The 2024 season did not go the way Chris Foca envisioned it during all the preseason training leading up to the year.

Foca was coming off of a third-place finish at the 2023 NCAA Championships and went 30-2 overall on the year. That was at 174 pounds, and last year's plans to repeat that performance at that weight dramatically changed for him right before the season started.

Just before the 2024 campaign got underway in October, a shakeup to the Cornell lineup affected Foca’s performance last year.

2022 All-American Jonathan Loew was set to be the starter once again at 184 pounds, but a shoulder injury suffered in practice ended his season before it even began.

The Cornell staff and Foca decided moving the returning 174-pound All-American up to 184 was best for the team. 

Unfortunately, that move was made after months of prepping to being at 174 pounds once again.

“I didn’t have the season I wanted, I felt like I didn’t put the weight on that I should have,” Foca said. “I wasn’t cutting much weight to get to 184, which in all honestly was nice not having to cut much, but the tradeoff was I was smaller and weaker than others in the weight class. 

“By the time I started to get the size on I should have had, it was a little too late in the season and I just wasn’t able to get into the groove I needed to be in.”

Foca didn’t have a bad season, it just wasn’t up to his standards. He was one win away from All-American honors, in fact.

“Last year we knew he had the skill, and he put together some good matches at NCAAs and was a takedown away from being an All-American,” Cornell coach Mike Grey said. “I think last year, when he made the change right before the season, he just tried to eat himself into that weight class.”

In just a matter of weeks, Foca had to go from planning to be at 174 to being up at 184.

“Going up 10 pounds, it’s a tough change,” Foca said. “I thought I was going to have the same success I had at 174 as I would at 184 because I could scramble and still get guys out of position. You add 10 pounds of muscle and it changes the game.

“I had to change my style somewhat throughout the year to compensate (for being not a full-sized 184). It was a lot more than I thought it would be.”

Now heading into his final season, Foca had an entire offseason to focus on being the right size for 184 pounds. He lifted three to four times a week for bulk muscle over the summer, and always having been an avid runner, once he hit his target weight he started running again to lean out.

“I saw him work hard and get bigger,” Grey said. “I think size is really important and last year he wasn’t planning to be up at 184. He is a full-size 184-pounder now, and he is very comfortable at the weight.

“Now he has had a full year of lifting and really focusing on getting himself to be that full-size 184-pounder so his uniqueness could show through, that is what we want to see this season.”

But Foca will be forced to wait to put on the Cornell singlet until after the first semester.

Foca and fellow senior Julian Ramirez are sitting out this semester due to Ivy League rules. They have both been enrolled at Cornell for seven semesters and the maximum is eight (they can not compete as grad students at Cornell), so they are not enrolled this fall. 

The Ivy League cancelled all athletic competitions due to COVID in 2020-21 when they were freshmen, but they were enrolled and taking classes for a semester that year before their season was called off.

“Planning-wise, nothing has changed,” Grey said. “They have been training with us under the RTC umbrella and we will get them matches at some opens before they are back in our lineup.”

Foca and Ramirez will see their first action of the season this weekend, as they will be wrestling unattached at the Mat Town Open hosted by Lock Haven on Sunday.

“I know they are excited to wrestle somebody else, that is for sure,” Grey said.

They will both have to miss the Cliff Keen Invite, but they will be eligible to return to the Cornell lineup for the NC State dual on Dec. 22.

As for the rest of the Cornell squad, this is will be the second of three straight weekends of tournament action.

Last weekend the Big Red opened their dual season with a 37-0 shoutout over Buffalo, then had numerous athletes compete in the Big Red Invitational. This weekend Cornell is off to the Mat Town Open, then the Cliff Keen Invite wraps up a busy stretch Dec. 6-7.

The current Cornell squad looks a lot different than the team that hoisted the second-place trophy at last year’s NCAA Championships. With graduation, current injuries and its two senior leaders missing the first semester, this version of the Cornell squad you see now will look very different once 2025 rolls around.

“This team is still finding their way, it is still very early into the season,” Grey said. “I think when we get Ramirez and Foca back it will be a positive when it comes to leadership. We are finding our identity, and facing adversity certainly helps with that. 

“Our guys continue to put in great effort and developing experience you need at this level. There is a great opportunity for those guys that continue to put great effort in and start to forge their path.”