Cornell tops #22 Northern Iowa, Takes #2 Penn State To The Wire At Journeymen Duals
December 20, 2021

 


NICEVILLE, Fla. -- The Cornell wrestling team tested itself against two of the nation's best squads on day one of the 2021 Journeymen Collegiate Duals on Monday evening, knocking off No. 22 Northern Iowa 29-7 before challenging No. 2 Penn State to the final whistle in a 21-16 loss. The Big Red is 2-1 on the season and will face No. 8 Virginia Tech at 4 p.m. on Tuesday.

The Big Red got big energy from All-American Vito Arujau, who dropped down form 133 to 125 and put up big points in opening wins in both duals. He cruised to an 18-7 win over 10th-ranked Brody Teske of Northern Iowa and earned a fall over Penn State's Jakob Campbell less than a minute into his evening battle to set the tone against the Nittany Lions. Aruja was one of four Big Red grapplers to win a pair of matches on the day, joining top-ranked Yianni Diakomihalis at 149, Colton Yapoujian at 157 and Julia Ramirez at 165 to form a middleweight sweep.

Dom LaJoie picked up a big victory over nationally-ranked Kyle Biscoglia 5-2 at 133 pounds, one of thre Big Red victories over ranked UNI grapplers. Ramirez nosed past No. 23 Austin Yant by a 4-3 decision along with Arujau's triumph over Teske.

Against the Nittany Lions, Cornell ran out to a 16-6 lead after Ramirez's win over No. 26 Creighton Edsell at 165. Using its upper-weight hammers to close it out, Penn State won its last four matches by decision - all coming from grapplers ranked in the top four at their weights. No. 12 Chris Foca gave top-ranked Carter Starocci all he could handle at 174, but the Nittany Lion grappler rode out Foce in the third to claim the victory, as the riding time point was the difference in a 3-2 triumph. No. 19 Jacob Cardenas also put a scare into former Big Red All-American Max Dean at 197, but the 2019 national runner-up used a late takedown to claim a 4-2 win.





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