FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(Thursday, Jan. 23, 2003)

Cornell Wrestling Takes Giant Leap Forward with New Friedman Wrestling
Center. The facility officially opens this weekend.

 
ITHACA, N.Y. -- The No. 7 Cornell wrestling program is excited to
officially open its new facility this weekend when the team battles No. 4
Ohio State on Sunday, Jan. 26 at 2 p.m. The Friedman Wrestling Center is
the only facility of its kind in the nation and serves as a practice,
workout and competition venue for the Big Red wrestling squad.

Cornell President Hunter Rawlings will mark the first meet in the Center
with an official opening ceremony at 1:45, prior to the start of the match
between the Big Red and Buckeyes.

The 15,000-square-foot, free-standing building features state-of-the-art
training and weight rooms, a student lounge for studying, computers with
Internet access, a large locker room for the Cornell squad, a smaller one
for visitors, offices for the coaching staff and an arena with 1,100 seats.
 

Cannon Design, Boston, the wrestling center's architects, put hundreds of
hours of assessing and planning into the building's design and its special
features, where wrestling takes place. One feature is the floor's base,
which is a foam riser, covered in plywood and finished with maple. The
design makes the surface less rigid and allows for more give.

When the bleachers are retracted, the arena will offer four mats of
wrestling space which allows the entire team to practice all at one time.
During matches, bleachers will flank three sides of a center mat and the
lighting will be similar to that of a boxing ring. Off to the side of the
main wrestling area is a weight room and exercise facility.

The $3.5 million facility is named for two Cornell alumni who made the
lead gift toward the building, Stephen Friedman and his wife, Barbara
Benioff Friedman. Stephen Friedman is a former Cornell wrestling star and
1959 graduate. Barbara Friedman, also Class of 1959, has been a university
 trustee since 1993 and currently is co-vice chair of the Cornell Board of
Trustees.

In addition to the Friedmans, several other Cornell wrestling alumni
provided gifts to fund the project.

This weekend's opening match is sure to thrill, as Cornell and Ohio State
are both nationally ranked and recently faced each other at the National
Wrestling Coaches Association National Duals.

In the match up between the two teams, the Buckeyes defeated the Big Red
28-12 in the semifinals of the consolation bracket. The Big Red was sixth
at the tournament (3-3), with senior Clint Wattenberg (184 ) being
named the Top Division I Wrestler. The Buckeyes finished the Duals with a
 3-2 record to earn fourth place.

Several wrestler have also earned national rankings, with Cornell's
Wattenberg earning the No. 2 spot in the nation at 184  And sophomore
Travis Lee is second at 125 -  Freshman Dustin Manotti is ranked
seventh at 149 , while senior Matt Greenberg is ranked 18th at 197
 

For Ohio State, Jeff Ratliff is 17th at 141 , Josh Daugherty is ranked
 14th at 149 , Keaton Anderson is second at 157 , John Clark is
fourth at 165 , Anton Talamantes is ninth at 197  And Tommy
Rowlands is second in the heavyweight division.