Hood claims 125-pound crown at Citrus Open

Senior Timothy Hood captured the 125-pound title and Joe Hambleton earned his 100th career win in leading Cornell's fifth-ranked wrestling team at the Citrus Invitational Thursday and Friday at Cardinal Gibbons High School.

The Rams came away with six placewinners and placed third in a competitive 16-team field which featured six nationally-ranked teams. Cornell scored 124.5 points, nine more than sixth-ranked Saint John's in fourth.

NCAA Division II's second-ranked Upper Iowa won the team title with 159 points, followed by No. 7 Augsburg in second with 149.5.

Hood was impressive in posting a 4-0 record to win his weight class. He pinned his first three foes in quick times of 47 seconds, 2 minutes, 3 seconds and 1:42 to reach the finals. Hood then ousted Upper Iowa's second-ranked Kyle Pedretti, 9-3, in the championship bout. The unranked and second-seeded Hood avenged a two-point loss to Pedretti dealt earlier in the season.

Hood stretched his winning streak to seven matches and improved to 16-4 on the season.

"From my perspective, Tim Hood had the best individual performance in the entire tournament," Cornell head coach Mike Duroe said. "He was dominant with three first-period falls and was strong in the finals. Tim is definitely under the radar in the rankings. He is starting to score more from his feet and is looking a lot better. I was really impressed with Tim and his intensity."

Hambleton continued his stellar senior season with a 6-1 tourney mark and third-place finish at 165. He recorded a pair of first-period pins before falling 8-1 to New York University's fourth-ranked David Rice in the semifinals. Hambleton battled his way through the consolation bracket with four consecutive wins, including a 3-2 decision over Ohio Northern's fifth-ranked William Painter in the third-place bout.

The third-ranked Hambleton moved to 20-3 on the season, and improved his career mark to 102-45. He became the 10th Cornell wrestler in the modern-day era to reach 100 wins.

Hambleton is the sixth Ram to achieve the feat under Coach Duroe, joining Pat McAuley (139 wins, 2004-08), Chris Heilman (132, 2004-08), Nick Nothern (118, 2006-10), Kyle Kehrli (114, 2005-09) and Kevin Donahue (109, 2007-11).

"One hundred wins is a milestone for any wrestler," Duroe said. "Joey is an extremely tough competitor."

Senior Tigue Snider had a strong runner-up showing at 133 with a 4-1 record. He scored 47 points in his four victories, including an 8-1 semifinal triumph over ninth-ranked Chad Henle of Saint John's. Snider then fell 9-0 to Upper Iowa's top-ranked Trevor Franklin in the championship bout. He raised his season record to 14-9.

"Snider scored a lot of points and was dominant in his four wins," Duroe said. "He looked strong and had a very good offensive performance."

Sophomore 197-pounder Alex Coolidge finished third in a tough weight class that fielded four ranked individuals. He went 4-1 with a major decision and a pin. Coolidge dropped a tight 3-2 decision in the semifinals to second-ranked Dustin Baxter of Saint John's. He recorded a pin in 3:45, followed by a medical forfeit to take third.

Jacob Schwebke placed sixth with a 4-3 mark at 149. Andrew Roberts posted two pins and finished seventh at 184.

The Rams competed without second-ranked 157-pounder Nicholas Loughlin, who was sidelined due to an illness.

"Not having Loughlin affected our team performance a bit," Duroe said. "One thing I was happy about is we had some of our backups wrestle hard and win matches. We performed well overall as a team. This tournament was a good springboard for us as we gear up for the second half of the season. We definitely have some things we need to work on."