The Penn wrestling team made the long trip to Ithaca on Friday with an Ivy League title on its mind. But in front of a packed house at Niemand Arena, Cornell - in a quest for its fifth-straight league crown - took the wind out of the Quakers' sails.
And the weekend only got worse for Penn (7-7, 2-2 Ivy), as it watched its title hopes all but wash away with a loss to unranked Columbia in New York City.
The No. 16 Quakers could only manage to win three of 10 bouts against the No. 13 Big Red (6-5, 3-0 Ivy), as Cornell cruised to its 25th Ivy League dual-meet victory in a row by a score of 28-13.
Penn jumped out to a strong start in the meet with an impressive showing from junior Zack Shanaman, who upset No. 10 Steve Anceravage.
But with Matt Herrington, Lior Zamir, Ben Reiter, and Jack Sullivan all dropping crucial decisions, the overpowering Big Red were able to make quick work of the Quakers.
Cornell rode the momentum into a dual meet Saturday against Princeton, routing the Tigers 56-0 - the largest margin in school history - and emerging as the clear frontrunner in the race for the Ivy League Championship.
One bright spot for Penn was No. 1 senior Matt Valenti, who handed Cornell's No. 3 Adam Frey his first loss of his career at 133 pounds.
It took less than two minutes for the Quakers' national champion to flip Cornell's top freshman into the pin, earning his 125th career victory and solidifying his spot at No. 1 in the nation.
After winning another bout on Saturday against Columbia (6-3, 2-1 Ivy), Valenti now needs just two more wins to capture the all-time program record.
Unfortunately for Penn, Valenti's victory against the Lions was also just one of the three on the day.
Interestingly, while Shanaman and sophomore Matt Dragon were the only other grapplers to go undefeated this weekend, they were also the only wrestlers to record wins against the Lions.
Columbia's Matt Palmer dominated Herrington at 174 pounds, and the Lions' Justin Barent took control of Zamir in the second period of their bout at 184 pounds, propelling his team to the upset.
Senior Matt Eveleth, one of the Quakers' most reliable wrestlers at 125 pounds, was also dropped unexpectedly by Brandon Kinney.
In one of the closest bouts of the day, Columbia's Nick Sommerfeld scored a late reversal against Sullivan to notch a 12-11 decision at 197 pounds.
For Lions' coach Brendan Buckley, the win was especially meaningful.
"This is probably the best win at home since I've been coach at Columbia," he said.
With Nebraska coming to the Palestra next Saturday, however, the Quakers won't have much time to dwell on their misfortunes.
