Skip To Main Content

Cornell University Athletics

Wrestling Mat, 2013-14

Wrestling's Quest For Second NWCA National Duals Title Begins Sunday

2/11/2014 3:39:00 PM

FOLLOW THE BIG RED
Cornell Match Notes I Purchase Tickets I Live Video I Live Results
Sign up to receive text messages I Sign up for weekly newsletters

CORNELL INFORMATION
Roster I Schedule & Results I Statistics I History

TOURNAMENT INFORMATION
#4 Cornell at the EAS Sports Nutrition/NWCA Division I National Duals
Starts: Sunday, Feb. 16, at 1 p.m.
Site: St. John Arena (13,276), Columbus, Ohio
2013-14 Record: Cornell (10-0, 5-0 Ivy)
Radio: ESPN Ithaca (Matt Schultz)
TV: Big Ten Network (semifinals and finals)
Live Video: FloWrestling.org
Tickets: check availability by calling (607) 254-BEAR

HEAD COACH ROB KOLL
Cornell head coach Rob Koll is in his 21st season at Cornell (241-79-5, .749; 96-8-1 Ivy, .919) ... he is the David R. Dunlop '59 Head Coach of Wrestling at Cornell ... the all-time winningest wrestling coach in program history, Koll has guided the Big Red to 12 straight Ivy League titles (15 overall), seven consecutive EIWA crowns and seven top five NCAA team finishes, including second twice (2010, 2011) ... he was the 2005 NWCA Division I Coach of the Year and the Dan Gable Coach of the Year ... his wrestlers have won 11 national titles with 49 All-Americans and 42 individual EIWA champions.
STORY LINES: The Cornell wrestling team will face some of its stiffest challenges while gearing up for championship season when it travels to Columbus, Ohio to compete in the EAS Sports Nutrition/NWCA Division I National Duals on Sunday, Feb. 16 and Monday, Feb. 17. Matt Schultz will call all the action on ESPN Ithaca, while the semifinals and finals will be broadcast on the Big Ten Network.

Cornell will be among 14 teams competing at Ohio State's St. John Arena, including 10 that are nationally ranked. The sixth-ranked Big Red will be joined at the tournament by #1 Minnesota, #11 Oklahoma, #13 Ohio State, #16 Virginia Tech, #17 Iowa State, #18 Illinois, #19 Chattanooga, #20 North Dakota State and #25 Oregon State. Also competing will be Bloomsburg, Central Michigan, Hofstra and Kent State.

The Big Red has had a strong campaign so far, winning all 10 dual meets, its record 12th straight Ivy League crown and the New York State Intercollegiate tournament, as well as placing fourth at both the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational and the Southern Scuffle.

Seven Big Red wrestlers rank in the top 20 nationally in their weight classes according to W.I.N. Magazine and lead one of the youngest teams in the country with four freshmen and two sophomores in the 10-man lineup. Returning NCAA All-Americans Nahshon Garrett (No. 1 at 125 pounds) and Mike Nevinger (seventh at 141 pounds) are expected to lead the lineup along with 2013 NCAA qualifiers Chris Villalonga (eighth at 149), Jace Bennett and Stryker Lane (HWT). Freshmen Mark Grey (15th at 133), Brian Realbuto (sixth at 157), Dylan Palacio (17th at 165) and Gabe Dean (184) are all among the top 20 wrestlers in their respective weight classes, with Dean sitting No. 3 after his upset of Penn State's Ed Ruth, the two-time defending national champion.

Head coach Rob Koll has built a powerhouse that has won 12 straight Ivy League titles, seven consecutive EIWA crowns and has four NCAA top-five team finishes in a row and nine top 10 finishes in the last 11 years. With five starters who qualified for NCAAs a year ago returning, as well as one of the top recruiting classes in the country, Cornell wrestling looks to reach all of those lofty goals yet again.

THE STREAKS:
• Cornell is 69-12-1 (.848) 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 34 straight duals against current EIWA competitors dating back to 2010-11.
• Cornell is 73-3-1 (.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 28-2 (.933) in its last 30 home duals dating back to the 2009-10 season.
• Big Red wrestling has won 50 consecutive dual meets against unranked teams dating back to the beginning of the 2007-08 season.
• Cornell has won 24 straight meets against New York state opponents.
• Freshman Gabe Dean has won a team-high 17 consecutive matches, while sophomore Nahshon Garrett has won 16 straight.

CORNELL AT THE NATIONAL DUALS:
• Ths is Cornell's 12th straight appearance in the NWCA National Duals, with the Big Red winning the event during the 2010-11 season.
• Cornell has made 13 overall appearances in the event with a 24-20 record
• The Big Red has faced Arizona State (0-1); Boise State (0-1); Cal State Bakersfield (1-0); Central Michigan (1-0); Cleveland State (1-0); Hofstra (1-1); Illinois (0-1); Indiana (1-0); Iowa (0-3); Iowa State (2-0); Maryland (1-0); Michigan (2-1); Michigan State (0-1); Minnesota (1-3); Missouri (2-0); Nebraska (1-0); Northern Iowa (1-0); Northwestern (0-1); Ohio (1-0); Ohio State (3-2); Oklahoma (1-1); Oklahoma State (0-2); Penn State (1-2); Purdue (1-0); Virginia Tech (1-0); Wisconsin (1-0).
• A year ago, the Big Red won the Ithaca regional by defeating both Hofstra (42-0) and Nebraska (19-17) before heading to Minneapolis, Minn. the following week and dropping a tight 21-16 decision to Iowa.
• Only the elite programs in the country have won the NWCA National Duals, with Oklahoma State winning eight, Minnesota taking seven, Iowa claiming six, Penn State winning two, and both Cornell and Iowa State winning one each.

