ITHACA, N.Y. – A much-anticipated 2014-15 Cornell wrestling season gets underway this weekend as the Big Red hosts No. 21 Oklahoma for a dual meet on Saturday at 6 p.m. at Newman Arena, then continues Sunday for the New York State championships in Barton Hall. You can watch Saturday's dual meet against the Sooners on the Ivy League Digital Network.

With a preseason ranking as high as No. 3 nationally, Cornell's usual lofty expectations have just grown during the offseason. Ivy League and EIWA titles are tremendous and are on the list of goals, but an NCAA team title is what the Big Red is after.

Leading the way in the early hunt for national titles at their weight class is sophomore Gabe Dean, ranked No. 1 at 184 pounds, and junior Nahshon Garrett, No. 2 at 125.

The Ivy League and EIWA Rookie of the Year in 2013-14, Dean earned All-America honors with a third-place finish at the 2014 NCAA Championships. The unanimous first-team All-Ivy selection had a spectacular rookie season, going 40-3 with his only losses coming to the top two wrestlers at his weight class. He led the team in wins and was second in bonus wins (23). He won 29 consecutive matches, including 11 over top 20 wrestlers, before dropping a 5-3 decision to eventual national champion Ed Ruth of Penn State in the NCAA semifinals, but bounced back with a pin of Penn's Lorenzo Thomas and a decision over fellow rookie Jack Dechow of Old Dominion for third. Dean's signature win came against Penn State's two-time defending national champion Ruth at the Southern Scuffle, avenging one of his two losses from early in the season and snapping Ruth's 84-match win streak dating back to 2011. It earned him U.S.A. Wrestling and EIWA Wrestler of the Week honors and he was featured in Sports Illustrated's "Faces In The Crowd" for the Jan. 20, 2014 issue. He won the New York State Intercollegiates, the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational and the Southern Scuffle and placed second at the Binghamton Open a year ago, and opened the season with a 5-2 win over second ranked Dechow at the NWCA All-Star Classic.

Garrett is a two-time All-American who finished third nationally as a freshman and second a year ago and will look to take the final step up the ladder to a national title in 2014-15. The unanimous Ivy League and EIWA Wrestler of the Year closed the season with a 35-2 overall record with his only two losses coming to eventual national champion Jesse Delgado of Illinois. His 3-2 loss in the finals snapped a career-long 28-match win streak. Garrett was a perfect 3-0 against No. 3 Nico Megaludis of Penn State. A first-team All-Ivy League pick, Garrett won titles at the Jonathan Kaloust Binghamton Open, the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational and the Southern Scuffle.

With seven wrestlers entering the season ranked among the top 11 in their respective weight classes, the lineup is also as deep as it is strong. In all, the Big Red returns nine starters from last season's 13-1 squad that won its 12th straight Ivy League title and its eighth consecutive EIWA crown. Cornell finished seventh at the NCAA championships and crowned three All-Americans, including national runner-up Garrett at 125 pounds and third-place finisher Dean at 184.

Sophomores Brian Realbuto (No.4 at 157) and Dylan Palacio (No. 5 at 165) will also be in the conversation from the get-go for national titles, though no one around the program will be surprised if Chris Villalonga (No. 7 at 149) is there too. Sophomore Mark Grey (No. 11 at 141) and Jace Bennett (No. 9 at 197) have every expectation they will be on the podium as well.

There will be plenty of competition at a number of other spots, with Bricker Dixon and Nick Arujau at 133, Taylor Simaz and Alex Cisneros at 157 (until the return of Realbuto later in the season), Jesse Shanaman and Jake George at 165 (until Palacio finishes his stint on the Big Red soccer team) and Jacob Aiken-Phillips and Craig Scott at heavyweight.

The initial dual against Oklahoma will provide a stiff early season test. The Sooners, ranked No. 21 nationally, features three top 20 wrestlers, including third-ranked and two-time All-American Cody Brewer at 133 pounds. With a 3-0 dual meet record, head coach Mark Cody directed his team to a 9-3 dual meet record a season ago with a second-place finish in the Big XII and a 10th place effort at the NCAA championships. The Sooners are down five senior starters from last year's starting lineup, the Sooners will look to Brewer, as well as returning NCAA qualifiers Justin DeAngelis and Ross Larson, to bring along the young squad.

The Big Red will then turn its attention to the New York State tournament on Sunday and will be looking to claim its third consecutive title in the event. A year ago, the Big Red crowned five individual champions with 207 team points, outpacing second-place Hofstra (157 points). Grey (133), Villalonga (149), Realbuto (157), Dean (184) and Bennett (197) each fought their way to the finals and claimed championships, with Craig Eifert advancing to the finals at 165 pounds to finish second and Bricker Dixon placing third at 125 pounds.

