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CORNELL INFORMATION
Roster I Schedule & Results I Statistics I History

COLUMBIA  INFORMATION
Roster I Schedule & Results I Statistics

MATCH INFORMATION
Match #10: Columbia at Cornell
Tip off: Saturday, Feb. 8, at 1 p.m.
Site: Friedman Wrestling Center (1,000), Ithaca, N.Y.
2013-14 Records: Columbia (6-3, 0-0 Ivy); Cornell (9-0, 4-0 Ivy)
Series Record: Cornell leads 85-13
Last Meeting: Cornell won 29-12, Feb. 2, 2013 in New York, N.Y.
Radio: ESPN Ithaca (Matt Schultz)
TV: None
Live Video: available at 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 (240-79-5, .748; 95-8-1 Ivy, .918) ... 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 11 straight Ivy League titles (14 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.

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STORY LINES: Cornell can close the book on the 2013-14 Ivy League the same way it has the previous 11 — with an Ivy League crown. The Big Red will square off with Columbia on Saturday, Feb. 8 at 1 p.m. at the Friedman Wrestling Center with an eye on its unprecedented 12th straight Ivy crown. Matt Schultz calls all the action on ESPN Ithaca, while video of the match will be available on the Ivy League Digital Network.

The Big Red has had a strong campaign so far, winning all nine dual meets and the New York State Intercollegiate tournament and placing fourth at both the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational and the Southern Scuffle. An Ivy League title would begin its postseason quest.

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 (14th 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 11 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 68-12-1 (.846) in dual meet competition in the last six seasons.
• Cornell has won 62 consecutive Ivy League dual meets dating back to the 2001-02 campaign.
• The Big Red has won 33 straight duals against current EIWA competitors dating back to 2010-11.
• Cornell is 72-3-1 (.954) 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 27-2 (.931) in its last 29 home duals dating back to the 2009-10 season.
• Big Red wrestling has won 49 consecutive dual meets against unranked teams dating back to the beginning of the 2007-08 season.
• Cornell has won 23 straight meets against New York state opponents.
• Freshman Gabe Dean has won a team-high 17 consecutive matches, while sophomore Nahshon Garrett has won 15 straight.

ABOUT COLUMBIA:
• The Lions are 6-3 and will be competing in their first Ivy League dual when Columbia visits Ithaca.
• Columbia enters with a five-match win streak, including a 19-18 win over Bucknell on Jan. 24 in its last dual.
• Markus Schiedel has gone 20-7 at 157 pounds to lead the Lions in victories to lead the middle weights, the strength of Columbia's team.
• Josh Houldsworth (18-8 at 165), Shane Hughes (15-6 at 174) and Zack Hernandez (17-6 at 184) are also having outstanding seasons for the Lions.
• Hughes is ranked No. 11 nationally at 174 pounds and is the lone Lion wrestler in the rankings last week.
• Third-year head coach Carl Fronhofer helped five Lions gain bids to the NCAA championships a year ago.

THE SERIES WITH COLUMBIA:
• Cornell leads the all-time series 85-13 dating back to the 1907-08 season when the teams first met.
• The Big Red has won 27 consecutive dual meets against the Lions.
• Columbia's last win over the Big Red came in a 20-19 Lions victory in Ithaca during the 1985-86 campaign.

LAST TIME VS. COLUMBIA:
• Cornell won seven matches and used pins at 165 and 184 to open up a close dual to top Columbia 29-12 on Feb. 2, 2013 in New York City.
• With the Big Red up 16-12 heading into 184, Steve Bosak earned a second period fall and Jace Bennett won a major decision at 197 to clinch the win.
• Kyle Dake earned a third period pin at 165 and Nahshon Garrett won by major decision at 125.
• The Lions won matches at 133 behind Matt Bystol, 157 from Jake O'Hara and 174 with a Stephen West pin.

NOTES TO KNOW:
• Cornell's 12 straight Ivy League title would build on the Big Red's record of consecutive Ivy titles by the same team in a sport. The wrestling team has won 11 straight championships, one 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 9-0 in dual meets, Cornell can move into double figures in wins for the fourth straight season and the 16th time in 21 seasons under Rob Koll.
• A win would also continue the Big Red's 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.
• In a rare occurrence, Cornell can eliminate Columbia from the Ivy League race in its very first league match of the season.
• 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 11 consecutive Ivy crowns and has now won 62 straight Ivy matches.
• Big Red wrestlers have won 363 matches on the season with 178 coming as bonus point wins (.490).
• As a team, the Big Red has won individual matches at an impressive .732 clip (363-133 in 496 total matches).
• Eight Cornell wrestlers have won at least 20 matches this season (Nahshon Garrett - 22; Mark Grey - 20; Chris Villalonga - 24; Brian Realbuto -27; Dylan Palacio - 22; Jesse Shanaman - 20; Gabe Dean - 27; Jace Bennett - 22).
• Cornell has won 23 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 248-81-3 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 (85-13), 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 108 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 39,399 and Cornell would be nipping at their heels in second with 33,403. Third is Michigan with 32,124 — well ahead of fourth-place Oklahoma State (9,407). (as of Feb. 3 at 2 p.m.)

EIWA RANKINGS:
• All 10 of Cornell's starters are ranked among the top five in the latest EIWA rankings.
• As a team, Cornell sits at the top, ahead of Lehigh, Rutgers and Navy.
• Ivy League foes Princeton (No. 5) and Columbia (No. 6) are ranked among the top eight teams.
• Cornell has five wrestlers at the top of their weight classes: Nahshon Garrett at 125, Mike Nevinger at 141, Chris Villalonga at 149, Dylan Palacio at 165 and Gabe Dean at 184.
• In addition, Mark Grey is second at 133, Brian Realbuto is second at 157, Jace Bennett is third at 197, Duke Pickett is fourth at 174 and Jacob Aiken-Phillips is fifth at heavyweight.

TALL IVY:
• Since Rob Koll took over the Cornell program in 1993, the Big Red has gone 95-8-1 (.918) in its 104 Ivy League matches.
• Over that same span, Penn is next best 82-18-1, followed by Brown (44-56-1).
• Rounding out the field is Columbia 38-62, Harvard 34-66-1 and Princeton 9-92.
• Dating back to the 2002-03 season (12 years), Cornell's perfect 58-0 record laps the competition. Penn is second-best at 42-14, followed by Columbia 27-28, Brown 18-37-1, Harvard 16-39-1 and Princeton 6-50.
• Current Cornell wrestlers are 84-26 in Ivy League dual matches (.764).
• Expected Big Red starters Nahshon Garrett  at 125 (8-0), Mike Nevinger at 141 (10-3) and Chris Villalonga at 149 (10-1) are a combined 28-4 all-time (.875) against Ivy competition in duals.

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 compete at the National Duals on Sunday, Feb. 16 at Ohio State.
• Matchups for the duals will be released in the coming days.