Courtesy of Iowa State Athletic Communications
ITHACA, N.Y. – The second-ranked Iowa State wrestling team made its weekend journey to New York into a successful business trip, beating No. 6 Cornell by taking seven of 10 matches for a 24-13 victory before more than 4,000 Big Red fans in Newman Arena.
The Cyclones improve their dual record to 10-2 in its 2009-10 campaign. The dual victory was the 999th in program history. Cornell falls to 3-4-1.
ISU head coach Kevin Jackson saw the dual victory as excellent preparation for his squad.
“It is exciting to come out of here with a win,” Jackson said. “Cornell is a very strong team. To win seven matches to three losses is huge and we’ll take that moving forward. We won the tight matches and that is important.”
Iowa State’s Jake Varner (21-0), the top-ranked 197-pounder in the country, proved to be too much for fifth-ranked Cam Simaz of Cornell. Varner rolled up the points quickly against Simaz, holding a 14-1 advantage heading into the final period. ISU’s three-time NCAA finalist went to work, trying to add a pin to the Cyclone team effort, but ended the match with a technical fall by a score of 19-1 (6:56).
Two-time All-American Jon Reader put bonus points on the scoreboard for the Cyclones with a 14-4 major decision of Cornell’s Justin Kerber at 165 pounds. Reader (18-3) scored six takedowns and didn’t allow an offensive point in the victory.
Five Cyclones won matches by decision. Iowa Stater Nick Fanthorpe (11-6) helped put his squad back on track after the early 6-0 deficit with an upset victory at 133 pounds. The senior All-American, ranked 13th, used an early spurt of points to hold off Cornell’s seventh-ranked Mike Grey, 6-3. Cyclone teammate Andrew Sorenon (21-6) was victorious by an identical score at 157 pounds, winning 6-3 over John Basting of Cornell.
ISU’s Mitch Mueller (21-7), ranked 10th at 149 pounds, won by decision over CU’s Corey Manson, 6-2. At 184 pounds, Cyclone Jerome Ward held off Cornell’s Steve Bosak by a score of 3-2. To conclude the ISU dual victory, heavyweight David Zabriskie (16-2) picked up a 3-1 win over the Big Red’s Josh Arnone.
The ISU-CU dual began at 125 pounds. ISU sophomore Andrew Long (21-4) couldn’t overcome the weight’s returning NCAA champion, Troy Nickerson of Cornell. An early Big Red takedown put the Cyclone grappler in dangerous position before Nickerson secured the pin at the 2:03 mark.
The Cyclones will continue to be road warriors as they take on Arizona State in Tempe, Ariz., Feb. 7. Competition begins at 3 p.m. CST.
IOWA STATE 24, CORNELL 13
125 pounds – No. 2 Troy Nickerson (CU) pinned No. 5 Andrew Long (ISU), 2:03 133 pounds – No. 13 Nick Fanthorpe (ISU) dec. No. 7 Mike Grey (CU), 6-3 141 pounds – No. 1 Kyle Dake (CU) dec. Dalton Jensen (ISU), 7-1 149 pounds – No. 10 Mitch Mueller (ISU) dec. Corey Manson (CU), 6-2 157 pounds – Andrew Sorenson (ISU) dec. John Basting (CU), 6-3 165 pounds – No. 3 Jon Reader (ISU) major dec. Justin Kerber (CU), 14-4 174 pounds – No. 1 Mack Lewnes (CU) dec. Chris Spangler (ISU), 11-2 184 pounds – No. 11 Jerome Ward (ISU) dec. No. 17 Steve Bosak (CU), 3-2 197 pounds – No. 1 Jake Varner (ISU) tech. fall No. 5 Cam Simaz (CU), 19-1 (6:53) HWT – No. 4 David Zabriskie (ISU) dec. Josh Arnone (CU), 3-1
