A new conference championship in wrestling does not happen too often. But 2025 will make the first year that the Ivy League Wrestling Tournament will take place, as the six Ivy League schools broke away from the EIWA and will hold their first conference tournament this weekend.

“We are all excited, ready to get after it,” Cornell head coach Mike Grey said. “Our guys are excited for the inaugural Ivy League Tournament. I think we got some decent seeds, and most of our guys will have at least a pair of high-quality matchups.”

Now competing in the one-day championship event, Cornell had to make some minor adjustments from its previous trips to the two-day event at EIWAs.

“Ideally our guys wrestle two really good bouts, but not have a lot of wear-and-tear from wrestling a lot more matches over two days,” Grey said. “I’m excited to see how this new format works, not only this weekend, but in our preparation for NCAAs.”

Nine of Cornell’s 10 wrestlers received a first-round bye into the semifinals, thanks to being one of the top two seeds.

But with that comes some downtime. At the Ivys, wrestlers will weigh-in at 8 a.m., but that semifinal round does not get underway until noon. Then with a win, those semifinal winners are into the finals, but that round doesn’t begin until 6:30 p.m.

“We will weigh-in and just go back to the hotel,” Grey said. “With these long breaks, we have always been big proponents of getting guys out of there and off their feet. It’s better than hanging out in the bleachers or in an air mattress in the back hallway.

“Luckily, we have enough staff to be able to shuffle them back and forth and give these guys everything that they need. But I think it benefits them to get out of the venue, then we they return get a good warm-up in and be ready to go.”

Cornell breezed through the regular season with a perfect 5-0 mark in Ivy League duals. The Big Red outscored its conference foes 172-24, winning 43 of the 50 individual matches with 25 bonus point wins.

Cornell will enter this weekend with a streak of three straight conference championships – 2022, 2023 and 2024 in the EIWA.

“Our guys really don’t need to change much, they just need to be excited and eager to wrestle to the level that they can,” Grey said. “Make no mistake about it, our goal is to qualify all 10 of our starters for NCAAs.”

Saunders Getting His Opportunity

He had to wait for what might have seemed forever during times in his career, but Josh Saunders is now getting the opportunity he always wanted since he joined the Cornell program.

Coming out of Christian Brothers College High School in St. Louis with three state titles, Saunders was the #8 overall recruit in the Class of 2020.

Due to injury, he was unable to don a Cornell singlet until last year when he saw limited action.

But this season has been different. Saunders has manned the 141-pound spot for Cornell since the season started, and has provided the Big Red with yet another ranked wrestler in the lineup.

“As the season has gone on, he has continued to do a really nice job,” Grey said. “He has wrestled well at times and has gotten some good wins.”

He is in the Big Red’s postseason lineup for the first time in his career, and the coaches are excited to see him take advantage of the opportunity. He enters the Ivys as the second seed.

“He is hard to wrestle,” Grey said. “He is a stingy wrestler that is hard to score on. I think he is in a good position to wrestle well and have himself a great postseason.”

Saunders put together a good run during the final weekend of the regular season. It started with a 10-1 major decision over #20 Dylan Chappell in the Bucknell dual. Then the next day he went down to the George Mason Last Chance and picked up three more wins.

“I think if we get that consistency out of him that he can have a deep run here in March,” Grey said. “I feel like he is surging at the right time.”

Milani Solidifies Spot At 125 Pounds

It took a few months, but Cornell finally worked out who is getting the postseason nod at 125 pounds.

Greg Diakomihalis opened the season as the starter, but due to injury, he has been out of action since late November.

After the second semester started, the new plan was for Brett Ungar to make his way down from 133 pounds and retake his starting spot that he held each of the last two years at 125 pounds. That plan never materialized, as Ungar has been “banged up” and unable to return to the mat since the Cliff Keen Invite in early December.

Enter sophomore Marcello Milani from Highland, Michigan, the #54 overall recruit in the Class of 2023.

In his first season on campus, he went 14-2 overall last year but only appeared in one dual. This year he has been the starter since December and enters the Ivy League Champions as the fourth seed with a 14-10 record on the year.

“He is a gritty wrestler,” Grey said. “He wrestled (#2 Richard) Figueroa (of Arizona State) really tough (10-7 loss) and was in that bout till the end. He gives a lot of effort and attitude. He is good with some upper body ties.

“He wrestles hard, and I expect him to battle.”

Milani will need to have a good showing at the Ivys if he wants to punch his ticket to the NCAA Championships. He did not earn an allocation for the league at 125 pounds, but with three allocations at the weight he just needs a top-three finish to be guaranteed a trip.

“With three spots on the line, I’m excited for him to be in some bouts that are winnable and hopefully steal a spot for himself and our team,” Grey said.

Milani and three other signees from that 2023 class, which ranked #4 nationally, will all be in action at the Ivy Championship this weekend: #1 overall recruit Meyer Shapiro (157 pounds), #27 Simon Ruiz (174), and #63 Mickey Dellagatta (197).