ITHACA, N.Y. –  The No. 9 Cornell wrestling team finishes out their road stint instate as they travel to Binghamton on Saturday and Columbia Sunday afternoon.

 

DUAL INFO

vs. Binghamton

Saturday, Feb.1 at 2 p.m.

West Gym, Vestal N.Y.

Watch

 

vs. Columbia

Sunday, Feb. 2 at 12:00 p.m.

Schiller Court, New York, N.Y.

Watch

 

ALL ABOUT BINGHAMTON

Binghamton is 7-7 on the season coming off wins from Harvard and Brown last weekend.

The Bearcats return two national qualifiers, Brevin Cassella (174) and Cory Day (285), each won two matches at the tournament last season. Day defeated No. 15 Lewis Fernandes of Cornell by fall in the second consolation round.

This season, Day recorded his 10th pin of the season against Harvard's Jeff Crooks in his last match. The heavyweight entered the week tied for fourth in the nation in falls with nine. With this latest pin, Day has now posted at least 10 falls two seasons in a row. He had 12 pins during the 2023-24 season. Cassella continues to lead the team in both overall wins (18) and dual wins (10).

Binghamton has four ranked wrestlers with Cassella as the highest ranked at eight according to FloWrestling.

Cornell is 11-0 over Binghamton dating back to 1971. Last season the Big Red defeated the Bearcats 33-6 on Feb. 25 in Ithaca.

ALL ABOUT COLUMBIA

Columbia is 3-6 on the season and 0-2 in the Ivy after losses to Penn and Princeton this past weekend.

Senior 174-pounder Jack McGill earned Ivy League Co-Wrestler of the Week after finishing the weekend 2-0 with a win over a top 10 opponent. McGill posted a 14-3 major decision victory over No. 7 Nick Incontrera of Penn.

The Lions return Kai Owen (141) and Cesar Alvan (165), who have both participated in the NCAA Championships during their Columbia career. Owen qualified for the 2024 NCAA Championships, while Alvan qualified for the 2023 NCAA Championships.

Columbia has two ranked wrestlers, No. 26 Cesar Alvan (165) and No.30 Nick Fine (184).

Columbia is under new leadership as Donny Pritzlaff took over in June. He spent the past 10 years as the associate head coach at Rutgers. Pritzlaff, a two-time national champion and world medalist, brings 22 years of coaching experience at the NCAA Division I level.

Cornell is 91-14 over Columbia and 57-10 in conference dating back to 1908. Last season the Big Red defeated the Lions 32-9 on Feb. 2 in Ithaca. 

IVY LEAGUE WRESTLING IS HERE!

Cornell (2-0) sits at the top of the Ivy standings after the first weekend of Ivy League matches followed by Penn (1-0) and Princeton (1-0).

The Big Red continues its dominance over the past three decades, running its conference win streak to 17 and making it 109-1 in its past 110 Ancient Eight matches dating back to 2001.

PROJECTED LINEUP THIS WEEK

125- Marcello Milani

133- Tyler Ferrara and Ethan Qureshi

141- Josh Saunders

149- Ethan Fernandez

157- Meyer Shapiro

165- Julian Ramirez

174- Simon Ruiz

184- Chris Foca

197-  Mikey Dellagatta

285- Ashton Davis

BIG RED TIDBITS

• Five Big Red wrestlers find themselves on the first coaches' ranking for the 2025 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships. A minimum of eight matches were required to be ranked.
• Josh Saunders (141) ranked 24th, Ethan Fernandez (149) ranked 18th, Julian Ramirez (165) ranked 5th, Simon Ruiz (174) ranked 12th and Mikey Dellagatta (197) ranked 23rd.
• Cornell breaks into the top 10 of the NWCA Division I Coaches Poll at ninth as well as tenth on InterMat and FloWrestling charts.
• Julian Ramirez (5-0) and Chris Foca (5-0) remain undefeated in duals since their midseason return.
• Meyer Shapiro has won five consecutive matches since losing at the Journeyman Classic.
• Freshman Simon Ruiz leads the team in total wins this season with 13 and bonus points wins with eight after picking up two technical falls this past weekend.

BROWN/HARVARD RECAP

The Big Red open the 2025 Ivy League campaign going 2-0 on Saturday with a 39-3 win at Harvard and a 35-3 victory at Brown with Big Red wrestlers at the top eight weights in the lineup all 2-0 on the day.

No. 5 Julian Ramirez (165), No.12 Simon Ruiz (174) and No.7 Chris Foca (184) won both of their bouts with bonus points. Ramirez claimed a fall at 1:47 over Cael Berg of Harvard.

No. 2 Meyer Shapiro claimed a tech fall win over Harvard and was able to grind out a solid 7-2 victory over nationally-ranked Blake Saito of Brown.

The only two losses on the day came from No. 21 Diego Sotelo of Harvard over Marcello Milani, 6-3 and Jacob Joyce of Brown won by decision over Ethan Qureshi, 4-1.

At Brown, Saunders picked up a takedown and four swipes in the third to claim a 16-15 win over Joey Iamunno, while Fernandez was able to take down Ethan Mojena in overtime to break a 1-1 tie.

UP NEXT

Cornell finally comes home to host Princeton and Penn on Feb. 8 and Feb. 9 in Friedman Wrestling Center at 1 p.m. each day.