#3 Arizona State takes on #12 Cornell in a featured dual meet in Austin, Texas. Arizona State wrestled their last dual meet on November 17th in a 19-17 win over #6 Missouri. For Cornell, they last competed as a team at the Collegiate Duals, taking home a third place medal with wins over Oregon State and North Carolina, and took #4 Iowa State down to the last match before dropping the dual 18-13.
157 – Max Wilner over Gage McClenahan, 4-2
The dual kicked off at 157-pounds, and Gage McClenahan got on the board first with a hard-fought takedown to take a 2-0 lead. ASU’s Max Wilner worked back to his feet near the end of the first period for an escape to make the bout 2-1.
To start the second period, Wilner chose down and immediately reversed McClenahan with a switch, and Wilner nearly caught McClenahan on his back for swipes. Wilner then continued his momentum, and rode out McClenahan for just over a minute to end the second period.
With the score at 3-2 favoring Wilner, McClenahan started the third period on top, and wiped out Wilner’s riding time advantage. With less than a minute remaining, McClenahan cut Wilner to make it 4-2, hoping to get a takedown and tie the bout. Wilner stayed strong on defense, and prevented another takedown from McClenahan to give ASU the win at 157-pounds.
165 – #9 Julian Ramirez over Tony Negron, 6-1
Cornell’s #9 Julian Ramirez got to his offense quickly, getting in deep on a beautiful shot but great defense from Negron prevented the first score on the edge of the mat. Ramirez got back in on another single-leg, then switched his head to the outside to drive through Negron for the first takedown of the bout.
To start the second period, Ramirez extended his 2-0 lead with an escape, then got back to work with heavy hand-fighting. Shortly after, Negron shot in on a quick single-leg, which forced Ramirez to scramble. Ramirez rolled under Negron’s leg, and flipped over top for another takedown to make the score 5-0 after two periods.
Negron went underneath to start the third, and Ramirez got to work on top, nearly turning Negron and eclipsed over two minutes of riding time before a stalemate. Negron escaped to his feet after the break, but didn’t have enough time get his offense going.
174 – #5 Chris Foca over Josh Nummer, 13-0
Cornell’s #5 Chris Foca has a trend to start off the match hot, and continued that with a takedown just thirty seconds into the opening period to take a 2-0 lead. Foca opted to work on top following his takedown, and started working a tough ride on Nummer. Foca was relentless on top, nearly turning Nummer a couple of times before locking up a tilt for four back points to end the first period with a 6-0 lead.
Foca went down to start the second, and switched and reversed Nummer just seconds after the whistle, and got right back to his tilt for another four swipes, and extended his lead to 12-0 in a blink of an eye. Foca ended the second period with 4:22 of riding time, which forced Nummer to go on the feet to start the third.
Nummer put up a great fight on the feet in the third period to avoid a possible tech fall, defending off Foca and getting in on a shot of his own to end the match and limit the bout to a major decision for Chris Foca.
184 – #19 Anthony Montalvo over Ethan Hatcher, 8-5
Ethan Hatcher gets the start for the Big Red, as #9 Jonathon Loew isn’t quite back from injury.
Montalvo wasted absolutely no time, and threw Hatcher straight to his back for four back points and nearly a fall to take a 6-0 lead. Hatcher eventually worked back up to his feet to get himself on the scoreboard, and action cooled off a bit after a wild start.
To start the second period, Montalvo went underneath and got back to his feet in under 10 seconds to extend his lead to 7-1. Not much action followed in the second period, as neither wrestler attempted a shot in nearly two minutes on the feet.
Hatcher got his turn to go down, and followed Montalvo with a quick escape and had a five point deficit to make up in the final period. Hatcher started to push the pace, putting Montalvo on his heels and blasting in for his first takedown of the match. Hatcher was forced into takedown-and-cut, and chopped down Montalvo’s lead to 8-5 with 20 seconds remaining. Hatcher’s final pursuit wasn’t enough, but looked impressive after going down 6-0 just 10 seconds into the bout.
197 – #18 Jacob Cardenas over Jonathon Fagen, 6-2
Cornell’s #18 Jacob Cardenas took just two seconds to score on a blast-double and take a 2-0 lead to start the bout at 197-pounds. Cardenas followed his opening takedown with a 40 second ride, before Fagen fought to his feet and earned an escape. Cardenas got back to his tenacious double-leg, and switched to a body-lock to finish the takedown and extend his lead to 4-1. Cardenas then rode out Fagen to eclipse over a minute of riding time right before Fagen got back to his feet for another escape as the first period ended.
Cardenas started the second period with an escape, but it wasn’t before Fagen wiped out Cardenas’ one minute of riding time advantage. Not much action followed in the second period, but Cardenas had a couple looks at another takedown, but goes into the third period with a 5-2 lead.
Fagen attempted a granby roll to get to his feet right off the whistle, but Cardenas followed through and broke down Fagen to start back on another tough ride. Cardenas was working hard on top for a turn, however rode out Fagen for the remainder of the third period.
