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CORNELL INFORMATION
Roster I
Schedule & Results I
Statistics I
History
HOFSTRA INFORMATION
Roster I
Schedule & Results I
Statistics
MATCH INFORMATION
Match 14: Hofstra at #4 Cornell
Begins: Saturday, Feb. 22, at 1 p.m.
Site: Friedman Wrestling Center (1,000), Ithaca, N.Y.
2013-14 Records: Hofstra (6-9); Cornell (12-1, 5-0 Ivy)
Radio: ESPN Ithaca (Matt Schultz,
Clint Wattenberg)
TV: None
Live Video:
IvyLeagueDigitalNetwork.com
Tickets: check availability by calling (607) 254-BEAR
HEAD COACH ROB KOLL
Cornell head coach
Rob Koll is in his 21st season at Cornell (243-80-5, .748; 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 have its final tuneup for the EIWA tournament and will celebrate its seniors when Hofstra visits Friedman Wrestling Center on Saturday, Feb. 22 at 1 p.m. You can watch Senior Day on the Ivy league Digital Network, and Matt Schultz will call all the action on ESPN Ithaca.
The Big Red has had a strong campaign so far, going 12-1 in dual meets, its record 12th straight Ivy League crown and the New York State Intercollegiate tournament, a runner-up finish at the 2014 NWCA National Duals and a fourth place team finish at both the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational and the Southern Scuffle.
Eight Big Red wrestlers rank in the top 20 nationally in their weight classes according to Intermat 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 (11th at 141 pounds) are expected to lead the lineup along with 2013 NCAA qualifiers
Chris Villalonga (third at 149) and
Jace Bennett (19th at 197). Freshmen
Mark Grey (14th at 133),
Brian Realbuto (10th at 157),
Dylan Palacio (14th 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. Junior
Jacob Aiken-Phillips has taken over in the lineup at heavyweight and is yet another potential NCAA qualifier.
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 71-13-1 (.841) 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 21 consecutive matches, while sophomore
Nahshon Garrett has won 19 straight.
ABOUT HOFSTRA:
• The Pride is 6-9 in dual meets this season and have lost three straight, including a pair of top 20 teams at last weekend's National Duals.
• Hofstra fell to both No. 13 Ohio State (29-10) and No. 17 Iowa State (36-9) in Columbus, Ohio.
• Jahlani Callender won both matches at 157 during the tournament and is now 24-14 on the season while seeing action at both 149 and 157.
• Several Hofstra wrestlers are in the national rankings, with Jamel Hudson 18th at 133, Luke Vaith 10th at 141 and Joe Booth 15th at 165.
• Included among the team's wins this season are triumphs over North Carolina and Army, as well as a 4-2 mark against EIWA competitors.
• Head coach Rob Anspach is in his third season leading his alma mater. The 2013 CAA Coach of the Year has guided to his team league titles in each of his first two seasons.
THE SERIES WITH HOFSTRA:
• Cornell leads the all-time series 16-4 dating back to the 1985-86 season when the teams first met.
• The Big Red has won 10 consecutive dual meets against the Pride.
• Hofstra's last win over the Big Red came in a 16-15 Pride victory in Cleveland during the 2003-04 National Duals.
LAST TIME VS. HOFSTRA:
• Cornell won all 10 matches, including four of the last five by fall, as part of a 42-0 shutout over the Pride on Feb. 17, 2013 at Newman Arena in the first round of the 2013 National Duals.
• The pin party began with
Kyle Dake at 165 pounds and continued with
Steve Bosak at 184,
Jace Bennett at 197 and
Stryker Lane at heavyweight. All came in the first period in under two minutes.
• The win was the second over the Pride in the span of 15 days. Cornell had earlier defeated Hofstra 30-15 on Feb. 2 in Hempstead, N.Y.
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.
• 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 12-1 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 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 63 straight Ivy matches.
• Big Red wrestlers have won 394 matches on the season with 189 coming as bonus point wins (.480).
• As a team, the Big Red has won individual matches at an impressive .722 clip (394-152 in 546 total matches).
• Eight Cornell wrestlers have won at least 20 matches this season (
Gabe Dean - 30;
Brian Realbuto -29;
Chris Villalonga - 27;
Nahshon Garrett - 26;
Dylan Palacio - 26;
Mark Grey - 25;
Jace Bennett - 24;
Jesse Shanaman - 21).
• 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 110 career wins, good for 14th 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 41,402 and Cornell would be nipping at their heels in second with 34,860. Third is Michigan with 33,827 — well ahead of fourth-place Oklahoma State (9,535). (as of Feb. 18 at 10 a.m.)
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 head to the EIWA championships at the Palestra in Philadelphia, Pa. on March 8-9. Cornell will be looking for an unprecedented eighth consecutive meet title while qualifying its lineup for the NCAA championships.