BINGHAMTON, N.Y. - Cornell wrestling opened its season at the 2019 Jonathan Kaloust Bearcat Open hosted by Binghamton University on Sunday, Nov. 10, with three wrestlers taking first place in their respective weight classes. Senior Noah Baughman took first at 141 pounds, junior Hunter Richard earned two bonus point victories en route to the 149 pound title and in his first collegiate action, first year Colton Yapoujian brought home the title at 157 pounds. In total, Cornell had 13 wrestlers place at the open, including three second place and two third place finishes.

In his opening round, Baughman scored a 22-5 tech fall over Army's Michael McAteer, racking up four takedowns and 14 near falls points as he got his day started on the right foot. Baughman defeated Wilfredo Gil of Franklin & Marshall in the second round, using a late takedown and riding time to earn a 9-4 victory. A 13-3 major decision over Sal Jones of the Finger Lakes Wrestling Club (FLWC) led Baughman to a 4-3 decision over Lehigh's Connor McGonagle. Baughman scored the only two takedowns of the bout against McGonagle. In the finals, Baughman and Binghamton's Anthony Sparacio went to sudden victory, where Baughman earned a takedown and two near fall points to snag the 5-1 win. Entering the weekend, Sparacio ranked No. 26 in TrackWrestling's latest rankings update.

Richard opened his tournament with a pair of bonus point victories, defeating John Kazalas of Binghamton by tech fall, 17-2, and Craig Tanner of the United States Military Academy Preparatory School by fall in 0:49. In his 12-6 win over Lehigh's Paul Watkins, Richard scored five takedowns, with four of Watkins' points coming via escape. In the 149 pound finals, Richard came back from a 6-4 deficit to defeat Matt Kolonia of Bucknell, 7-6. Richard scored an early third period escape before taking Kolonia down with just 11 seconds remaining in the contest.

Yapoujian made his case for the rankings with a run through the Bearcat Open that featured a 6-3 victory over No. 18-ranked Zach Hartman of Bucknell. Prior to meeting Hartman in the semifinals, Yapoujian defeated Markus Hartman of Army, 2-0, and pinned Benny Baker (FLWC) in 2:13. Against Bucknell's Hartman, Yapoujian scored all six of his points in the first period, taking Hartman down around one minute into the bout before scoring on a four-point tilt with 45 seconds remaining. Hartman is ranked as high as No. 10 in the Amateur Wrestling News poll and No. 14 via InterMat. In the finals, Yapoujian picked up a 14-3 major decision in a win over Lock Haven's Jonathan Ross.

Three members of the Cornell squad took second place on Sunday, featuring senior Adam Santoro at 165, sophomore Ben Darmstadt at 184 and first year Jonathan Loew at 197 pounds.

Santoro defeated Franklin & Marshall's John Crawford, 12-7, and Lehigh's Luca Frinzi, 8-4, before advancing to the finals via medical forfeit from teammate Andrew Merola. Santoro was defeated in the finals by Harvard's Phillip Conigliaro, 6-3.

Making his return to the mat, Darmstadt battled through rust in his first bout before defeating Army's Jed Smith, 10-8. Darmstadt picked things up a bit moving forward with a pair of falls, pinning Reid Robilotto (0:55) and Jonah Barley (0:44) in less than a minute each to advance to the finals. A tough test in his return to the mat, Darmstadt was defeated by host Binghamton's No. 10-ranked Lou Deprez, 7-2.

Loew was one of two new members of the Cornell program to place in the top-3 over the weekend, taking out Ethan Seeley of Franklin & Marshall by tech fall, 17-2, JT Brown of Army, 5-3, and Bennett Paulson of Army, 11-9. In the finals, Loew met No.16-ranked Drew Phipps, but was defeated by a 10-4 tally.

Taking third place for the Big Red were sophomores Dom LaJoie at 125 and Brendan Furman at 285. LaJoie was defeated in the quarters, but picked up a pair of wins in the consolation bracket to take third. Furman was defeated in the first round of the championship bracket before winning five straight in wrestlebacks. Senior Chris Schoenherr and sophomore Jake Brindley took fourth, junior Jonah Barley and first year Ryan Moore placed fifth, and Merola placed sixth due to the aforementioned medical forfeit.

Cornell returns to the mat on Saturday, Nov. 23 for a 1:00 p.m. dual against No. 12-ranked NC State University in Newman Arena.