In a battle between two teams ranked in the top 30 of the latest NCAA Division III wrestling poll, Augustana and Cornell wrestled to a 19-19 tie on the scoreboard on Thursday, February 13 in the Carver Center. After the match was over, the Rams were declared the winner (20-19) based on total points scored in the 10 weight classes. Coming into the match, the Vikings were ranked 26^th while the Rams checked in at 18^th.
 
Each team won five matches in the evenly contested battle and Cornell rallied from seven points down with just two weight classes remaining to forge the deadlock.
 
In the early going Augustana won four of the first six matches to grab a 13-9 lead. Cornell took the 125 pound weight class to start the evening when Ben Rosen defeated sophomore Jimmy Panozzo (Carl Sandburg HS, Orland Park, Ill.) 3-2.
 
However, freshman Sean McMahon (Andrew HS, Tinley Park, Ill.) came up with a 9-4 win over Phillip Opelt at 133 to tied the match and move his record to 16-13 on the season. Sophomore Isaiah Schaub (St. Francis HS, Traverse City, Mich.) picked up a bonus point with a 14-4 win over Samuel Chalkley at 141. Schaub is now a team-leading 35-9 on the year.
 
Cornell's Trevor Engle pinned Viking junior Hector Ruiz (East Aurora HS, Aurora, Ill.) at 2:52 to give the Rams a 9-7 lead in the team scoring.
 
Augustana won the next two weight classes with junior Kevin Sundberg (Paw Paw HS, Paw Paw, Mich.) beating Danny Klema 6-0 at 157 to move to 27-12. Junior Connor Cummings (Downers Grove North HS, Woodridge, Ill.) gutted out a tough 7-6 win over Michael Maksimovic at 165 to put the Vikings ahead 13-9. Cummings upped his mark to 20-13 on the year.
 
Cornell's Brent Hamm beat junior Jordan Richardson (Grandville HS, Wyoming, Mich.) 8-2 at 174 pounds to narrow the score to 13-12.
 
At 184 pounds junior Thomas Reyhons (Davenport Assumption HS, Davenport, Iowa) came out of a flurry late in the first period to pin Aburough Abegesah at 2:38. That gave the Vikings a 19-12 advantage and pushed Reyhons' record to 30-8 this season.
 
Cornell needed two wins and a bonus point in the final two weight classes. Alex Coolidge provided the bonus points with a 12-2 win over Augustana senior Hunter Feraco (Gull Lake HS, Battle Creek, Mich.) at 197 and the Rams Carl Gaul beat Viking senior Abe Duran (East Aurora HS, Aurora, Ill.) 5-0 at 285 to account for the final score of 19-19. Cornell was given one point based on criteria to break the tie which was total points scored in all matches.
 
Augustana finishes the dual meet portion of the season 11-6 while Cornell is now 11-5. The Vikings will compete in the College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin tournament on Thursday, February 20 in Naperville, Illinois.
 
AUGUSTANA WRESTLING
February 13, 2014 *** Rock Island, Illinois *** Carver PE Center
#26 AUGUSTANA VS. #18 CORNELL
125 – Ben Rosen (C) beat Jimmy Panozzo (A) 3-2
133 – Sean McMahon (A) beat Phillip Opelt (C) 9-4
141 – Isaiah Schaub (A) beat Samuel Chalkley (C) 14-4
149 –Trevor Engle (C) pinned Hector Ruiz (A) at 2:52
157 – Kevin Sundberg (A) beat Danny Klema (C) 6-0
165 – Connor Cummings (A) beat Michael Maksimovic (C) 7-6
174 – Brent Hamm (C) beat Jordan Richardson (A) 8-2
184 – Thomas Reyhons (A) pinned Aburough Abegesah (C) at 2:38
197 – Alex Coolidge (C) beat Hunter Feraco (A) 12-2
285 – Carl Gaul (C) beat Abe Duran (A) 5-0
FINAL: CORNELL 20, AUGUSTANA 19 ** Cornell declared the winner based on total points in match
RECORDS: Augustana 11-6, Cornell 11-5