Blog Single

LAS VEGAS — Three Cornell wrestlers went undefeated in their weight classes as the Big Red finished day one at the 2023 Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational in fourth place with 73 points. 

Sophomore Brett Ungar (125 pounds) and seniors Julian Ramirez (165 pounds) and Jacob Cardenas (197 pounds) will wrestle in Saturday’s semifinals after posting 3-0 records on Friday. Sophomore Vince Cornella (141 pounds) and senior Lewis Fernandes (285 pounds) advanced to the consolation semifinals in their weight classes. Flowrestling will stream Saturday’s matches live starting at noon. 

Top Highlights

• Freshman Meyer Shapiro (157 pounds) defeated two-time NCAA All-American Byrce Andonian (Virginia Tech) 16-4 by major decision in the Round of 16. It was Shapiro’s first collegiate match against an NCAA All-American. 

• Cardenas outscored his opponents 47-4, winning two matches by technical fall and one my major decision. 

• Ramirez won two of his matches by fall. 

• Ungar outlasted Oregon State’s Brandon Kaylor, ranked 21st nationally by FloWrestling at 125, in a match that lasted more than 12 minutes to advance to Saturday’s semifinals. There were multiple overtime periods.

Brett Ungar (No. 3 at 125)

Round of 32: Ungar won 15-0 by technical fall against Carson Wagner (Binghamton)

Round of 16: Ungar won 3-2 by decision over No. 14 Diego Sotelo (Harvard)

Quarterfinal: Ungar won 2-1 by decision against No. 6 Brandon Kaylor (Oregon State)

Ethan Qureshi (133)

Round of 32: Qureshi won 10-1 by major decision against George Rosas (The Citadel) 

Round of 16: Qureshi lost 22-5 by technical fall to No. 1 Kai Orine (NC State)

Consolation Round of 16: Qureshi lost 21-4 by technical fall to No. 6 Nic Bouzakis (Ohio State)

Vince Cornella (No. 6 at 141)

Round of 32: Cornella won 17-2 by technical fall against Joel VanderVere (Northwestern)

Round of 16: Cornella won 12-0 by major decision against No. 11 Jason Miranda (Stanford)

Quarterfinal: Cornella lost 18-1 by technical fall to No. 3 Jesse Mendez (Ohio State)

Consolation Round of 8: Cornella won 8-0 by major decision against No. 9 Cleveland Belton (Oregon State)

Ethan Fernandez (149)

Round of 32: Fernandez won 6-1 by decision against Justin Rivera (Campbell)

Round of 16: Fernandez lost 11-1 by major decision to No. 2 Kyle Parco (Arizona State)

Consolation Round of 16: Fernandez lost by medical forfeit 

Meyer Shapiro (No. 14 at 157)

Round of 32: Shapiro won 20-3 by technical fall against Joseph Cangro (Harvard)

Round of 16: Shapiro won 16-4 by major decision over No. 3 Bryce Andonian (Va. Tech)

Quarterfinal: Shapiro lost 8-5 by decision to No. 6 Daniel Cardenas (Stanford)

Consolation Round of 8: Shapiro lost 2-1 by decision to No. 7 Trevor Chumbley (Northwestern)

Julian Ramirez (No. 4 at 165)

Round of 32: Ramirez won by fall against Gaven Bell (Maryland)

Round of 16: Ramirez won 18-1 by technical fall over Hunter Garvin (Stanford)

Quarterfinal: Ramirez won by fall against No. 5 Matthew Olguin (Oregon State)

Benny Baker (174)

Round of 32: Baker lost 10-5 by decision to Lucas Uliano (Appalachian State)

Consolation Round of 16: Baker won 17-0 by technical fall against Ryder Dearborn (Cal State Bakersfield) 

Consolation Round of 16 #2: Baker won 5-0 by decision against Will Ebert (Binghamton) 

Consolation Round of 8 #1: Baker won 12 by major decision against Jared Simma (Northern Iowa)

Consolation Round of 8 #2: Baker lost 5-1 by decision No. 7 Austin Murphy (Campbell)

Chris Foca (No. 3 at 184)

Round of 32: Foca won 4-3 by decision against James Rowley (Purdue)

Round of 16: Foca lost 7-5 by decision to No. 14 Sam Wolf (Air Force) 

Consolation Round of 16: Foca lost 9-1 by major decision to Aaron Ayzerov (Columbia)

Jacob Cardenas (No. 3 at 197)

Round of 32: Cardenas won 17-0 by technical fall over Nathatic Kendricks Jr. (Morgan State)

Round of 16: Cardenas won 13-3 by major decision over No. 14 Levi Hopkins (Campbell)

Quarterfinal: Cardenas won 17-1 by technical fall against No. 6 Silas Allred (Nebraska)

Lewis Fernandes (No. 10 at 285)

Round of 32: Fernandes won 15-0 by technical fall over Marc Berisha (Sacred Heart)

Round of 16: Fernandes lost 8-1 by decision to No. 7 Nick Feldman (Ohio State)

Consolation Round of 16: Fernandes won 2-0 by decision against Jacob Sartorio

Consolation Round of 8 #1: Fernandes won 17-0 by technica fall against Luke Rasmussen (South Dakota State)

Consolation Round of 8 #2: Fernandes won 9-3 by decision against No. 8 Hunter Catka (Va. Tech)

Saturday’s Matchups

125 semifinal: No. 3 Ungar vs. No. 2 Michael DeAugustino (Michigan)

165 semifinal: No. 3 Ramirez vs. No. 1 David Carr (Iowa State)

197 semifinal: No. 3 Cardenas vs. No. 2 Trent Hidlay (NC State)

141 consolation semifinal: No. 6 Cornella vs. No. 10 Tagen Jamison (Oklahoma State)

285 consolation semifinal: No. 10 Fernandes vs. No. 11 Boone McDermott (Oregon State)