CORALVILLE – A pair of pins put a bold exclamation point to outstanding all-America performances by Cornell juniors Killian Perrigon (JR/Oceanside, Calif.) at 157 pounds and Casey Allen (JR/Gilberts, Ill.) at 165 Saturday afternoon at the NWCA Division III Wrestling Championships inside Xtream Arena.
Both unseeded wrestlers had their hands raised following quick falls in their final matches and claimed fifth place in their respective weight classes. And the tandem's fitting conclusion happened on the same mat, about 10 minutes apart in near-identical fashion.
"There's no better way than to finish the tournament with two pins," said Cornell head coach Brent Hamm. "Both guys were unseeded, but that didn't matter. To finish on the (all-American) podium is huge for them, and our program."
Perrigon (6-3) scored an early takedown and then flipped Concordia Wisconsin's ninth-seeded Jack O'Donnell to his back for a first-period fall in 1:45. It was his second victory over O'Donnell.
Perrigon took fifth in a 157-pound bracket that saw him avenge a regular-season loss to Luther and beat three seeded wrestlers, including Millikin's No. 1 Tristan Birt on Friday.
Perrigon finished 4-2 during an impressive two-day run, doubling his season wins total entering the tournament. He was one of two unseeded wrestlers to reach Saturday's semifinals in the entire tourney.
Perrigon's valiant pursuit of a national finals berth was stopped one match short with a 5-0 semifinal loss to Coe's fourth-seeded Brady Henderson. Perrigon hung around, trailing 2-0 entering the third. Henderson scored a takedown with 30 seconds remaining to seal it.
In the consolation semifinal, Perrigon was pinned in 1:52 by U.S. Coast Guard Academy's 12th-seeded Tony Ulaszek.
Allen (13-5) also earned his first all-America award with a fifth-place effort at 165. In the place bout, Allen trailed fifth-seeded Rafael Roman 5-4 early in the second period when he muscled the North Central wrestler for a sudden turn and pin in 3:48.
It was the fourth fall and fifth bonus-point win of the tournament for Allen, who went 6-2 over the two days. Allen defeated four seeded opponents.
Allen rallied from a 5-3 third-period deficit to defeat Coe's eighth-seeded Ryker Kurimski in his first match Saturday. Allen then drew a rematch with U.S. Coast Guard Academy's second-seeded Philip Rogers, losing 16-0 by technical fall in 3:27.
This weekend marked the eighth time the Rams have landed multiple all-Americans since 2007.
Perrigon and Allen will be two key building blocks as the Rams carry momentum into next season. Cornell's national tournament lineup featured one freshman, two sophomores, four juniors and a trio of seniors in John Marsh (SR/Denver, Colo.), Trevor Trende (SR/Cresco, Iowa) and Alex Heisdorffer (SR/Walford, Iowa).
"It's a huge thing to have two returning all-Americans," Hamm said. "We've got a lot of work to do, but we're trending in the right direction."
Cornell's Saturday results
157 – Killian Perrigon (5th place) – lost 5-0 dec. vs. #4 Brady Henderson (COE); lost by fall in 1:52 vs. #12 Tony Ulaszek (USCG); won by fall in 1:45 vs. #9 Jack O'Donnell (CWI).
165 – Casey Allen (5th place) – won 7-5 dec. vs. #8 Ryker Kurimski (COE); lost 16-0 technical fall (3:27) vs. #2 Philip Rogers (USCG); won by fall in 3:48 vs. #5 Rafael Roman (NC).
