In a historic weekend for the wrestling program, Cornell’s wrestlers picked up an individual title, as well as second, third and fourth places en route to finishing second in the NCAA tournament, behind powerful Iowa. The Red, which entered the championships ranked third in the country, earned its highest NCAA finish in school history.
Four of Cornell’s wrestlers who qualified for the tournament were crowned All-Americans, including freshman Kyle Dake, who took home the national title at 141 pounds. Junior Mack Lewnes earned second place at 174 pounds, sophomore Cam Simaz earned third place and senior Troy Nickerson, himself a former notional champion, earned a fourth-place finish at 125 pounds.
Dake earned his first title by a score of 7-4, showing his strength on top and defensive capabilities. Dake earned a takedown, near fall and over two-and-a-half minutes in riding time.
In Lewnes championship bout he was matched up against Iowan Jay Borschel, the No. 2 seed. Both were undefeated going into the match, which was one of the most highly anticipated of the tournament. While Lewnes wrestled hard throughout, his opponent earned the win with multiple takedowns and 3:46 in riding time.
Nickerson was matched against Angle Escobedeo of Indiana in his third place bout. The two wrestled back and forth in what seemed to be a very even match up. The Indiana wrestler’s takedown in the first period proved to be the deciding — and only — two points of the match as Nickerson ultimately fell, 2-0.
In his third-place match Simaz was paired with No. Hudson Taylor, of Maryland. The match was aggressive from the start, with both wreslter’s shooting fast and early. With the score tied at two apiece the bout moved into sudden overtime. A confident-looking Simaz circled for a takedown to quickly dispatch of the Maryland opponent once and for all.
Original Author: Meredith Bennett-Smith