Cornell Grabs 17th Straight Ivy Title, Rolls #19 Princeton
SOURCE: cornellbigred.com
February 10, 2019

 


ITHACA, N.Y. -- On Senior Day, Ben Honis knocked off third-ranked and unbeaten Patrick Brucki as Cornell raced out to a 34-0 lead and cruised to a 34-7 win over No. 19 Princeton on Saturday afternoon at Friedman Wrestling Center to secure its 17th consecutive Ivy League title. The Big Red improved to 11-2 (5-0 Ivy), while the Tigers slipped to 6-6 (2-1 Ivy).

Honis used a late takedown and riding time from a dominant second period on top, then avoided a last-second reversal to hand Brucki his first loss of the year. It came with Cornell already holding a 14-0 team lead and propelled the home team into the break with a nearly insurmountable 21-0 lead. It was the 33rd consecutive victory for Cornell over Princeton.

Honis' win was one of two for the Big Red in top 20 matchups. No. 11 Vitali Arujau started the second half of the dual with a dominant victory over No. 10 Patrick Glory, controlling the match before finding a cradle in the second period to earn the fall, one of five bonus point wins for the Big Red on the day.

Starting at 165, Andrew Berreyesa got the Big Red out to a rocking start, using a throw and a headlock to pin Dale Tiongson 2:33 into the match. An earlier through ended up with Tiongson on top for two, but the second effort by the freshman led to the fall.

After Brandon Womack held off Travis Stefanik, Max Dean dominated Kevin Parker with three four-point turns en route to a 16-1 tech fall to set up Honis' upset.

Brucki earned a pair of first period takedowns and Honis picked up two escapes to end the first trailing 4-2. Brucki chose bottom and tried to escape quickly, but Honis rolled through and went to work on top. Honis rode out the ranked Tiger grappler to build more than a minute of riding time, as the crowd looked for a second stall call to give Honis a point that did not come. The senior chose bottom to start the third and escaped before losing the riding time edge to get within 4-3. Brucki was able to slide behind for a takedown to go back up 6-4, but Honis tied the match on the scoreboard, getting his two with 22 seconds remaining. Brucki nearly reversed him in the closing seconds, but it was waved off at the buzzer and Honis earned the win with the riding time point.

Jeramy Sweany was dominant in a 10-2 major decision victory over Kendall Elfstrum to close out the first half of the dual.

Arujau picked up a pair of takedowns in the first, reversed Glory in the second to go up 6-1 before locking up the cradle to putting away his freshman counterpart to continue his rise up the 125 pound ladder.

A first period takedown was the difference in Chas Tucker's hard-fought, 3-2 win over Jonathan Gomez at 133 before top-ranked Yianni Diakomihalis cruised to a 14-6 major decision win over Marshall Keller at 141 to make it 34-0. The Tigers won the final two matches, though second-ranked Matthew Kolodzik was pushed to his limit at 149 by Jonathan Furnas before a takedown with eight seconds left handed the Tigers their first victory of the day. They would close with a second, earning a win at 157 by major decision.


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