Prior to Saturday's dual, Big Red fans will have an opportunity to watch four-time national champion and Cornell great Kyle Dake, a native of Lansing, N.Y., wrestle four-time All-American and 2010 NCAA champion Andrew Howe in one of three co-main events for the newly created welterweight title. Sam Hazewinkel will also wrestle Tony Ramos for the flyweight crown, while Tervel Dlagnev will battle Tyrell Fortune for a heavyweight championship. The winner of each bout will receive a $10,000 purse in addition to the title. You can also watch the meet live on pay-per-view at GFL.tv for $6.95.

THE STREAKS:
• Cornell has placed in the top five at the NCAA championships in five of the last six seasons and in the top 10 in 10 of the last 12 years.
• Cornell has won eight consecutive EIWA team totals, the longest streak in conference history.
• The Big Red has crowned at least one EIWA champion in each of the last 13 seasons and in 23 of the last 24 years.
• Cornell is 72-13-1 (.843) in dual meet competition in the last six seasons.
• Cornell has won 63 consecutive Ivy League dual meets dating back to the 2001-02 campaign.
• The Big Red has won 35 straight duals against current EIWA competitors dating back to 2010-11.
• Cornell is 74-3-1 (.955) in dual meet action against current EIWA teams dating back to 2004-05, including 68-0 against teams other than Lehigh.
• The Big Red is 29-2 (.935) in its last 31 home duals dating back to the 2009-10 season.
• Big Red wrestling has won 51 consecutive dual meets against unranked teams dating back to the beginning of the 2007-08 season.
• Cornell has won 25 straight meets against New York state opponents.
• Cornell has won six consecutive EIWA championships at 125 pounds (Troy Nickerson in 2009, 2010; Frank Perrelli in 2011, 2012; Nahshon Garrett in 2013, 2014), the most consecutive in one weight class by any school since Lehigh won at 177 pounds from 1974-81, a record eight straight seasons.
 
THE SERIES WITH OKLAHOMA:
• Oklahoma leads the all-time series 8-4, though Cornell has won three straight meetings.
• The Big Red earned a 23-20 dual win over the Sooners last season at the National Duals, and a 25-13 decision the year before at the Journeymen Northeast Duals.
• Cornell also topped the Sooners at the 2006-07 National Duals, a 23-15 Cornell win.
• The first dual between the schools came during the 1965-66 season, a 26-5 Oklahoma victory.

LAST TIME VS. OKLAHOMA:
• After giving up unexpected bonus points at 133 and 141 pounds, the Cornell wrestling team needed a spark to remain unbeaten.
• Senior Chis Villalonga's overtime victory over the second-ranked wrestler at 149 pounds did the trick as the Big Red advanced to the finals of the EAS Sports Nutrition/NWCA Division I National Duals with a 23-20 victory over  No. 11 Oklahoma on Feb. 17, 2014.
• Nahshon Garrett at 125 and Gabe Dean at 184 each earned dominant falls for the Big Red in less than two minutes of action. Garrett pinned Sean Williams in just 65 seconds, while Dean earned the fall over former Ithaca HS wrestler Alex Iacovelli in 1:58.
• At the middle weights, freshmen Brian Realbuto and Dylan Palacio earned important bonus points with major decision wins. Realbuto topped Dryden Dennis 13-1 at 157 and Palacio blanked Clark Glass 10-0 at 165.
• A pair of Big Red ranked wrestlers lost early, as Mark Grey was bested by seventh-ranked Cody Brewer at 133 and Mike Nevinger lost by first period fall to two-time NCAA qualifier Nick Lester.
• Oklahoma's top-ranked Andrew Howe won at 174 by major decision against Jesse Shanaman and closed out the dual needing nine points to equal the Big Red's team score.
• Jace Bennett and Jacob Aiken-Phillips each lost competitive decisions at 197 and heavyweight, respectively, but avoided Sooner bonus points to allow Cornell to advance to the finals of the National Duals for the third time in program history.

DEAN VICTORIOUS AT NWCA ALL-STAR CLASSIC:
• Sophomore Gabe Dean's path to a national championship began at the Palestra on Nov. 1, 2014 at the 2014 NWCA All-Star Classic, and that path looked to be pretty well illuminated.
• The nation's top-ranked wrestler at 184 pounds controlled the match throughout in picking up a 5-2 win over second-ranked Jack Dechow of Old Dominion.
• Wrestling for the All-Star Red team, Dean earned a late first period takedown and rode out Dechow to take a 2-0 lead, then chose bottom to begin the third, earning an escape in the first 30 seconds.
• He added a takedown before the buzzer to enter the final two minutes up 5-0.
• Dechow earned an escape in the third after Dean started on top to get on the scoreboard, then cut the deficit to 5-2 after being awarded a stall point.
 
