MOUNT VERNON – Wartburg's wrestling team showed its No. 1 national ranking Friday night with a 43-2 dual win over Cornell inside the Small Multi-Sport Center.
The Knights (3-0) collected bonus points in six matches – including four pins – and remained undefeated this season. The young Rams, with five freshmen and sophomores in the starting lineup, dropped to 2-3 in dual competition.
Sophomore Casey Allen (SO/Gilberts, Ill.) provided Cornell's lone win of the night, earning a 6-2 decision over Shea Hartzler at 157 pounds. Allen (2-1) recovered from an early takedown by Hartzler and scored the final six points of the bout. Allen recorded two takedowns and a pair of escapes for the victory.
Wartburg featured five nationally-ranked wrestlers in its lineup and took control early, receiving an 18-2 technical fall from No. 6 Brady Kyner over freshman Joey Shaw (FR/Colorado Springs, Colo.) at 125, followed by a pin (1:21) by No. 3 Kris Rumph over freshman Evan Husko (FR/Wauconda, Ill.) at 133.
At 141, Cornell's Jake Wulf (SR/Odebolt, Iowa) was tied 2-2 with Nick Meling going into the second period before Meling pulled away, 8-1. The Knights built their team margin to 19-0 after a 22-4 technical fall by No. 5 Brady Fritz over Klayton Keller (SO/Des Moines, Iowa) at 149.
After Allen's victory, the Knights retaliated with consecutive first-period pins from Max Forsyth at 165 (1:50 over Nic Jarvis (SR/Iowa City, Iowa)), Paul Calo at 174 (1:14 over Jacob Sherzer (SO/Cedar Rapids, Iowa)) and No. 2 Kyle Briggs (2:57 over Bryce Oveson (JR/Wilton, Iowa)). Briggs, a returning all-American, snapped a nine-match winning streak of Oveson (12-2).
No. 5 Kobe Woods took a 6-2 decision over Cornell's 197-pounder Kendale McCoy (SR/Oak Park, Ill.). Eli Pannell beat Alex Heisdorffer (JR/Walford, Iowa), 8-3, in the heavyweight bout.
The Rams were deducted one team point for unsportsmanlike conduct in the 197-pound match.
The Knights owned a 17-2 advantage in total takedowns and finished with 28 near-fall points.
Coming up – Cornell's next varsity competition is the Citrus Invitational Dec. 29-30 in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
