Cornell freshmen 157-pounder Gabriel Smith and heavyweight Landen Schemmel were crowned champions in their respective brackets at Saturday’s 8-Man Battles, hosted by UW-Eau Claire.
Coach Brent Hamm’s Rams added six individual runner-up finishes and placed second in the five-team field with 141 points. UW-Eau Claire took the team title with 165.5 points.
Smith (8-2) continued an impressive start to his collegiate career with three more wins, highlighted by a 13-12 decision over UW-Eau Claire’s Jan Hernandez-Soto for the championship. Smith opened his day with a fall in 3:37 and then earned a 9-3 semifinal win over UW-Eau Claire’s Colton Sund.
Schemmel (5-3) won the round-robin format in the heavyweight division with a 3-1 record. He recorded three pins, while dropping a 5-1 decision to teammate Drake Fox. Cornell’s Quinn Wilcoxen and Fox both went 3-1 and finished second and third respectively.
Christian Diaz (3-1 at 133), Carter Fecht (1-1 at 141), Landon Card (2-1 at 149), Cael McLaren (2-1 at 184) and Treyten Steffen (1-1 at 197) all placed second in their weight classes.
The Rams received third-place showings from Jase Van Pelt (1-1 at 125), Jacob Ramirez (1-2 at 149), Cory Stewart (2-1 at 165), Dahson DeJong (2-1 at 174) and Jackson Brinker (2-1 at 197).
Cornell had 22 wrestlers compete in the gold division.
In the flighted divisions, Callum McAllister took runner-up at 141. Collin Brown was third at 149.
Coming up – Cornell competes Dec. 3 at the MSOE Invitational in Milwaukee, Wis.