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The Cornell Daily Sun (https://cornellsun.com/2001/11/30/wrestlers-ready-to-gamble-in-vegas/)

November 30, 2001

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Wrestlers Ready to Gamble in Vegas

By wpengine | November 30, 2001

The wrestling team grapples today in Sin City, Las Vegas, Nev. in the Cliff Keen Invitational. This is a large tournament that attracts some of the best teams in the country.

The preliminary matches commence today, and the semifinals and finals will be held tomorrow, the second day of the competition. The back half of the two-day tournament is sure to pit some of the top wrestlers in the country fighting for the rights to each weight class championship.

Last week, down in Chapel Hill, N.C. at the Sharpie Carolina Open, senior co-captains Jim Stanec and Clint Wattenberg grabbed first place in their respective weight classes (174-lbs., 184-lbs.). Juniors 141-lb. Byron Warner, 157-lb. Andy Tieben, and 197-lb. Matt Greenberg met the same championship destiny claiming titles of their own.

Freshman 125-lb. Travis Lee and sophomore 165-lb. Ray Callaway figure to make the trip out west by virtue of their second place finishes last week.

This tournament is different than earlier ones the Red has competed in because head coach Rob Koll was limited to bringing only ten wrestlers. He selected the top wrestlers from each weight class to make the trip. Boarding passes will be issued to those who have been successful thus far in earlier tournament performance and in intrasquad wrestle-offs.

The Red is riding a high after last week’s team performance, receiving some votes in the latest NCAA Division I rankings. . Stanec, Wattenberg, and Greenberg are ranked 10th, 17th, and 20th respectively in the country in their weight classes. Junior Gabe Webster also received some votes in the NCAA individual rankings.

The wrestlers attending the invitational will face the top wrestlers in the country as Illinois, Nebraska, Lehigh, Arizona State, Oregon State, Edinboro, Oregon, Boise State, Fresno State, and Michigan join Cornell in Las Vegas. Last year at the Cliff Keen, these teams all finished in the top ten in the team standings while Illinois took the team title.

This time around, the Red will look to improve on its 14th place finish, as Koll brings in a more talented and experienced team.

Archived article by Donald Lee

Related

Alan Comerford '02 Celebrated at Service

By wpengine December 3, 2001

In the midst of gray skies, family and friends of Alan Comerford ’02 met in Anabel Taylor on Friday to remember the life of a student described as brilliant, kind, and driven. They gathered to grieve for the loss of Alan, whose body was discovered in Cascadilla Creek gorge on the morning of Nov. 20. The memorial began with the reading of Comerford’s Cornell application, in which he sought to explain his personal philosophy. Using the metaphor of a sandwich, Comerford wrote: “Family is the bread of humanity — the foundation of a person’s life … Friendship is the spread for life … The meat is a person’s inner thoughts.” “Alan was a true friend. He challenged by intellect and inspired me to study philosophy. I hope that some of the insight I gained from Alan could be transferred to others,” said Brian Ephraim ’02. Comerford was also remembered as a loving brother, brilliant student, and a humorous person. “Alan was the computer guru who people always asked for help — the perfectionist who fixed what was wrong and made it better,” said Comerford’s sister, Rachel Comerford. Rachel Comerford remembered a big brother who “bought me the most beautiful beads when I began to make necklaces,” and who “taught me how to wear my pants over my new boots so that I wouldn’t look like a dork.” One of Comerford’s professors said, “What I will always remember is his incredible sense of humor.” Comerford, a molecular biology and genetics student at Cornell, was also a trained emergency medical technician, fireman, and paramedic. He was interested in pursuing a career in pediatric emergency care. “Alan was a man on his way to living the life he wanted. He was considering suspending medical school to become an emergency physician for the Armed Services. He wanted to be where the action was,” said Liam Comerford, Alan’s father. “Alan could hold a man’s guts together with his hands, but what made him the saddest were the stories of the children suffering,” the elder Comerford said of his son. “The reason why people who remember Alan — that guy from high school — is because he put his heart into everything,” said Rachel Comerford. Rabbi Edward Rosenthal concluded the memorial with the Kaddish, a prayer for mourners and for the dead. Archived article by Jamie Yonks
Celebration Honors Native Experiences

By wpengine December 3, 2001

“We honor our elders to think where we have been, so we can know where we are, so we can know where we are going,” said Angaangag Lyberth, an elder of the Inuit Nation. The gathering of over 200 people on Friday at the David L. Call Auditorium to honor the elders Wilma Mankiller of the Cherokee Nation and Tom Porter of the Mohawk Nation marked the beginning of the three day “American Indian Millennium: Renewing Our Ways of Life for Future Generations” conference. The conference was attended by Native people from across the globe. Introducing the elders, John Mohawk, Seneca historian and Professor of History at SUNY Buffalo, said “You cannot preach integrity to people. How wonderful it is when we have leaders who show us that — who show us who we are.” “When we were young we thought we were going to flip-flop this world upside down,” said Porter, the co-founder of the White Roots of Peace, a group of Iroquois elders who toured the country in the 1960s promoting traditional teachings and encouraging Natives to embrace their respective traditions. “Whatever efforts we made, all the battles we went through, I would not trade it in for this, that or anything,” he added. “Our honor is to be able to help people,” said Mankiller, the Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation from 1985-1995. Both received a traditional piece of Iroquois pottery as a recognition of their years of service to their communities. Matt Fellman ’02, who attended the keynote event said “White America would be much better off if we had leaders with integrity like Tom Porter and Wilma Mankiller.” American Indian struggles with identity, health, education, land, the future, and spirituality were highlighted during the three day conference. Sherri Mitchell, of the Penebscot Nation, related her own conflict to a panel on Health and Reproduction: “I was doing the work, had the car, the clothes, the trendy friends, and I was going home at night and crying. My identity was tied up with my ability to live in that part of the world.” “The important thing today is to remember that as Native people we have always been here and we always will be” said Migizi Pensoneau. The conference was organized by Jose Barreiro, Director of Communications and Editor in Chief of Akwe:Kon Press/Native Americas Journal, Dagmar Thorpe, executive director of Life Way, and Tim Johnson, Executive Editor of Indian Country Today. A video webstream of the conference will soon be posted on www.nativeamericas.com.Archived article by Peter Norlander