Cornell's Frank Perrelli (in red) battles Virginia Tech's Jarrod Garnett at 125. Photo by Tim Tushla, WIN Magazine.

CEDAR FALLS, Iowa – The short-handed Cornell wrestling team needed a spark early in its National Duals finals matchup with Virginia Tech.

They received two huge ones at 125 and 141 pounds.

Cornell’s Frank Perrelli started the dual with an overtime win at 125 before teammate Corey Manson delivered a win at 141 to lead No. 1 Cornell to a 25-10 win over No. 7 Virginia Tech on Sunday at the UNI-Dome.

Cornell captured its first NWCA National Duals title.

“It was tough having two starters out, but we have great senior leadership on this team,” Cornell coach Rob Koll said. “Holy smokes, that was a big win by Frank to start the dual. That gave us a big spark. And then the big win by Manson was huge for us. Those guys really came through.”

Those performances were key for the Big Red as they wrestled without injured All-Americans Mike Grey and Cam Simaz.

Perrelli, ranked 15th, beat No. 11 Jarrod Garnett 7-5 in a match that went to the tiebreaker at 125. The unranked Manson then downed No. 5 Chris Diaz 6-4 at 141.

Cornell’s finals win stopped a strong run by Virginia Tech, which stormed into the finals after beating Wisconsin in the semifinals.

Third-seeded Wisconsin downed No. 4 Minnesota 19-17 to finish third.

Top-ranked Jordan Oliver of Oklahoma State was named Outstanding Wrestler for the No. 2 Cowboys, who struggled to a sixth-place finish. Oliver competes at 133.

Top-ranked Nebraska-Omaha won its third straight National Duals title in Division II by pulling out a dramatic 17-15 win over No. 3 Augustana. UNO has won this event five of the past seven years.

Backup heavyweight Taylor Escamilla, whose win over Newberry put UNO in the finals earlier in the day, came through again with a 3-1 win over Augustana’s Lance Peters at heavyweight. Augustana, which placed second behind UNO at the 2010 NCAA Division II Championships, led 15-14 before that finals match.

“Taylor came up big in those last two duals – he was huge for us,” UNO coach Mike Denney said. “He did a good job of staying relaxed and focused. He handled everything really well.”

Escamilla moved into the Maverick lineup in place of returning national champion Elijah Madison.

UNO’s Mario Morgan beat Augustana’s Jay Sherer at 141 in a rematch of last year’s NCAA finals. Sherer beat Morgan in the national finals in 2010.

Mike Williams of UNC-Pembroke was named Outstanding Wrestler in Division II.

The Wartburg College Knights rallied to beat Wisconsin-La Crosse 16-15 to win the title in Division III. Blaine Woszczak of Ithaca was named Outstanding Wreslter in Division III.

Clackamas won the Junior College title. Matt Melendrez of Clackamas was named Outstanding Wrestler in Junior College.

Notre Dame won in NAIA. Joshua Chappa of Cumberland was named Outstanding Wrestler in NAIA.

Oklahoma City won the women’s title. U.S. National Team member Helen Maroulis of Simon Fraser was named Outstanding Wrestler in the women’s division.

CORNELL 25, VIRGINIA TECH 10
125 – Frank Perrelli (Cornell) dec. Jarrod Garnett, 7-5 TB. 133 – Devin Carter (VT) dec. Joe Stanzione, 17-6. 141 – Corey Manson (Cornell) dec. Chris Diaz, 6-4. 149 – Kyle Dake (Cornell) dec. Brian Stephens, 10-0. 157 – Jesse Dong (VT) dec. D.J. Meagher, 5-2. 165 – Justin Kerber (Cornell) dec. Peter Yates, 6-4. 174 – Mack Lewnes (Cornell) pinned Matt Epperly, 6:20. 184 – Steve Bosak (Cornell) dec. Thomas Spellman, 4-1. 197 – Maciej Jochyn (Cornell) dec. Chris Penny, 12-8. Hwt. – David Marone (VT) dec. Oney Snyder, 5-1

Interview with Wisconsin coach Barry Davis

Interview with Nebraska-Omaha’s Taylor Escamilla

Interview with Nebraska-Omaha coach Mike Denney

Interview with Virginia Tech coach Kevin Dresser

Interview with Cornell’s Kyle Dake

Interview with Cornell coach Rob Koll

Interview with Wartburg coach Jim Miller