urbinelli.
This confidence and experience will come in handy as the BIg Red host the perennially strong Penn Quakers next this weekend in the most important dual match of the year over at the Bartel Field House.
Archived article by Donald Lee