ITHACA, N.Y. -- Heading into the final two matches of its Ivy League dual with Columbia tied at 15-15, it fell on unheralded Jace Bennett and Jacob Aiken-Phillips to bring home Cornell's 12th consecutive Ivy league title. The upperclassmen delivered.
The pair of juniors each earned dominant wins without surrendering a point to give the Big Red a 22-15 victory versus the Lions in a hard-fought dual on Saturday afternoon at Friedman Wrestling Center. Cornell improved to 10-0 on the season (5-0 Ivy) to earn its 63rd consecutive Ivy dual win and continue an unprecedented run of success. No Ivy team in any sport has won more consecutive Ancient Eight titles in conference history than the Big Red's 12. In fact, no one else has won 11 consecutive.
After No. 11 Shane Hughes pinned Craig Eifert at 174 pounds and Zack Hernandez was able to carve out a 6-3 decision versus Billy George at 184 pounds to knot the team score at 184, there might have been some trepidation in Friedman. Not on Jace Bennett's face.
He earned a takedown in the first 20 seconds and was able to tilt Matt Idelson for three near-fall points by the end of the first to take a 5-0 lead as part of what would eventually be an 11-0 major decision to give Cornell some breathing room. Aiken-Phillips had the same type of dominant effort at heavyweight. After a scoreless first period that Aiken-Phillips controlled, he earned a quick escape in the second and a takedown to make it 3-0 heading into the third. He added another takedown in the third and added in riding time for the victory, improving to 16-7 on the season.
Without four starters in the lineup, Cornell was never able to run away despite dominance at the top. Two of Cornell's wins came by decision with seven-point victories, one point shy of a major.
No. 5 UNI 24, Iowa State 13
CEDAR FALLS, Iowa -- Head coach Doug Schwab earned his first win against Iowa State since taking over the UNI program, winning 24-13, the Panthersâ biggest margin against ISU since 1951.
The No. 5 Panthers beat the No. 17 Cyclones 22-6 in 1951.
âOur seniors wanted to go out beating them,â Schwab said. âWe wanted to continue building and make a statement.â
UNI remains just one of three teams unbeaten in the top 25, improving to 10-0. The Panthers are 5-0 in the Mid-American Conference.
Iowa State got the early lead at its strongest weight class. Second-ranked Kyven Gadson earned a major decision. However the Panthers would take the next five, earning bonus points at 125 pounds with a major decision by No. 6 Dylan Peters, a tech fall by 133-pounder Joe Colon and a first-period pin by No. 14 Joey Lazor.
Headed into this weekend, top-ranked Colon was third in the nation for tech falls. He now has eight on the season.
Iowa State got the next three, but No. 5 Ryan Loder extended UNIâs lead with a 5-0 decision.
No. 9 Oklahoma State 37, Cal State Bakersfield 6
STILLWATER, Okla. -- Oklahoma State handled Cal State Bakersfield on Saturday in Gallagher-Iba Arena, walking away with a 37-6 win. John Smith and his squad improved to 7-4 on the season.
The Pokes put five bonus-point wins, three of which were falls, and it was the third consecutive dual where the Cowboys gave up two or fewer wins.
The bout started at 157 pounds, where second-ranked Alex Dieringer pinned Spencer Hill with less than a minute left in the match to give the Cowboys a 6-0 start.
Tyler Caldwell, ranked No. 5 in the country, produced his second consecutive major decision when he finished off David Meza 11-2.
Second-ranked Chris Perry earned his seventh win versus a ranked opponent, defeating No. 18 Bryce Hammond 5-2.
Redshirt freshman Jordan Rogers had a stellar performance as he was up 13-5 before pinning Sean Pollock in 5:47. It was his 11th fall of the season.
Cowboy senior and 197-pounder Blake Rosholt returned to competition for the first time in a month after battling a shoulder injury. Rosholt was up on Reuben Franklin for most of the match, but three stalling calls on the Cowboy took the match into overtime, where Rosholt was eventually outlasted, 6-4.
No. 19 Austin Marsden earned his first bonus-point win of the season, when he stuck Roadrunner Alex Encarnacion in 3:53 during the heavyweight bout.
Sophomore Eddie Klimara sealed the dual for OSU with his 19-4 technical fall versus Sergio Mendez. Klimara ended the bout after two periods, collecting six takedowns and three nearfalls.
At 133 pounds, Smith called on Brian Crutchmer, a redshirt freshman from Tulsa, Okla. In his varsity debut, Crutchmer scored the first takedown against Jose Mendoza, but he was not able to get off bottom later in the match, resulting in a 13-2 loss for the Poke.
No. 17 Anthony Collica tallied up his 22nd win of the 2013-14 campaign, defeating Ian Nickell 9-2. The Cowboy came out on top thanks to his three takedowns and a reversal.
The nightâs final bout provided a thrilling finish for Cowboy fans as No. 10 Josh Kindig came back after trailing 7-2 in the first period to beat Dalton Kelly, 12-9. He scored five points in both the second and the third periods to end up with the win.
No. 10 Missouri 18, Eastern Michigan 15
COLUMBIA, Mo. -- A day removed from a 41-0 win versus Buffalo at the annual Beauty and the Beast event, Missouri improved to 8-2 on the season and 5-1 in MAC competition with an 18-15 victory versus Eastern Michigan. The two programs each won five of 10 matches on the afternoon, with bonus point victories from Lavion Mayes and Drake Houdashelt proving to be the difference. Heavyweight Devin Mellon won a 5-2 decision versus EMU's Khodar Hoballah to power Mizzou past the Eagles in the final bout of the afternoon.
For the second time in as many weeks, Mizzou found themselves tied at 15-15 with Devin Mellon left. Once again, Mellon answered the call, getting a 5-2 decision versus Eastern Michigan's Khodar Hoballah. Mellon started the second period down and managed to shake Hoballah off the top for a reversal to take a 2-0 lead, one he would never relinquish. Mizzou's junior heavyweight rode his counterpart tough in the third to lock up more than a minute of riding time, and added a late takedown for a 5-2 victory.
Mayes, tabbed at No. 19 in the nation at 141 pounds, put the Tigers on the board first. Mizzou's redshirt freshman put together an eight-point third period which included a three-point nearfall with less than 30 seconds remaining. His victory was his sixth major decision of the season. Mayes continues to impress in his first year as a starter, and looks to climb in the conference rankings next weekend when he is slated to face Old Dominion's No. 5 Chris Mecate.
Top-ranked 149-pounder Drake Houdashelt followed Mayes with a bonus point victory of his own in an 18-3 technical fall versus Mike LeHolm. Houdashelt followed up an eight-takedown performance Friday night with six more on Saturday. His takedown at 5:42 into the bout increased his lead to 15 points, ending the match by technical fall.
True freshmen Joey Lavallee and J'den Cox both picked up decisions versus their counterparts as well, at 157 and 197 pounds respectively.
Mizzou's victory on Saturday was Brian Smith's 199th win as a NCAA head coach. Smith boasts a 197-90-3 record in his 16th year at the helm.
