No. 12 Lehigh heads to N.Y. to face No. 4 Cornell Sunday
Posted: 01/05/2012
BETHLEHEM, Pa. – Lehigh opens up the 2012 portion of its schedule Sunday afternoon as the 12th-ranked Mountain Hawks visit No. 4 Cornell in a matchup of the top two programs in the EIWA over the last decade. The Mountain Hawks return to dual competition after placing seventh at the Midlands Championships last week, with Robert Hamlin capturing the title at 184 and Joe Kennedy and Shane Welsh joining him as place winners.
Cornell, the defending EIWA Champion and NCAA runner-up is coming off a fourth place finish at the Southern Scuffle earlier this week. Last year Lehigh knocked off a heavily favored and top-ranked Cornell squad 17-15 at Stabler Arena.
The Mountain Hawks and Big Red have combined to win the last ten EIWA team championships, with Lehigh winning five straight from 2002-06 and Cornell following with a current streak of five-in-a-row. In the last ten years, Lehigh and Cornell have combined for 13 top ten NCAA finishes, nine individual national champions, 57 All-Americans and 47 individual EIWA titlists.
Hamlin won a 5-2 decision over Central Michigan’s Ben Bennett to win the 184 lb. weight class at the Midlands Championships. With the win Hamlin became the fourth Lehigh undergraduate to win a Midlands title, and the second in as many years. Hamlin was one of three Mountain Hawks to place in the top eight as Kennedy finished fifth at 197 and Welsh placed eighth at 149. As a team Lehigh finished in seventh place with 63.5 points. Hamlin went 5-0 with three bonus wins in the tournament, and was joined in the semifinals by Kennedy. Three other Mountain Hawks: Mason Beckman, Steve Dutton and Brandon Hatchett, finished one win shy of a place in the top eight.
Cornell, the five-time defending EIWA Champions and two-time defending NCAA runners-up, returns home for its first dual meet since mid-November. The Big Red defeated Minnesota 21-16 on November 18 and since then won the Body Bar Invitational, competed at the Las Vegas Invitational and most recently finished fourth at the Southern Scuffle. The Big Red boast five wrestlers ranked by Amateur Wrestling News, led by junior Kyle Dake, a two-time NCAA Champion, who is coming off a title at the Southern Scuffle and is ranked No. 1 at 157. Cam Simaz is ranked No. 1 at 197, giving Cornell two top-ranked grapplers. Simaz defaulted in the finals of the Southern Scuffle with an injury. Other ranked Big Red grapplers include Steve Bosak (No. 5 at 184), Frank Perrelli (No. 6 at 125) and Mike Nevinger (No. 20 at 141). Bosak and Lehigh’s Robert Hamlin are expected to lock horns for the fourth time in two years. Hamlin has won the previous three meetings.
Lehigh and Cornell will meet for the 89th time tonight. The Big Red serve as Lehigh’s third most often wrestled opponent, behind just Penn State and Navy. The Mountain Hawks have won seven of the last nine duals in the series.
Sunday’s dual gets underway at 1 p.m. from Newman Arena in Ithaca, N.Y. The match will be broadcast on WLVR-FM (91.3) as well as online at Lehighsports.com.
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Date:
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January 8, 2012
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Opponent:
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No. 4 Cornell Big Red
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First match:
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1:00 p.m.
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Arena:
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Newman Arena (4,473)
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Location:
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Ithaca, N.Y.
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Lehigh’s record:
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5-3 overall, 1-0 EIWA
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Cornell’s record:
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1-0 overall, 0-0 EIWA
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Series:
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Lehigh leads 59-26-3
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Television:
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Time Warner Cable (Central N.Y.) and SNY live
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Radio:
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WLVR-FM (91.3) with Steve Lomangino beginning at 12:45
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Internet broadcast:
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Live audio at Lehighsports.com
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Behind enemy lines:
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