Cornell’s Manotti is a wrestler to watch at 149 pounds
Rob Koll needed someone to beat Dustin Manotti and Jamarr Billman fit the bill.
Manotti, a junior at Cornell and a Mifflinburg High School graduate, is now the No. 1- ranked 149-pounder nationally, according to a former All-American at Penn State and Lock Haven.
Billman, who won state titles at Easton High, is a volunteer coach for the Big Red and is Manotti’s main workout partner. Billman wrestled for the Nittany Lions before transferring to Lock Haven.
“We knew Dustin needed work on both top and bottom, and he needed to develop an attack from both sides, “Cornell coach Koll said. “Jamarr mimics the opponents that Dustin will face.”
Koll, who won a state title at State College and national championship at the University of North Carolina, said Billman has helped Manotti develop a right-leg attack to go with his left-leg attack.
Manotti, who is 30-1 this season, has only lost to Oklahoma’s Matt Storniolo, a transfer from Penn State, 12-4. That loss came in the Lone Star Duals in Texas and Manotti led 4-1 after one period.
“We were actually going for a major but Dustin got hit with two five-point moves, “Koll said. “We’ve seen him now, we’ll know what to expect.”
Manotti, whose uncle, John, wrestled at Penn State (1981-82, 1984-85), lost in the NCWA All-Star Classic to then top-ranked Zack Esposito of Oklahoma State but Manotti reversed that loss in the national duals. That win put him at the top of the 149-pound pile.
With Billman’s help, Manotti, a two-time All-American, likely will finish high at the NCAA tournament next month in St. Louis.
Age doesn’t matter
There’s been much made about the youth (five freshmen) of the Iowa wrestling team but assistant coach Troy Steiner doesn’t put much stock in that.
“They’ve been here for six months, age shouldn’t matter, “Steiner said last week after the Hawkeyes beat Penn State. “When they put on the uniform, we expect them to compete like Iowa teams do.”
Steiner said he doesn’t pay any attention to the storm clouds that have apparently followed the Iowa program.
“I just concentrate on what I can do for the team, We want to win just as the fans do. (Head coach) Jimmy (Zalesky) has been a constant and Tim Hartung (a former Minnesota national champion, now an assistant) always wrestled like an Iowa guy. We’re on the upswing and we’ll find out in a few weeks if we’ve made progress.”
The Hawkeyes will get an opportunity to see how they stand with two home matches this weekend. They face Minnesota on Friday and Michigan on Sunday.
Upsets at 157
There was a good bit of turmoil at 157 pounds last week as defending NCAA champion Matt Gentry of Stanford was a loser for the first time this season. And second-ranked Alex Tirapelle of Illinois also fell.
Jim Medeiros of Fresno State topped Gentry 4-3 in overtime during a dual meet. It was the fourth time the two have met and each battle has gone into overtime.
Tirapelle lost 3-2 to No. 4 Ryan Bertin of Michigan. Actually, anytime Bertin wins it really can’t be called an upset as the Wolverine is a past NCAA champion. The bout came in a dual meet that ended in a 17-17 tie.
Storniolo watch
Storniolo returned to the mats last week and came up with three pins as the Sooners beat Oregon State, Missouri and Oregon. Storniolo had not seen action since the national duals. He has 13 pins, most on the Sooner squad.
Dual scores
Here’s a rundown of last week’s top duals: Michigan State 20, Northwestern 15; Wisconsin 18, Indiana 16; Penn 19, Brown 12; Penn 24, North Carolina 10; No. 17 Cornell 20, No. 11 Hofstra 12; Cornell 31, Columbia 6; West Virginia 23, Pitt 15; Lehigh 39, Maryland 4; Lehigh 22, Virginia 13; and Oklahoma State 31, Missouri 9.
Coming up
Oklahoma State has three tough dual meets this weekend starting with a trip to Nebraska tonight. On Sunday, the Cowboys face Hofstra and Lehigh. Oklahoma State topped Lehigh 20-16 at the National Duals in Cleveland in January.
Cornell is at Brown on Friday night, and faces Harvard and Boston U. on Saturday.
It would be interesting to hear the outcry if it was suggested that ranked college basketball teams play twice in one day. How about Illinois going against Michigan State at noon and then heading to Ann Arbor for a 7:30 p.m. game with Michigan?
Don’t hold your breath on it ever happening although some state high school championship (Indiana for one) have their teams play the semifinals in the morning and the finals at night.
John Huckaby writes a weekly college wrestling column for the Times. He can be reached at [email protected].
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