Cornell falls 29-9 to No. 5 Coe in regular-season finale

Cornell's winningest Iowa Conference dual season came to a close Friday night in a 29-9 setback to fifth-ranked Coe at Eby Fieldhouse in Cedar Rapids.

The 19th-ranked Rams finished third in the final IIAC dual standings at 6-2, the program's best mark in 14 seasons as a league member. Cornell went 5-3 in conference competition each of the last two seasons.

Cornell wound up 14-8-1 overall, one win shy of the single-season school record.

Cornell led the rival Kohawks (16-5, 7-1) through three matches, but the Rams took only one more bout the rest of the meet. Coe held a 25-8 advantage in total takedowns and scored bonus points in four matches.

The Rams gave up a major decision to top-ranked Clayton Rush at 125 pounds, although answered with back-to-back wins from junior Tigue Snider (Wilton/Wilton) and senior Kevin Donahue (Mechanicsville, Va./St. Christopher's) to take a 6-4 lead.

Snider posted a 4-1 decision over 2010 national qualifier Drew Hinschberger at 133. Donahue got a late takedown to earn a 3-2 victory at 141 against Chris LeClere, also a returning NCAA qualifier.

The Kohawks reeled off five consecutive wins before freshman Alex Coolidge (Gillette, Wyo./Campbell County) pulled out a 5-1 decision over Ethan Ball at 197. Coe scored a fall at heavyweight to provide the final margin.

Postseason trail – The Rams have most of the next two weeks to prepare for the IIAC Championships, hosted by Simpson on Friday, Feb. 25 in Indianola. The junior varsity tournament will also be held on the same day.

Cornell earned a school-best third-place finish with 120 points at last year's IIAC Championships in Storm Lake. Donahue at 141 and eighth-ranked junior Nicholas Loughlin (Cherokee/Washington) at 157 are defending champions at their respective weights.

The Rams return six other individual who placed at the 2010 conference meet: Timothy Hood (fourth, 125), Jacob Schwebke (fifth, 149), Joe Hambleton (fifth, 174), Andrew Roberts (fifth, 184), Robert Widmer (sixth, 197) and Wyatt Bauman (sixth, 285).

Team leaders – Snider owns a current six-match winning streak and leads the Rams in wins with a 28-11 record. Hambleton is second on the team with a 26-13 mark, followed by freshman Ben Rosen at 25-11, Donahue 24-5, Schwebke 24-14 and Roberts 24-15.

Snider and Rosen lead the team in takedowns with 100 and 99, respectively, with Snider posting a team-best 25 first takedowns. Roberts heads the Rams with 14 pins, the fourth-best total in a season at Cornell. Hambleton has 20 3-point near falls, tops on the team.

#5 Coe 29, #19 Cornell 9

Friday, Feb. 11

Eby Fieldhouse

Cedar Rapids, Iowa

Match results

125 – #1 Clayton Rush (Coe) maj. dec. Timothy Hood, 19-5. 133 – Tigue Snider (Cor) dec. Drew Hinschberger, 4-1. 141 – Kevin Donahue (Cor) dec. Chris LeClere, 3-2. 149 – James Locke (Coe) dec. Jacob Schwebke, 6-2. 157 – Dimitri Boyer (Coe) pinned Cody Backhaus, 4:03. 165 – #3 Nick LeClere (Coe) dec. Joe Hambleton, 11-4. 174 – Scott King (Coe) maj. dec. Derek Munsey, 18-10. 184 – Seth Rehn (Coe) dec. Andrew Roberts, 9-3. 197 – Alex Coolidge (Cor) dec. Ethan Ball, 5-1. 285 – #5 Alex Burkle (Coe) pinned Wyatt Bauman, 4:49.