The Columbia wrestling team dropped two matches this weekend against Ivy rival Cornell as well as Binghamton. The weekend skid drops the Lions record to 6-7-1 overall and 0-1 in the Ivy League.
The first contest on Saturday pitted Columbia against wrestling powerhouse No. 7 Cornell. Columbia’s Kyle Gilchrist, Student-Athlete of the Month for January, led off against No. 2 Troy Nickerson at 125 pounds. Unfortunately for the Light Blue, Nickerson defeated Gilchrist by a 3-0 decision, giving Cornell the lead, which it never relinquished. The Big Red won the next three matches until Matt Dunn broke the streak for Columbia. Dunn defeated Cornell’s John Basting on a 6-3 decision at 157 pounds. Dunn’s victory would be the only one for Columbia against Cornell, as the Big Red swept the remaining competitions, winning handily 37-3.
With one match out of the way, Columbia then faced Binghamton. Unlike against Cornell, Columbia started off on the right foot thanks to Gilchrist’s major-decision victory over Binghamton’s James Inghram. Columbia’s early lead would not last long, as Binghamton went on to win the next seven matches, which included three major decision and two pins. Despite the slide, the Lions finished strong thanks to solid performances by Lou Miller and Kevin Lester. First, Miller defeated Binghamton’s Pat Walsh at 197 by a major decision. In the final match of the day, the heavyweight class, Lester pinned Corey Waite at 5:25. Binghamton defeated Columbia with a final score of 30 to 14.
Next weekend, the Columbia wrestling team will compete against Princeton and Drexel on Saturday and against Penn on Sunday. The trio of competitions marks the second to last week of regular season competition before the Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association and NCAA championships.
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