The Columbia wrestling team will kick off its Ivy League season this Saturday against the No. 1 team in the country, Cornell. This will prove to be steep competition for the Lions, who are currently No. 57 in the nation.
The Big Red boasts a 6-1 record so far this season, and eight of its wrestlers are ranked in the top 11 in the country, led by 197-pounder Cam Simaz, who’s currently top in the country. Cornell lost to Iowa at last year’s NCAA finals, and it certainly looks well on its way to getting back to the championship this season.
The competition will be fierce for Columbia, but there are definitely some weak spots in Cornell’s lineup where the Lions could rack up points or even victories. Neither Columbia nor Cornell has a ranked wrestler in the 141-pound weight class, which will give Light Blue freshman Matt Bystol a fighting chance against the Big Red’s freshman Mike Nevinger. Another area where Cornell suffers is its Heavyweight class, where Columbia’s junior Kevin Lester, who was recently elected Columbia Athletics’ Athlete of the Month for his perfect January season, will have a good chance to pull out a W.
Other promising matchups will be Columbia’s 165-pounder senior Eren Civan, who was previously ranked 18th in the country, against Cornell’s #5 senior Justin Kerber.
Looking ahead to the rest of the season, this will be Columbia’s toughest match until the EIWA Championships, where they will face the region’s top wrestlers. While No. 20 Penn may be a difficult contest for the Lions, they will fare better against No. 40 Harvard, No. 56 Princeton, and the unranked Brown Bears.
The action this weekend kicks off at 6 p.m. in Dodge Fitness Center.
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