NOTES TO KNOW:
• The Big Red has had at least one individual NCAA champion in six of the last seven years and at least one finalist in seven straight campaigns.
• The Big Red has had 11 different wrestlers win a combined 16 NCAA titles. Kyle Dake is one of three wrestlers to claim four national crowns (doing it in four different weight classes), while Dave Auble and Travis Lee won two titles each.
• Cornell has had 36 wrestlers earn a total of 68 All-America honors, including 49 total All-Americans since 2002.
• How would the nation's top 20 program rankings look if you shifted around the numbers by Facebook followers? Penn State would sit first with 62,848 and Michigan (50,493) is second, with Cornell nipping at their heels in third with 47,860. The trio is well ahead of fourth-place Oklahoma State (10,597). (as of Nov. 21 at 5 p.m.)
• Since Rob Koll took over prior to the 1993-94 campaign, Cornell has had 134 NCAA qualifiers, 48 All-Americans and 11 national champions. In the first 63 seasons of the NCAA tournament, the Big Red had 82 total NCAA qualifiers, 16 All-Americans and five national champions.
• The Big Red's eight NCAA qualifiers took care of business against wrestlers who didn't make it to NCAAs a year ago. The eight went 152-0 against wrestlers who did not qualify for the 2014 NCAAs, with 44 pins, 27 tech falls and 25 major decisions. In all, 63 percent of those wins were bonus victories.
• The Big Red has won 12 consecutive Ivy crowns and 63 straight Ivy matches.
• Cornell's 12 straight Ivy League titles builds on the Big Red's record of consecutive Ivy titles by the same team in a sport. The wrestling team has won two more than Cornell had in men's gymnastics (from 1967-68 to 1976-77) and men's lacrosse (1973-74 to 1982-83) and Princeton in men's lacrosse (1994-95 to 2003-04). 
• Every four-year member of the Cornell wrestling team who has enrolled since 1980 has won at least one Ivy League title during their career.
• The Big Red has crowned at least one EIWA champion in each of the last 13 seasons and in 23 of the last 24 years. Only Lehigh, with 15 straight years with an Eastern champion, has a longer current streak.
• Cornell has had at least three individual EIWA champions in six consecutive seasons.
• Seven different wrestlers have won 30 or more matches last season, a school record.
• At 13-1 in dual meets in 2013-14, Cornell finished in double figures in wins for the fourth straight season and the 16th time in 21 years under Rob Koll.
• In the last five seasons, Cornell wrestlers have won EIWA titles at each weight except 285 pounds. The last heavyweight to stand at the top of the podium was Seth Charles in 1999.
• Cornell has won 25 consecutive dual meets against teams from New York dating back to its last loss, a 16-15 decision to Hofstra at the 2004 National Duals in Cleveland, Ohio.
• The Big Red is 250-81-3 all-time against teams from New York state in its history — Army (11-17-1), Binghamton (7-0), Brooklyn Poly (2-0), Buffalo (6-4), Clarkson (2-0), Colgate (29-2), Columbia (86-13), Cortland (17-1), Geneseo (1-0), Hofstra (17-4), Ithaca (12-3), Long Island (1-0), Manhattan (1-0), NYU (2-0), Queens (1-0), RPI (2-0), RIT (7-0-1), St. Lawrence (0-1), Syracuse (42-35-1), Union (2-1) and Wagner (2-0).
• The Big Red's coaching staff has combined for 11 All-America accolades and three individual NCAA titles at a total of two different weight classes as collegiate athletes.
 
DUAL DOMINANCE:
• Cornell finished 13-1 last season in dual meets with wins over four nationally ranked teams in No. 7 Illinois, No. 11 Oklahoma, No. 16 Virginia Tech and No. 19 Lehigh.
• Individual wrestlers have recorded a 102-38 record during duals.
• Gabe Dean and Dylan Palacio were 12-1 in dual meets to lead the way, while Nahshon Garrett was 11-1 and Brian Realbuto posted a 10-1 record. Every Cornell wrestler with at least four dual meet appearances has a winning record.
 
NEXT UP:
• The Northeast Duals are next up, as the Big Red will compete in three dual meets in the span of six hours in Troy, N.Y. on Saturday, Nov. 29.
• The Big Red opens up with West Virginia at 11:30 a.m., then will wrestle Kutztown at 1:45 p.m. and North Carolina State two hours later.