SOURCE: cornellbigred.com

January 11, 2020

ITHACA, N.Y. - Cornell wrestling split a pair of duals in its return to home wrestling on Saturday, Jan. 11, falling to #14 Lehigh, 19-14, in the early portion before defeating Ivy League opponent Columbia, 27-12. Following the split, the No. 19-ranked Big Red improved to 5-4 on the season and start the season 1-0 in Ivy League competition. It's Cornell's 89th consecutive Ivy League victory.

Close matches were the deciding factor against Lehigh, with the Big Red coming up short in three bouts decided by a takedown or less. Cornell picked up four victories in the dual overall with two coming by way of major decision.

With the dual starting at 125 pounds, Dom Lajoie was nearly able to upset #5 Brandon Paetzell, but was narrowly defeated by a 5-4 decision. Senior Chas Tucker got Cornell on the board and kept his unbeaten streak alive at 133 pounds, knocking off #10 Nick Farro, 6-4, in the first sudden victory period. Noah Baughman also wrestled a nail-biter, falling to Dan Moran by a final score of 2-1.

At 149 pounds, Hunter Richard bounced back from a three-match losing skid to score a 13-3 major decision over JT Cooley. Richard's major gave the Big Red a brief 7-6 lead in the dual. Adam Santoro was defeated by #10 Josh Humphrey's which gave Lehigh the lead back for good. Like Tucker's match, Jake Brindley's match with Brian Meyer went to sudden victory, but it was the Mountain Hawk that found the takedown this time around.

Jordan Kutler, the No. 2-ranked wrestler at 174 pounds, scored Lehigh's lone bonus victory of the dual with a 9-1 victory over Milik Dawkins, who made his season debut at 174. Cornell's biggest win of the day came at 184 pounds, where Jonathan Loew upset #21 Chris Weiler by decision, 8-6. Weiler entered the match on a high after defeated Binghamton's No. 5-ranked Lou Deprez on Friday night. Loew's victory over Weiler could be Loew's ticket into the FloWrestling rankings next week.

Ben Darmstadt continued to enjoy his bump back up to 197 pounds, defeating #18 Jake Jakobsen by major decision, 8-0. With the Big Red trailing by two points heading into the heavyweight bout, Lehigh's Jordan Wood defeated Brendan Furman, 5-0.

Cornell enjoyed all-around success against Columbia as a pair of wrestlers knocked off ranked opponents en route to a 27-12 victory that featured a pair of bonus point wins. Lajoie started things off for the Big Red, defeating #23 Joe Manchio by way of an 8-5 decision. Tucker gave the Big Red a 6-0 lead after his 8-2 victory over Trent Svingala. Baughman picked up Cornell's second ranked win of the dual, upsetting #23 Matt Kazimir, 3-1.

Richard picked up his second bonus victory of the day, giving Cornell a massive 13-0 lead over the Lions just before the mid-way point. Kyle Mosher was the lone Lion to secure victory for his team on Saturday afternoon, pinning Santoro (6:42) in a weird exchange. Andrew Merola earned his first dual victory as a member of the Big Red following Mosher's win, defeating Riley Jacops, 3-2. Dawkins also got back into the win column against Columbia, shutting out Lennox Wolak, 4-0.

Loew continued a strong day of wrestling, scoring an 18-2 tech fall over Columbia's Michael Baker to finish the day 2-0. Loew, Tucker and Richard each went 2-0 on the day. Furman closed the day on the right foot with a 7-0 victory over Danny Conley.

Up Next: Next week the Big Red will be in action for two duals, traveling to Rutgers on Friday, Jan. 17 and hosting Virginia Tech in Newman Arena on Sunday, Jan. 19. Rutgers is a perfect 6-0 in duals so far this season and recently took seventh at the Southern Scuffle. The Scarlet Knights will face Ohio State and Michigan State on Jan. 10 and Jan. 12, prior to hosting Cornell. One of the top teams in the country, Virginia Tech is 5-0 in duals, highlighted by wins over four ranked teams (Missouri, Northwestern, Ohio State, Central Michigan).