By wpengine
Nothing is automatic. There are no guarantees. Wrestling team head coach Rob Koll was unequivocal: “Every single match is crucial.” The grapplers host the Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association Tournament this weekend at Barton Hall. At stake, along with team and individual trophies, are 36 slots to the NCAA championships. The Red, ranked sixth in the nation, goes into the tournament ready to wrestle after an off-week and a 27-5 whipping of East Stroudsburg two weeks ago. The team’s biggest competition for the team title will likely come from No. 4 Lehigh. The Mountain Hawks beat Cornell 27-10 in a dual meet earlier this year. Koll noted, however, that while Lehigh has more top-ranked competitors, the Red can counter with greater depth “We’re the only team that has everyone seeded in the top eight,” he said. “We plan on winning with our depth.” Cornell has one of the top four seeds in eight out of the 10 weight classes. Sophomore Travis Lee leads the way for the Red with the top seed at 125 pounds, and right behind him are four wrestlers seeded second in their weight classes — junior Alejandro Alvarez at 133, freshman Dustin Manotti at 149, senior Clint Wattenberg at 184, and classmate Matt Greenberg at 197. With five more ranked athletes, Cornell will field a formidable group. “Everyone on the team needs to place,” said Koll. If that happens, he noted, the team will likely accumulate enough points to start thinking about a championship. “The quarterfinal matches for us are going to be critical,” Koll said. “We’re going to have to wrestle pretty well, and get some minor upsets.” And those “minor upsets” will be what puts the team into position for a win. “Right now, we’re just looking to get into the semis,” he concluded. By reaching the semifinals, wrestlers automatically place in the tournament, and as Koll noted, that’s all they need to do. Everything from a home crowd to a long, icy drive to Ithaca should be working for the grapplers today and tomorrow, as they look for their first EIWA title since 1993. They just need to meet their own expectations and make it to the next level: NCAAs. “I’d like to see all 10 of our guys spending their Spring Break in Ithaca,” said Koll. “Not many agents are going to be selling that ticket, but it’s the hottest one on our team.”Archived article by Matt James
By wpengine
For someone whose name appears in the paper frequently, I was exceedingly proud to see my name listed in Sun, and it didn’t just have to do with its close proximity to another name on campus. To be honest, I don’t remember when I signed an anti-war statement. I probably thought that it was a pathetic ruse from an S.A. candidate (sign up if you’re against the war in Iraq, and if you will never support a fenced in catered Slope Day) — but I was honored to be one of the 1,001 reasons not to go to war. Hey, of all the things that I could be associated with in the paper, that’s probably one of your safer choices. On the other hand, the student anti-war protest “Books not Bombs,” which ironically had students ignoring their books and dropping verbal bombs on Day Hall, did little to enforce my belief that we students can be heard. Even more depressing is that another pseudo-student protest among just over one dozen athletes at a school one-seventh the size of Cornell is garnering more attention than the high schools and colleges of the nation. Just what did the St. Bonaventure basketball team think it was accomplishing when it decided to cancel the rest of its season? Sure, the players would be disappointed to find out that transfer student Jamil Terrell was ineligible according to NCAA regulations. The fact that the Bonnies had to forfeit six games for the university’s oversight hurt the team’s morale and its chances for a promising postseason. The conference’s decision to exclude the Bonnies from the Atlantic-10 tournament is harsh. But no matter what, you don’t quit. The team decided to end its season with Saturday’s 78-77 loss to Temple. It had two games left, including its Senior Night game scheduled for tomorrow. Now the A-10 is thinking of booting the Bonnies out of the conference for these actions. This issue has been escalating exponentially since Monday’s initial A-10 announcement. Bonnies: We’re going to stack our roster with an ineligible player. A-10: We’re going to take away six of your games, and guess what