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Grappling with Success

Big Red wrestling continues its rise to the top Big Red wrestling continues its rise to the top   Early on a Monday morning in late March, head coach Rob Koll folds his arms and scans the Friedman Wrestling Center. Squinting at the blinding light pouring through the glass-walled entryway, he counts fifteen athletes working […]

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Big Red wrestling continues its rise to the top

Big Red wrestling continues its rise to the top

Rob Koll 

Early on a Monday morning in late March, head coach Rob Koll folds his arms and scans the Friedman Wrestling Center. Squinting at the blinding light pouring through the glass-walled entryway, he counts fifteen athletes working out. A few lightweights trade locks and holds on the carnelian center mat. From the cramped weight room, he can hear dumbbells clanging and stomps on the treadmills. "We didn't even have practice today," Koll says with a grin, admiring the bustling scene. "This is the best I've ever felt looking at a season eight months away."

Watching his team voluntarily practice a week after finishing fifth at the NCAA Championships in St. Louis, Koll sees the kind of eagerness and determination he's been fostering for twenty years at Cornell. In 1989, when he joined Jack Spates's coaching staff as an assistant, Koll envisioned the Big Red competing not just for Ivy League crowns, but for national titles. Many saw his optimism as audacious, noting that the University hadn't had a national champion in any weight class since 1960. "People laughed at us when we talked about our goals back then," says Koll. "Now, it's satisfying to be as close as we have been."

Troy Nickerson

When Koll became head coach in 1993, he inherited a program that owned only one wrestling mat. That year, when David Hirsch '94 won the national championship at 126 pounds—Cornell's first title in thirty-four years—Big Red wrestling slowly began earning the respect of its peers and returning to the national prominence it had enjoyed in the Fifties. After a decade of continued progress, the team relocated from Teagle Hall to its current home in the Friedman Center. The $4 million building was funded primarily with support from alumni (led by former Goldman Sachs chairman and Big Red wrestler Stephen Friedman '59 and his wife, Barbara Benioff Friedman '59) and is still the only stand-alone collegiate wrestling facility in the country. "While it's a visible sign of our success, I think it's wrong to say it's the reason we're competing at this level," Koll says. "It's no secret that we're this close to a national title because we keep bringing in the right kind of students."

Troy Nickerson '09, one of the thirty-one All-Americans whom Koll has coached on the Hill, grew up forty minutes east of Ithaca in Chenango Forks. The biology and society major was a highly touted recruit out of high school— the first-ever five-time New York State champion. After two sensational seasons at Cornell, including reaching the national final as a sophomore, he severely tore a shoulder muscle and was forced to sit out the 2007-08 season. Nickerson re-aggravated the injury this year but wrestled through the pain, adjusting to attack from his non-dominant side. He grappled to a flawless 25-0 record and, at nationals, defeated the defending titleholder in overtime to become champion at 125 pounds. "It still hasn't sunk in yet," Nickerson says. "I'm just looking forward to next year, improving, and facing a new set of challenges."

At the 2008 NCAAs, Jordan Leen '10 upset three ranked wrestlers to win the national championship at 157 pounds and lead Cornell to a ninth-place finish. Returning as a team captain this season, the graduating senior from Soddy Daisy, Tennessee, was the favorite to defend his title. Despite a disappointing third place finish, Leen looks back positively on his four years in Ithaca. "On the mat and off, I've taken so much from everything I've experienced at Cornell," Leen says. "The fact that we have so many quality athletes who weren't satisfied with fifth place says a lot about where this team is headed."

With his squad already preparing for fall, Koll is excited about Cornell wrestling's prospects for 2009-10. The Big Red will return with reigning champion Nickerson (who has one more year of eligibility because he sat out last year), four other All-Americans, and Cam Simaz '12, the Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association Freshman of the Year. While anxious to compete for the national title that has eluded him, Koll says he's content with what he has achieved. "I don't want to be the kind of coach who can't ever be satisfied," he says. "We're not quite on top yet, but that doesn't mean we can't allow ourselves to be proud of what we've accomplished."

— Brian Hotchkiss

 

Big Games

March 13-29, 2009

Riley Nash

Somewhere, Ned Harkness was smiling. The two teams that the late, great coach had led to the NCAA men's hockey championship were battling in an ECAC quarterfinal series at Lynah Rink: RPI, with "Ned" stitched on their jerseys, and Cornell, with "NH" stickers on their helmets. The best-of-three series proved to be surprisingly tough for the favored Big Red. RPI took the first game, 1-0, but the next night Cornell won 4-0 in a penalty-filled affair, out-shooting the Engineers 56 to 9. The deciding contest looked easy for a while—Cornell led 4-1 after two periods—but a pair of third-period RPI goals made it a nail-biter.

