By ryan
Corey Anderson stood behind the Cornell bench, his son Byron on his shoulders, tugging and smacking the senior tri-captain’s head just as Penn’s Nick Thomas had done earlier in the evening. Anderson won a major decision over Thomas at 197 pounds in the meet’s first match, and the four points from that major decision comprised the Red’s lead going into the final match. Anderson was watching the final match of the evening intensely. The Quakers and Red split the eight matches between the first and last contests, and the outcome of the first Ivy meet of the year depended on sophomore Randy Stout’s match against Marcus Schontube. Schontube held off Stout to win the 184 pound match, but thanks to the extra point Anderson earned for Cornell with the major decision, the Red defeated the defending Ivy champs despite both teams winning five matches. Cornell dropped the two matches after Anderson’s win, but senior Sean Doyle scored a win over Jeff Eveleth at 133 pounds. Then sophomore Tom Waldron (141 pounds) took Penn’s Doug McGraw to a tiebreaker with the score knotted at one. Waldron scored back points on McGraw before McGraw could escape, earning a thrilling win and putting the Red ahead by a 10-6 score. Penn battled back, winning the next two matches, including the 157 pound match between senior tri-captain Leo Urbinelli, ranked 11th in the country, and the Quakers’ Yoshi Nakamura, the third-ranked grappler. Nakamura’s decision gave Penn a 12-10 lead. Junior tri-captain Clint Wattenberg put Cornell ahead once again with a narrow win over Tim Ortman. Wattenberg’s third period escape and riding time advantage gave him a 2-1 win and Cornell a 13-12 lead. The Red would not relinquish the lead this time as senior Jim Stanec extended the lead back to four with a decisive win over Josh Henson. Schontube’s win in the final match garnered three points for the Quakers, finalizing the score at 16-15, with the Red on top. Cornell will wrestle next on the road, when it takes on Columbia and Hofstra on February 4.Archived article by Alex Fineman
By ryan
After a tough loss last weekend to Army, the Cornell men’s swimming and diving team rebounded Saturday at Colgate, defeating the Red Raiders 136-93. Once again, senior Will Norgard and senior diver Jon Cebulski were top scorers for the Red. Norgard won both the 50-yard and the 100-yard freestyle events, in 21.57 and 47.89. “Will’s been racing. He has been in the program, now for four years, and has really come in to his own,” Head Coach Joe Lucia said. The Red swept the top three spots in both of those events. On the other hand, Cebulski took both the 1- and 3-meter dives. He won the 1-meter with a score of 267.15, and the 3-meter with a 247.95, more than 22 points ahead of Colgate’s second place finisher. Junior Ryan Buckham also had a strong race for the Red, swimming on both first-place-finishing relay teams, while also taking second in the 200-yard freestyle, with a time of 1:46.62. Freshmen Jay Thielker ended up winning the 200-yard freestyle in 1:46.06. Other winners for Cornell were junior John Kenny, who won 1000-yard freestyle in 9:50.72 and sophomore Bill Dillon, who took first place in both the 200-yard individual medley and the 200-yard backstroke. “It wasn’t a high pressure meet for us,” Lucia said, “but it was still a good win.” Next week, the Red travels to Providence to face off against two of the top teams in the Ivy League, Brown and Columbia. “Next week will determine how the Championships go, we will be resting mostly in practice so we can swim fast,” Lucia said. With the win, the Red moves to 2-5 overall, with Championships just a month away. The men return home in two weeks, when it faces Harvard and Dartmouth. Women Dominate With the Cornell women’s swimming and diving team’s win on Saturday, it now has a three meet win streak going in to the last two meets of the season. The Red defeated the Red Raiders 129-109. Junior Yoko Shibata was the top scorer for the Red, taking both the 100-yard and the 200-yard freestyle events. The Red also placed second in the 100 and third in the 200. “We went in thinking that it was going to be close. I am very impressed with how we swam,” coach Marrie Neumer said. Junior Tina Shih rounded out Cornell’s sweep of the freestyle events, taking the 50-yard freestyle in 25.24. The Red also placed high in many of the distance events. Junior Virginia Morgan won the 1,000-yard freestyle, taking it in 10:42.02, more than 10 seconds faster than her nearest competitor. Junior Whitney Gates also took the 200-yard backstroke, earning the Big Reds sixth individual event victory of the day. In addition, Cornell won the 400-medley relay with a time of 4:04.05. Juniors Karen Tornabene and Shayne Geneva, freshmen Megan Gutman, and senior tri-captain Kellee Ngan each swam a leg of the relay. One of the top stories coming out of the women’s swimming and diving team is the multitude of injuries. Senior tri-captain suffered a concussion over break and is not at full strength. Freshman Jamie Mayjek and junior Heather Dombrady are both battling shoulder injuries, and a number of other swimmers are battling the flu. “We are pretty tied and broken down, but we want to give Columbia a run next weekend,” Neumer said. With the win, the red moves to 4-4 overall and 2-4 in the Ivy’s. There are four weeks until the Ivy Championships and the women are already beginning to prepare. “We have already begun to pre-taper, and I believe we have a chance to finish five out of eight at Ivy’s,” Neumer added. The Red takes on Ivy rivals Columbia and Brown, next weekend in Providence. Archived article by Josh Vlasto