General Thoughts

In the events first year this is the second best wrestling event of the college wrestling season, only behind the NCAA tournament. The arena setup is identical to the NCAA tournament, the energy is there, and some of the duals being in close quarters were chippy. This event essentially kicks off the wrestling season and there are high octane bouts from start to finish. It is a must for all college wrestling fans to attend.

New York Natives In Attendance

133 – Zach Redding (Eastport-South Manor, NC State)
133 – Tyler Ferrara (Chenango Forks, Cornell)
157 – Benny Rogers (Wantagh, Cornell)
157 – Nate Wade (West Genesee, Cornell)
157 – Cam Catrabone (Williamsville North, Michigan)
184 – Zack Ryder (Minisink Valley, Oklahoma State)
184 – Brock DelSignore (Shenendehowa, Little Rock)
184 – Christian Hansen (Cold Spring Harbor, Cornell)

Round #1 – Cornell vs #5 Oklahoma State

Coach Mike Grey made sure the Big Red were ready to scrap this weekend, and it showed in their opening round against Oklahoma State where they split matches 6-4 with Oklahoma State en route to a 22-12 loss. Three of those four wins were considered to be “upsets.”

The upsets came early and often, starting with Chenango Forks standout Tyler Ferrara when he picked up an 11-9 win over 2024 NCAA champ Richard Figueroa at 133lbs. Ferrara would find himself in a deficit early on in the match, but was able to claw his way back in the second and third periods to propel himself to an 11-9 win. At the time of the bout Figueroa was ranked as high as 8th in the country, while Ferrara is currently ranked 26th.

The second win of the dual would come from freshman Jaxon Joy. After taking a greyshirt year, he is already ranked as high as 7th in the country. He would square off against 2024 NCAA All-American Casey Swiderski at 149lbs. Swiderski is currently ranked as high as 3rd in the country. Joy would be down most of the match, but was able to secure a last second takedown to walk out of the match victorious.

After churning out an All-American performance as a freshman, Simon Ruiz has looked the part to start the year and that continued in his bout against Alex Facundo. After transferring from Penn State to Oklahoma State, many people have considered Facundo to be an All-American contender up at 174lbs. Ruiz would go on to win the bout 2-0 with an escape and riding time point. Controlling victory over the #17 guy in the country.

The last win for the Big Red was a matchup between former New York State Champions in Zack Ryder (Minisink Valley, Oklahoma State) and Christian Hansen (Cold Spring Harbor, Cornell). This bout was particularly interesting as it lasted a total of 32 minutes from first to final whistle, and was littered with many blood timeouts and a lengthy concussion protocol assessment. The bout would begin where Ryder and Hansen were in an offensive exchange early in the first period, and Hansen completely busted his forehead open which required a lot of work to wrap him up. After that, he was sent into the back of the venue for concussion protocol, then came back out and they resumed the match. There were several other blood timeouts, and at the end of the match Ryder took a shot where Hansen then re-attacked and came out with the takedown.

Other Opening Round Bouts

Zach Redding (Eastport-South Manor, NC State) is now down at 133lbs after competing most of his career at 141lbs, with stints up at 149lbs. He knocked off 2x NCAA qualifier and #12 Julian Farber (Northern Iowa) in sudden victory.

Cameron Catrabone (Williamsville North, Michigan) moved up a weight class from a year ago and is the 157lbs starter for the Wolverines now. He would take it to #24 Chance McLane (Arizona State) where he secured a late takedown and a set of nearfall to pick up a major decision victory.

Brock DelSignore (Shenendehowa, Little Rock) would drop a close bout to #26 Chris Moore (Illinois) in his opening round bout to close out any notable results from New York natives.

Consolation Round #1 – Cornell vs Northern Iowa

In the first consolation round Cornell would toe the line against a tough Northern Iowa squad, who dropped their opening round match against NC State. Cornell would win two matches in a 26-8 loss with freshman Jaxon Joy and returning All-American Simon Ruiz collecting wins for the Big Red.

Jaxon Joy would continue what has been a great start to his freshman campaign, as he would major #14 Caleb Rathjen 11-2. Simon Ruiz would square off against returning NCAA qualifier Jared Simma, where he would score 10 points in the third period to have secured a technical fall with riding time. Ruiz, however, seemed a little confused on the score and elected to cut Simma which brought the final score to an 18-4 major decision when it otherwise would have been an 18-3 tech fall.

Tyler Ferrara (Chenango Forks, Cornell) would be leading throughout most of his match against 2x NCAA qualifier and 12th ranked Julian Farber, however, Farber mounted a comeback in the third period. Ferrara ultimately dropped the match 10-7.

Louie Cerchio continues to be someone who impresses even in defeat. Cerchio lost his bout 2-1 to #5 Ryder Downey on a riding time point, but Cerchio continues to have extremely close matches with top five guys in the country. As things fall into place late in the season, he’s someone who could certainly breakout.

Other Match Results

133 – Ronnie Ramirez (Oklahoma State) dec Zach Redding (Eastport-South Manor, NC State) 4-2
157 – Antrell Taylor (Nebraska) tech Cam Catrabone (Williamsville North, Michigan) 20-5
184 – Aeoden Sinclair (Missouri) maj Brock DelSignore (Shenendehowa, Little Rock) 15-6
184 – Zack Ryder (Minisink Valley, Oklahoma State) dec Donald Cates (NC State) 2-1

Box Scores

Oklahoma State 22 Cornell 12
125 – Troy Spratley (Oklahoma State) maj Brett Ungar (Cornell) 14-5
133 – Tyler Ferrera (Cornell) dec Richie Figueroa (Oklahoma State) 11-9
141 – Sergio Vega (Oklahoma State) dec Josh Saunders (Cornell) 5-0
149 – Jaxon Joy (Cornell) dec Casey Swiderski (Oklahoma State) 4-3
157 – Landon Robideau (Oklahoma State) tech Benny Rogers (Cornell) 19-4
165 – Ladarion Lockett (Oklahoma State) dec Lou Cerchio (Cornell) 6-3
174 – Simon Ruiz (Cornell) dec Alex Facundo (Oklahoma State) 2-0
184 – Christian Hansen (Cornell) dec Zack Ryder (Oklahoma State) 4-2
197 – Cody Merrill (Oklahoma State) dec Aiden Hanning (Cornell) 8-2
285 – Konner Doucet (Oklahoma State) maj Ashton Davis (Cornell) 10-2

Northern Iowa 26 Cornell 8
125 – Trever Anderson (Northern Iowa) dec Marcello Milani (Cornell)  10-5
133 – Julian Farber (Northern Iowa) dec Tyler Ferrara (Cornell)  10-7
141 – Cory Land (Northern Iowa) maj Josh Saunders (Cornell)  9-0
149 – Jaxon Joy (Cornell) maj Caleb Rathjen (Northern Iowa)  11-2
157 – RJ Weston (Northern Iowa) maj Nate Wade (Cornell)  11-10
165 – Ryder Downey (Northern Iowa) dec Lou Cerchio (Cornell)  2-1
174 – Simon Ruiz (Cornell) maj Jared Simma (Northern Iowa)  18-4
184 – CJ Walrath (Northern Iowa) dec Christian Hansen (Cornell)  8-3
197 – Kalob Runyon (Northern Iowa) dec Aiden Hanning (Cornell)   2-0
285 – Wyatt Voelker (Northern Iowa) Ashton Davis (Cornell)  5-2