MOUNT VERNON – Cornell head coach Mike Duroe has wrestlers at four consecutive weights representing the host school at this weekend's NCAA Division III Championships at the U.S. Cellular Center in downtown Cedar Rapids.
Phillip Opelt (JR/Neillsville, Wis.) (133 pounds), Josh Martin (SO/Lombard, Ill.) (141), Trevor Engle (SR/Kansas City, Mo.) (149) and Aaron Engle (JR/Kansas City, Mo.) (157) will compete for a spot on the podium in their respective 18-man brackets as action gets underway at 11 a.m. Friday. Session II starts at 6 p.m. and will determine the eight All-Americans at each weight by the end of the night.
Saturday's championship semifinals are at 10 a.m. and include third-, fifth- and seventh-place matches. The finals are set for 7 p.m.
Trevor Engle (15-5) is a rare four-time qualifier seeking his first NCAA medal. The senior leader faces a tough opening assignment in Ursinus' top-seeded Derek Arnold (29-1), who placed fourth in 2015. The 149-pound class also features defending NCAA champion Kenny Martin of Wartburg and two-time All-American Dan Mirman of John Carroll.
Engle took third at regionals while climbing to 10th place on Cornell's career wins list with a 109-33 mark. Engle is 5-6 in NCAA matches, going 2-2 last year.
Opelt (18-8) is back in the 133-pound field for the second time in three years. The junior has an opening pigtail bout against Johnson & Wales' Joseph Ferinde (26-13). The winner takes on McDaniel's third-seeded Ryan O'Boyle (16-2), a fourth-place finisher in 2014. The bracket includes three other returning All-Americans in Jesse Gunter (Baldwin Wallace), Nathan Pike (New York) and Connor Campo (Wartburg).
Opelt was runner-up at the Central Region Championships. Derailed by injury most of last season, Opelt went 1-2 in his first NCAA appearance in 2014.
Martin (22-11), a sophomore, makes his NCAA debut in a pigtail bout against Elmhurst's second-seeded Jimmy Nehls, the Midwest region champion who earned All-America honors competing for UW-Whitewater in 2014. The winner meets Nick Wahba (22-3) of Ithaca. This weight class is stacked with five All-Americans, including last year's 141-pound runner-up in Luther's Drew Van Anrooy.
Martin heads the Rams in wins this season. He fell 6-2 to Van Anrooy in the championship match of the Central Regional.
Aaron Engle (21-14), a first-time qualifier, has a first-round match against sixth-seeded Antonio Mancella of The College of New Jersey. Mancella placed eighth in 2015. The winner would get a likely quarterfinal match against Wartburg's third-seeded Drew Wagenhoffer, who is among three multi-time All-Americans in this bracket.
Engle earned an NCAA berth as the regional runner-up, falling 9-5 in the final to Wagenhoffer. That loss snapped a five-match winning streak for the Ram junior.
The Rams have crowned 16 All-Americans since 2006. They've recorded seven top-25 NCAA team finishes in the last nine years.
