No. 6 Cornell hosts No. 4 Coe in finale

Cornell and Coe renew a wrestling rivalry for the final time as Iowa Conference foes in a dual meet between top-10 teams Friday night at the Small Multi-Sport Center. The meet begins at 7 p.m.

Cornell (11-3 overall, 6-1 IIAC) entered the week ranked No. 6 in the National Wrestling Coaches Association Division III Poll. The Rams have won 10 of their last 11 duals, including five in a row. Coe (10-3 overall, 5-1 IIAC) is ranked No. 4.

The winner of Friday's regular-season finale will grab sole possession of second place in the IIAC standings.

"It's always exciting wrestling against Coe," Cornell head coach Mike Duroe said. "There's a lot of history and both teams are pretty good at the national level. If our guys don't get excited about this, it would be hard for them to get excited about anything. I hope we can create an exciting environment Friday night."

Coe has held the upper hand of late, winning 11 of the past 12 meetings. The other ended in a 19-19 tie in 2005-06. The Kohawks claimed a 29-9 win last year in Cedar Rapids.

The Rams look to buck the trend and come out on top for the first time since the 1998-99 season. Prior to the current streak, Cornell dominated a stretch in which it went 17-0-1 against the Kohawks from 1983-98.

"Coe is a really good team, no question. They have some stars and have developed a lot of depth," Duroe said. "We have not been able to break through against Coe. We're going to have to win some of the matches that we haven't won in the past in order to turn the team score around."

Collectively, the teams have 12 individuals ranked in the NWCA Poll at their respective weights. The Rams field five rated wrestlers in No. 4 Timothy Hood (125), No. 10 Tigue Snider (133), No. 10 Nicholas Loughlin (157), No. 7 Joe Hambleton (165) and No. 7 Alex Coolidge (197).

Coe's group includes No. 6 Jimmy Gotto (125), No. 10 Chris LeClere (141), No. 3 James Locke (149), No. 7 Dale Handley (157), No. 1 Nick LeClere (165), No. 5 Scott King (174) and No. 5 Alex Burkle (285).

The Rams are coming off a 25-7 home win Thursday over 20th-ranked Dubuque.

Senior Night - Friday marks the final home meet for seven Cornell starters who have compiled an impressive 629-339 record, good for a 64.9 winning percentage over the past four seasons. Hambleton heads the class with a 111-47 record, standing ninth on the program's modern-day wins list.

The senior group includes Jacob Schwebke (93-43), Loughlin (92-27), Snider (92-58), Andrew Roberts (91-70), Hood (89-54) and Michael Buhr (61-40).

Gaul fourth at Dubuque - Sophomore Carl Gaul placed fourth in the heavyweight division to lead a small Cornell squad at the Duhawk Open Saturday in Dubuque.

Gaul (23-20), who finished 3-2 on the day, notched his team-leading 16th pin in 1:13 over Luther's Jake Johnson in a second-round match. Gaul won 5-1 in the next round before losing by fall in the semifinals to eventual champion Connor Medbery of the University of Wisconsin. Gaul fell 8-2 to Upper Iowa's Luke Stika in the third-place bout.

Junior Josh Guenther finished 3-1 at 157 but did not place. Mitch Hood (133) and Austin Southards (149) both went 1-2 for the Rams.