The Big Red moved on to the ECAC championship, where they recorded a thrilling 4-3 double overtime win against Princeton in the semifinal. Exhausted, the Cornell players couldn't keep up with Yale's speedy skaters in the championship game, falling 5-0. But the Big Red's strong season earned the team a spot in the NCAA tournament, where Cornell came from behind to beat Northeastern 3-2 in another thriller before falling to upstart Bemidji State 4-1 in the regional final. Forward Riley Nash '11 earned first-team All-ECAC honors after leading the team in scoring with 35 points on 13 goals and 22 assists. Tyler Mugford '09 was selected as the league's Defensive Forward of the Year, and defenseman Keir Ross '12 was named to the All-Rookie team.

Sports Shorts

Chris Wroblewski 

CHAMPS AGAIN What do you do for an encore after having one of the best seasons in Cornell basketball history? Have another one just like it. This season, Cornell became only the third team to record back-to-back outright Ivy League men's basketball titles, taking the crown with an 11-3 league record and making the program's third NCAA tournament appearance. Ryan Wittman '10 and Louis Dale '10 earned first-team All-Ivy honors, Jeff Foote '09 was named Defensive Player of the Year, and Chris Wroblewski '12 was chosen as Rookie of the Year. Like last year, the team's season ended with a loss in the first round of the national tournament—but with all the starters returning, could next year be three titles in a row?

GREAT LEAP The decision by Jeomi Maduka '10 to drop basketball and focus on track and field this year paid off in the indoor season: she was a two-time All-American and regional Field Athlete of the Year while helping the Big Red women to their seventh Indoor Heps title in the last eight years. Maduka was most impressive in the long jump, finishing second at the NCAA Division I Indoor Championships with a leap of 21 feet, 4 inches, just an inch-and-a-quarter short of first place. Earlier in the year, Maduka set the school record with a jump of 21 feet, 11-3/4 inches, the best in the nation for the season. She was named the Most Outstanding Performer at the Indoor Heps after becoming the first athlete to win four individual events (60 meters, 200 meters, long jump, triple jump) in one year.

HEP, HEP, HOORAY The men's track and field team also continued its success at the Indoor Heps, winning for the second straight season and the fifth time in seven years. They scored points in 18 of 19 events, claiming seven first-place finishes and seven seconds. Assistant Coach Robert Johnson was named the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association Northeast Region Assistant Coach of the Year for his work with the middle distance and distance runners, who dominated at the Indoor Heps, winning the 800 meters, one mile, 1,500 meters, and distance medley relay.

Rebecca Johnston 

RAISING THE BAR Although only a sophomore, Rebecca Johnston '11 continues to set new standards for Cornell women's hockey. One year after becoming the first Big Red woman to be named ECAC Rookie of the Year, Johnston was selected first-team All-ECAC and second-team RBK All-American. She is the first Cornell women's player to earn All-American honors. Johnston was second in the league in scoring with 24 goals and 18 assists in 25 games and her average of 1.73 points per game placed her seventh nationally. She was also one of ten finalists for the Patty Kazmaier Award, given to the top women's hockey player in the NCAA.

GOOD FOOT After four seasons of hard work, Scott Palguta '05 has reached the top level of American professional soccer. Palguta signed a contract with the Colorado Rapids of Major League Soccer just days before he was slated to report for his fifth season with the Rochester Rhinos, who play in the United Soccer Leagues First Division. Palguta was Rookie of the Year in 2005 and an all-league pick in 2008.

 

Winter Teams

Final Records

Men's Basketball 21-10; 11-3 Ivy (1st)
Women's Basketball 10-16; 6-8 Ivy (T-4th)
Fencing 7-6; 1-5 Ivy (6th)
Gymnastics 4-2
Men's Hockey 22-10-4; 13-6-3 ECAC (2nd)
Women's Hockey 12-14-5; 8-9-5 ECAC (8th)
Men's Polo 16-5 [national semifinalist]
Women's Polo 22-1 [national runner-up]
Men's Squash 13-5; 4-2 Ivy (T-2nd)
Women's Squash 10-6; 2-4 Ivy (5th)
Men's Swimming 6-4; 4-3 Ivy (T-3rd)
Women's Swimming 1-9; 0-7 Ivy (8th)
Wrestling 12-2; 5-0 Ivy (1st)
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