Nickerson breezed into the quarterfinals with a pair of major decisions and then advanced to the semis by beating UT-Chattanooga's Javier Maldonado 3-0. He then pinned Austin Devoe (Missouri) in 6:11 to move to the finals against Kent State's Chad Sportelli. Nickerson recorded a major decision (13-5) to remain undefeated at Cornell and take the title.
Like Nickerson, Manotti had no trouble in the rounds of 32 and 16, scoring major decisions in each. In the quarters, the Cornell senior disposed of Kent State's Kurt Gross 8-1 for a spot in the semifinals. He beat Oregon State's Tony Hook 7-0 and then met C.P. Schlatter (Minnesota) in the championship match. He took the 157 pound title with a 4-1 win over Schlatter.
Rinaldi took an 8-7 win in a tie breaker over NC State's Ryan Goodman to win the title at 197 pounds. He beat Mark Thompson (Citadel) and David Dashiell (North Carolina) to advance to the quarterfinals. He beat Lehigh's Paul Wiebel and Missouri's Alex Askren for a spot in the finals, setting up exciting championship bout with Goodman.
Including the three individual titles, Cornell had seven place-winners at the Southern Scuffle.
Sophomore Steve Anceravage (165) advanced to the finals with four consecutive wins before falling to Missouri's Matt Pell in the championship match. Senior John Cholish had an exciting run in his first action at 165 pounds, going 5-2 at the tournament, taking fourth place. Senior Mike Mormile (133) beat Matt Keller (UT-Chattanooga) 13-5 in the fifth-place match. Junior Luke Hogle went 6-2, taking home seventh place at 174 pounds.
The Big Red will kick off its dual schedule on Tuesday, Jan. 3, when it faces Michigan at the New York Athletic Club. The match is scheduled for 6 p.m.
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