NOTES TO KNOW:
• 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 is the only program in the country that has won individual national titles in as many as eight weight classes since 2005. Cornell has won a title at every weight except 174 and heavyweight. Oklahoma State has won titles in seven and both Penn State and Iowa have triumphed in five.
• Cornell has had multiple All-Americans in nine weight classes since 2005, joining Iowa and Minnesota. The Big Red hasn't had a heavyweight All-American during that span.
• The team's 10-match win streak is its longest since winning its first 11 during the 2011-12 campaign.
• 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). 
• At 10-0 in dual meets, Cornell has moved into double figures in wins for the fourth straight season and the 16th time in 21 seasons under Rob Koll.
• The Big Red also continues its quest for its first undefeated dual meet season since the 1927-28 season (5-0) and just the sixth in school history dating back to the 1907-08 campaign.
• The Big Red has had at least one individual NCAA champion in each of the last six years, the longest active streak in the country (next is Penn State with three straight years).
• The Big Red has won 12 consecutive Ivy crowns and has now won 63 straight Ivy matches.
• Big Red wrestlers have won 375 matches on the season with 182 coming as bonus point wins (.485).
• As a team, the Big Red has won individual matches at an impressive .727 clip (375-141 in 516 total matches).
• Eight Cornell wrestlers have won at least 20 matches this season (Gabe Dean - 27; Brian Realbuto -27; Chris Villalonga - 25; Mark Grey - 24; Jace Bennett - 23; Nahshon Garrett - 23; Dylan Palacio - 23; Jesse Shanaman - 20).
• Cornell has won 24 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 249-81-3 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 (16-4), 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 14 All-America accolades and seven individual NCAA titles at a total of six different weight classes as collegiate athletes.
• Freshman Brian Realbuto has won 13 matches by fall this season, tied for the seventh-most in a season by a Cornell wrestler. The record is the 18 Kyle Dake '13 had a season ago.
• Senior Mike Nevinger has 109 career wins, good for 17th all-time.
• 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 40,158 and Cornell would be nipping at their heels in second with 34,277. Third is Michigan with 33,046 — well ahead of fourth-place Oklahoma State (9,498). (as of Feb. 11 at 9 a.m.)

DUAL DOMINANCE:
• Cornell is 10-0 this season in dual meets with wins over a pair of nationally ranked teams in #7 Lehigh and #19 Lehigh.
• Individual wrestlers have recorded a 77-23 record during duals.,
• Both Brian Realbuto (8-0) and Chris Villalonga (7-0) lead the way for the Big Red with perfect dual meet records, while Dylan Palacio (9-1), Mike Nevinger (8-1), Gabe Dean (8-1) and Nahshon Garrett (7-1) all have one loss apiece.

TALL IVY:
• Since Rob Koll took over the Cornell program in 1993, the Big Red has gone 96-8-1 (.919) in its 105 Ivy League matches.
• Over that same span, Penn is next best 83-19-1, followed by Brown (45-57-1).
• Rounding out the field is Columbia 38-63, Harvard 34-68-1 and Princeton 11-92.
• Dating back to the 2002-03 season (12 years), Cornell's perfect 60-0 record laps the competition. Penn is second-best at 43-15, followed by Columbia 27-29, Brown 19-38-1, Harvard 16-41-1 and Princeton 8-50.
• Current Cornell wrestlers are 90-30 in Ivy League dual matches (.750).
• Expected Big Red starters Nahshon Garrett  at 125 (9-0), Mike Nevinger at 141 (11-3) and Chris Villalonga at 149 (11-1) are a combined 31-4 all-time (.886) against Ivy competition in duals.
• Nevinger (5-0) and Dylan Palacio (5-0) were perfect in Ivy league dual matches this season while competing in each match. Nahshon Garrett and Gabe Dean were both 4-0, while Mike Grey and Brian Realbuto each went 3-0. Both Jace Bennett and Jacob Aiken-Phillips went 4-1 in conference action.

HOW TO FOLLOW CORNELL WRESTLING:
• There are numerous way to follow the Big Red through the 203-14 wrestling season.
• The Big Red's home dual meets will all be broadcast live with streaming video as part of the Ivy League Digital Network subscription service. Visit www.IvyLeagueDigitalNetwork.com for all the latest information on Cornell broadcasts.
• Wrestling duals will be broadcast on ESPN Ithaca for the 2013-14 season. Matt Schultz will be on the radio call.
• You can follow the team on YouTube, Facebook and Twitter. Highlights, interviews and features can be found at www.youtube.com/CornellWrestling, www.facebook.com/cornellwrestling or www.twitter.com/bigredwrestling.

NEXT UP:
• The Big Red will close out dual meet season at home when it meets Hofstra on Saturday, Feb. 22 at 1 p.m. in the Friedman Wrestling Center.
• Cornell leads the all-time series 16-4, including a pair of duals last season (30-15 on the road and 42-0 at home).
Print Friendly Version