285 – #6 Colton Schultz over #16 Lewis Fernandes, 4-2
ASU’s #6 Colton Schultz put the pressure on #16 Lewis Fernandes early in the first period, causing Fernandes to get hit for stalling twice, and taking a 1-0 lead. Schultz continued the pressure in the first, being able to put Fernandes in danger with upper-body ties, forcing Fernandes to be on the retreat.
Schultz got choice first, and went underneath to start the second period. Fernandes went to dump a leg in off the whistle, and eventually worked it in before getting too high and allowed Schultz to reverse Fernandes to extend his lead. Fernandes was able to escape to his feet as the second period ended, making it 3-1 going into the third.
Fernandes then went down in the third, and worked up to his feet to make it a one-point match with just 1:30 remaining on the clock. Schultz got back to his bullying offense, pushing out Fernandes for another stall and a point with just a minute to go in the final period. With short time remaining, Fernandes couldn’t find a way to his attacks as Schultz took the victory in an anticipated heavyweight bout.
125 – #6 Brandon Courtney over #17 Brett Ungar, 7-4
ASU’s returning NCAA Finalist is back in dual meet action for the Sun Devils, just after picking up a silver medal at the Midlands Championships. Courtney flashed his speed with a misdirection slide-by, and scored the opening takedown just under a minute in the opening period. Ungar got back to his feet for an escape, but shortly after was called for stalling after numerous attacks from Courtney.
Courtney went underneath to start the second, and quickly turned in and reversed Ungar for another two points to extend his lead to 4-1. Ungar fought his way to his feet, and shot in on a single-leg but Courtney showed elite defense in order to defend off the takedown, and go into the third period with a two point lead.
Ungar got to his feet once again to start the third period, and Courtney darted in on another sweep single to score another takedown improve on his lead to 6-3. With riding time locked in with less than a minute to go, Ungar got to his feet for an escape, but wasn’t allowed any offense as Courtney continued to press the pace and cruised to a victory.
133 – #3 Vito Arujau over #4 Michael McGee, 7-5
In a rematch of the Cliff Keen Invitational Finals, the first period was full of action, however it went scoreless. McGee did a lot of level changing and fakes to get Arujau off balance, but Arujau didn’t fall for them and did well with hand-fighting throughout the period.
Arujau started down to start the second, and quickly worked his way up for an escape. Just seconds after, McGee blasted in on a super fast low-double, and sat down Arujau for the first takedown of the bout. Arujau got back to his feet, but McGee had a good chance to take an early lead in the third period.
Arujau started the third with a tough ride, but McGee got to his feet with just under 1:30 left in the bout and took a 3-2 lead. Arujau got in deep on a re-attack from McGee, and just as Arujau finished the takedown for two points, McGee then rolled through the mat return and immediately reversed Arujau to make it a 5-4 bout with less than 45 seconds remaining. Arujau got to his feet again, and had to fight off a shot from McGee. Arujau scrambled through McGee’s single-leg, and popped out the back for two points with just one second left on the clock for a huge comeback win for the Big Red.
141 – #16 Vince Cornella over Jesse Vasquez, 7-3
ASU’s Jesse Vasquez got on the board first with a takedown, scoring on short-offense with a snap and spin. Cornella was right to his feet and then scored off a single-leg attack, which would then tie the bout at 3-3 after a quick Vasquez escape. Cornella kept looking for attacks late in the first period, and found a low-double to extend his lead to 5-3 after the first.
Cornella got first choice, and went down and right up to his feet to make it 6-3 just seconds into the second period. Cornella found his groove on the feet, scoring another takedown for his third of the match, and rode out Vasquez to accumulate over a minute of riding time going into the third period.
Vasquez went down to start the third, and allowed Cornella to get back to work on top as he easily broke down Vasquez and started looking for a turn. Cornella’s hard pressure on top caused Vasquez to get hit for stalling, and rode him out the entire third period to get another win for the Big Red.
149 – #1 Yianni Diakomihalis over #6 Kyle Parco, 8-2
Cornell’s top-ranked Yianni Diakomihalis had a couple of really close looks at scoring the first takedown in the opening period, but Parco was able to fight off Yianni on the edge of the mat to go into the second period scoreless.
Parco went underneath to start the second, and was up and out within three seconds. Parco then shot in on a good-looking shot, but Yianni’s great defense allowed him to score as he cut the corner and nearly had a cradle. Yianni then starting cranking Parco on top, almost turning him in a bottom-leg turk, and nearly turning Parco in a bow and arrow.
Yianni chose to go down to start the third period, and didn’t waste much time getting to his feet to extend his lead to 3-1 with less than 1:30 to go in the bout. With short time, Yianni stayed on his offense and got the match-winning takedown with a low double. Parco got up, and went right back down as Yianni scored his third takedown and iced the dual for Cornell.
FINAL: Cornell over Arizona State, 19-12
the headline is backwards . Cornell wins.