Sarah Bernson, Wendy Schaenen ’79 Head Coach of Volleyball

The wrestling team traveled to St. Louis hoping to return as national champions. However, only junior Troy Nickerson was successful in that quest. The Red, which entered the tournament ranked second, finished fifth. Nickerson, competing at 125 pounds, won all five of his matches en route to claiming an individual National Championship.

Nickerson was one of four Red wrestlers to earn All-American status. The others were seniors Steve Anceravage and Jordan Leen and freshman Cam Simaz. Cornell finished behind Iowa, Ohio State, Iowa State and Nebraska, in that order. Iowa also won the National Championship last season and has won 22 total in its history.

After years of training, hundreds of hours of practice, and plenty of blood, sweat and tears, the career-defining matches for several members of wrestling team are quickly approaching. Beginning Thursday, the second-ranked wrestling team will compete in the NCAA Championships in St. Louis, Miss.

For the Red, all the pieces appear to be in place for a run at the Championship. Cornell finished 12th in 2007 and ninth last year, but this year’s team is one of the strongest in Cornell history. Seven wrestlers earned automatic bids into the Championship brackets. Two others received at-large bids. Cornell is one of only seven schools with at least nine qualifiers. Only Iowa State is represented in all 10 weight classes.

The Palestra gymnasium, in the heart of Penn’s campus, has, according to Penn’s website, hosted more NCAA tournaments than any other collegiate facility. This weekend, the storied building hosted the EIWA Wrestling Championships, a vital qualifier for the NCAAs, and a title No. 2 Cornell has held for the past two consecutive years. Yesterday, the Red reigned supreme once again, sending seven wrestlers to the finals, and securing the team title in dominating fashion, 35 points ahead of runner up Lehigh.

The big, digital countdown clock on the wall of the Friedman Wrestling Center is slowly ticking down the days left before the NCAA Championships. Today, the clock said 13; this weekend, when the team travels to Penn for the EIWA Championships it will say 11. The Championships are qualifiers for Nationals, and as such are an extremely important part of the process of being ready for the NCAAs, and the Red, currently ranked No. 2 in the country, will be pulling out all the stops to come away with its third straight team title, as well as NCAA berths in as many weight classes as possible.

Resting on their laurels is not something the members of the wrestling team are accustomed to doing. Frankly, they don’t have time, what with the EIWA Championships coming up next weekend and the NCAAs later in March. But, perhaps, they could take a second this week to give themselves a few good slaps on the back, following the announcement of the eight Red named to the All-Ivy team, four of them unanimous first-teamers. Red wrestlers also took home All-Ivy Wrestler of the year and Rookie of the Year honors, which were awarded to sophomore Mack Lewnes and freshman Cam Simaz, respectively.

The wrestling team captured its seventh consecutive Ivy League Championship with two victories this past weekend. The second-ranked Red (12-2, 5-0 Ivy) dominated matches against Brown (4-6, 3-2 Ivy) and Harvard (5-12, 2-3 Ivy) as the team completed its regular season schedule.

“[Winning the Ivy League] is real exciting, but it’s really just the beginning,” said sophomore Corey Manson. “We’ve got the EIWA tournament and the NCAA tournament coming up. Our goal is to ultimately win the National Title.”

Eat mat!: Wrestling took the Ivy League by storm for the seventh consecutive season, finishing its sweep of the Ancient Eight at Brown and Harvard this weekend. The team now heads to NCAAs.

The wrestling team has a chance to continue its run of Ivy League domination this weekend. Cornell, which is ranked second in the nation, will travel to face Brown today and Harvard tomorrow. If the Red wins both matches, it will capture a seventh consecutive Ivy League Championship.

“We really expect to win it,” said junior Troy Nickerson. “We don’t consider it one of our top goals. We see it as something that we should win every year.”

The Red (10-2, 3-0 Ivy) should be optimistic about its chances. Brown (3-5, 2-1 Ivy) and Harvard (4-10, 1-2 Ivy) lost to Penn by scores of 34-6 and 35-12, respectively. Cornell defeated the Quakers, 24-9, last weekend.

Last season, the Red won, 31-9, against the Bears, and beat the Crimson, 37-9.

Had you read the recap of the Red’s last home wrestling match this past weekend, a 26-9 win over Ivy rival Penn, you would have found three seniors mentioned in the match highlights. But had you actually attended the event at packed Friedman Wrestling Center, you would have watched five seniors step out into the center of the ring to be honored as Cornell’s Class of 2009. And while Tim Ironman and Drake Hovis may not be suited up and wrestling in official dual matches every weekend, they have played an integral part during their years with the squad, just as starters Jordan Leen, Steve Anceravage and Zach Hammond have.

Hug it out: The wrestling team routed Princeton and Penn this weekend. Penn, the Red’s closest Ivy rival, didn’t put up much of a fight. The Red is looking to stay in top form going into future matches.

On Saturday, the Red faced Princeton (2-15, 0-4 Ivy) in what turned out to be a rout of the Tigers. Cornell used four pins and three forfeits as they romped to a 54-0 victory.