Loughlin wins at Penn; Hamm third

Senior Nicholas Loughlin enjoyed a triumphant return from a three-week layoff and won the 157-pound title to lead a small Cornell squad at the William Penn Open Saturday at Penn Gymnasium.

Loughlin, ranked second at 157 in the latest NWCA Division III Poll, blitzed through his weight class with three pins and a decision. Loughlin, who moved to 18-4 on the season, showed no ill-effects in his first competition since Dec. 16. He improved his winning streak to eight matches.

Loughlin scored a 4-1 decision over Joseph Moorhouse of Division II Maryville in the championship match. He pinned three William Penn wrestlers in succession with times of 2:22, 6:46 and 2:03 on his path to the finals.

"Anytime you win a tournament and go undefeated it's a good day," Cornell head coach Mike Duroe said.

Cornell held back several of its starters at the non-scored tournament. Five of the nine Rams who competed placed in the top six.

Freshman Brent Hamm finished 4-1 and placed third at 174. His lone loss came via a second-period fall to eventual champion Cody Caldwell of Northern Iowa in the semifinals. Hamm collected a pin (2:33), a decision (8-1) and a major decision (12-3) before claiming an 8-3 victory over Andrew Carter-Johnson of Missouri Baptist in the third-place match.

"This was a breakout tournament for Brent," Duroe said. "It was his first top-3 placing in a tournament. He looked real good."

Sophomore heavyweight Carl Gaul (16-15) added two more pins, raising his team-leading total to 12. He went 4-2 and finished fourth after a 9-6 loss to Maryville's Morgan Denson in the consolation final. Gaul recorded falls in 47 seconds and 6:13 to go with a pair of decisions.

The Rams had a pair of sixth-place finishers in sophomore Jordan Ng at 125 and junior Josh Guenther at 157. Guenther went 3-3 with two decisions and a major decision.

Coming up - The Rams host their annual Matman Invitational Saturday, Jan. 14 in the arena of the Small Multi-Sport Center. Preliminary matches at eight mats begin at 9 a.m.

This year's event features a strong 15-team field with 10 schools ranked in the top 20 in Division III. Participating teams include No. 1 Wartburg, No. 2 Augsburg, No. 4 UW-La Crosse, No. 5 Coe, No. 6 Cornell, No. 7 Saint John's, No. 11 Luther, No. 16 Dubuque, No. 17 UW-Oshkosh, No. 20 Stevens Institute of Technology, UW-Eau Claire, Loras, Lakeland, Concordia and Buena Vista.

Cornell placed sixth out of 10 teams at last year's event. Wartburg has won the last three Matman titles, beating runner-up Augsburg (168.5-91) for the 2011 crown.

"This weekend will really tell us a lot about our team in terms of where we are and in our development," Duroe said. "This is a critical next three weeks for our program. I hope our guys are up to the challenge."