Cannone, Ross win tournament titles for No. 2 Wartburg

STORM LAKE, Iowa, December 1, 2018 – Trumbull’s Cross Cannone (157) and Foran-Milford’s Mike Ross (165) each won individual titles for No. 2 Wartburg College at the Buena Vista Open on Saturday.

Defending NCAA Division III champion Wartburg won the tournament with 32 points with Iowa’s Briarcliff College taking second (25) and Southwest Minnesota State taking third (22 points).

Cannone is ranked No. 1 in the country in Division III and went 5-0 in the tournament, taking the title by injury default over Tyson Dowler with just 53 seconds gone in the championship match.

Cannone won his first three matches in the tournament by technical fall and had a 10-2 win over Iowa Central’s Ethan Karsten in the semifinals. Cannone has now won 44 straight matches.

He is two wins shy of 100 for his career and four tech falls away from becoming Wartburg’s career leader in tech falls.

Ross went 4-0 in the tournament and he brought home the championship with a 4-1 victory over Kenny O’Neil of South Dakota State, a Division I program. O’Neil was wrestling unattached. Ross extended his winning streak to 10 matches with the victory.

Wartburg returns to action Friday when they host conference rival Cornell College in Waverly, Iowa.