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The Cornell Daily Sun (https://cornellsun.com/2003/02/13/moving-tale-from-spain/)

February 13, 2003

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Moving Tale From Spain

By wpengine | February 13, 2003

Pedro Almod

Track Splits Squads

By wpengine February 14, 2003

Every member of the men’s and women’s track teams will have a chance to run this weekend, as both squads face competition here in Barton Hall and at the Penn State Invitational in College Park. The home meet features thirty teams from around the state and the East Coast, while the Penn State Invitational offers a total of twelve Big Ten, ACC, and MAAC schools. “We decide who runs at which meet based on where we think each athlete will have the best competitive opportunity,” said women’s head coach Lou Duesing. “Certainly, some of our best athletes will go to Penn State because it’s a more competitive meet, but we also have many outstanding people who will stay here.” Both the men’s and women’s teams will use similar strategies, sending roughly 25 of their top athletes to Penn State and keeping the rest of the squad for the home meet. The Red’s toughest competition will be at Penn State, where big-name schools such as Ohio State, Penn State, Michigan, West Virginia, East Carolina, and Pittsburg will also send their best runners, jumpers, and throwers. But, teams such as Buffalo and Binghamton will look to challenge the Red at home as well. Coach Duesing is optimistic about his team’s chances in both venues. “Last year we scored in eight events and beat four or five teams. We’re a better, more prepared team this year and I think everyone feels that we can do better. We’re going to go in there, stick our noses in it, and be competitive,” he said. The Red men are also confident but know that they will face some of the fastest runners, best jumpers, and biggest throwers in the country this weekend. Junior Jason Hart spoke for his team, saying, “This is a chance for us to see if we can play with the big boys.” To prepare for such high-level competition, the men eased up practice this week. “We throttled back in practice a little bit,” said Hart. “Coach Taylor wanted to make sure that everyone was fresh going in so that we’d have our best chances to really show our stuff.” Middle and long distance sprinters stand a chance to really break out at Penn State because the track there is notoriously fast and banked. For both Red men and women, this meet serves as the true culmination of the regular indoor season and both teams hope to go all out and perform well in both meets before tapering for the Heps championships, which loom only two weeks away.Archived article by Everett Hullverson
Wrestling Looks for Outright Ivy Title

By wpengine February 14, 2003

The wrestling team hits the road again this weekend to face league rivals Harvard and Brown. Besides looking to regain its No. 6 spot in the national polls, the team will also be hunting for Cornell’s first outright Ivy wrestling title since 1995. Cornell last traveled to Harvard during the 2000-01 season, eventually losing to the Crimson 28-13. At the time, Harvard earned two pins and managed to knock off senior Clint Wattenberg, then the top-ranked wrestler in the EWIA. It was also a tough day off the mats, as Harvard fans showed up en masse. “I was called just about every derogatory name I’ve ever heard,” said head coach Rob Koll. He went on to note that it wasn’t the name calling that hurt him. “It was the loss,” Koll said. Things should be different this time for the team. Harvard no longer boasts the same roster they did in 2000, and has since lost a slew of seniors including All-American David Rechul to graduation. Jesse Jantzen, however, is still with the Crimson. A third-place finisher at NCAA’s, Jantzen will be taking on Dustin Manotti in tonight’s 149-pound match. With both wrestlers owning spots in the current polls, this match has also drawn a national spotlight, being billed by several wrestling news services as the match of the week. Koll was especially enthusiastic about this opportunity, noting that Jantzen would provide a “great challenge” for Manotti. “This kid is probably the best mat wrestler in the country right now,” Koll said. “It’d be a great win for Dustin if he could knock him off.” Besides Manotti, the Red’s lineup should feature the usual suspects. An added bonus for Cornell will be the return of sophomore All-American Travis Lee. The 125-pounder has encountered knee problems since the national duals earlier in the season. Besides defeating Harvard, the grapplers will also have to make their way past Brown tomorrow if they hope to stay on top of the Ivy League. Still, with Brown sporting injuries and coming off of a loss to Penn, the coaching staff is remaining optimistic about the match. Above all, assistant coach Derek DelPorto stressed each wrestler’s motivation as the reason they should come home with a title this weekend. “There’s not 10 other kids in the Ivy League that work as hard,” he said.Archived article by Matt Janiga