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After decisive dual meet wins last weekend over two of its biggest challengers in the EIWA, the Cornell wrestling team will welcome Princeton on Friday, Jan. 30 and Lock Haven on Saturday, Jan. 31 to Friedman Wrestling Center. Both matches are scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m. Both matches can be viewed with a subscription to the Ivy League Digital Network, while Jeremy Menard will be calling the action on ESPN Ithaca (1160 AM/107.1 FM) for both duals.

The Big Red enters the weekend having won 66 consecutive dual meets against Ancient Eight foes dating back to the 2001-02 campaign. Its 12 straight championships is already an Ivy record - no program has won more consecutive titles in the same sport in conference history. Cornell is well on its way to competing for its 13th straight Ivy crown, and a win over the Tigers would be another big step in that direction after already dispatching Penn, who has been the runner-up every year during the Big Red's 12-year championship run.

The Big Red has wins over nationally ranked Oklahoma, North Carolina State, Edinboro and Lehigh, won its third consecutive New York State title, went a perfect 3-0 at the Journeymen/ASICS Northeast Duals, placed fifth at the Las Vegas Invitational without the services of four starters and was 2-0 at the Grapple at the Garden. The Big Red has done all that without between two and four starters all season. Seven starters remain ranked among the nation's top 20 wrestlers at their respective weight classes.

Sophomore Gabe Dean is nearly unanimously ranked No. 1 in the country at 184 pounds and remains among a handful of national title contenders at the weight after rolling through the Southern Scuffle, including pinning previous No. 1 Max Thomusseit of Pitt in the finals. Junior Nahshon Garrett, the defending national runner-up at 125 pounds, is ranked in the top three of every national poll and is 17-2 with seven wins over nationally ranked wrestlers, five by bonus wins. Senior Chris Villalonga is 18-2 this season at 149 pounds and is ranked eighth nationally.

A pair of sophomores, Brian Realbuto (157) and Dylan Palacio (165), are working their way back into the championship pictures at their respective weight class. Realbuto, who is recovering from an injury suffered at last season's NCAA tournament, made his first appearance of the season at the Scuffle and has gone 8-2 with three wins over ranked wrestlers.Palacio, who spent the fall with the Big Red men's soccer team, went 2-0 at the Grapple at the Garden and is 10-2 on the season thus far.

THE STREAKS:
• Cornell is 81-14-1 (.849) in dual meet competition in the last six seasons.
• Cornell has won 66 consecutive Ivy League dual meets dating back to the 2001-02 campaign.
• The Big Red has won 39 straight duals against current EIWA competitors dating back to 2010-11.
• Cornell is 78-3-1 (.957) in dual meet action against current EIWA teams dating back to 2004-05, including 72-0 against teams other than Lehigh.
• The Big Red is 30-3 (.909) in its last 32 home duals dating back to the 2009-10 season.
• Big Red wrestling has won 57 consecutive dual meets against unranked teams dating back to the beginning of the 2007-08 season.
• 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 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.

ABOUT PRINCETON:
• The Tigers are 5-4 on the season and will be opening their Ivy League schedule with the Big Red.
• It will be Princeton's first dual meet competition in three weeks since topping Sacred Heart 30-8 and dropping a narrow 22-20 decision to Hofstra on Jan. 9 at home.
• Princeton's Abe Ayala is the lone Tiger in the top 20 as the top-ranked wrestler int he EIWA at 197. The 10th-ranked Tiger grappler will face defending EIWA champion and 13th-ranked Jace Bennett of Cornell.
• Brett Harner at 184 pounds is also a formidable opponent for the Big Red's top-ranked Gabe Dean. Harner is 20-5 on the year and took eighth at the prestigious Midlands Championships.
• Eighth-year head coach Chris Ayres has helped qualify six wrestlers to the NCAA championships during his tenure. The Tigers tied for second place in the Ivy League last season as part of an 11-4 dual meet campaign.

THE SERIES WITH PRINCETON:
• Cornell leads the all-time series 52-15 dating back to the 1907-08 season when the teams first met.
• The Big Red has won 28 consecutive dual meets against the Tigers.
• Princeton's last win over the Big Red came in a 21-19 Tiger victory at home during the 1985-86 campaign.

LAST TIME VS. PRINCETON:
• Cornell earned four falls, three in the first period, and ran out to a 27-0 team lead en route to a 36-7 triumph over Princeton on Feb. 1, 2014 at Dillon Gymnasium.
• Nahshon Garrett and Mark Grey won their matches by fall in less than two minutes to start off the dual, giving the Big Red what would turn out to be enough points to claim the dual.
• Garrett dispatched of Ryan Cash in 1:29 at 125 pounds and Grey pinned Jake Intrator in 1:50.
• Later, Brian Realbuto earned a fall over Kyle Roddy at 157 pounds with 22 seconds left in the first period.
• Gabe Dean rounded out the wins by fall at 184 pounds, thoroughly dominating Brett Harner before on his way to a tech fall before ending the match at 6:28.
• Chris Villalonga won the matchup of the day, earning a hard-fought 4-2 decision over Adam Krop at 149 pounds. Krop was ranked 19th at 141 pounds before moving up a weight.

ABOUT LOCK HAVEN:
• The Bald Eagles are off to a 4-9 dual meet start, including wins over Drexel (18-15) and George Mason (31-6) and a narrow loss to Hofstra (17-16).
• Lock Haven is coming off an 18-16 loss to Cleveland State and also recently dropped a 22-9 dual at Cornell's Ivy rival Penn.
• Lock Haven will challenge the Big Red with a pair of NCAA qualifiers, with Dan Neff at 149 and Fred Garcia at 184. Both will wrestle top 10 Cornell grapplers.
• Second-year head coach Scott Moore has made an impact on the Lock Haven program, sending four wrestlers to the NCAAs last season. He has a 7-19 career dual meet record.

THE SERIES WITH LOCK HAVEN:
• Cornell leads the all-time series 8-4-1 in a series that dates back to the 1951-52 season.
• Lock Haven won that first meeting, 17-15, in Pennsylvania.
• The Big Red has won the last two duals between the teams, a 25-9 decision during the 1998-99 season and a 26-12 triumph in 2005-06.
• Nine of the 13 meetings came between 1990-99, with the Big Red going 5-2-1.

LAST TIME VS. LOCK HAVEN:
• Troy Nickerson's pin of No. 15 Obenson Blanc in the final minute of the third period sent the Big Red on its way to a 26-12 triumph at Lock Haven on Jan. 8, 2006.
• Cornell's nationally ranked wrestlers at 133 (No. 10 Mike Mormile), 165 (No. 11 Steve Anceravage) and 197 (No. 9 Jerry Rinaldi) all were victorious, with one of the losses coming when second-ranked Dustin Manotti injury defaulted at 165.
• The dual match was the second of the day after the Big Red dropped a 27-7 decision at Penn State earlier in the afternoon.

RECAPPING THE PENN & LEHIGH DUALS:
• Two of the EIWA's best challenged the Big Red for conference dual meet superiority. Both went home empty.
• The Big Red topped Penn 26-9 on Saturday afternoon at Newman Arena to remain unbeaten in Ivy play, then topped Lehigh 21-9 on Sunday in Bethlehem, Pa.
• Against Penn, the Big Red rallied from a halftime deficit with a big second half, winning the meet's final six matches and extending its win streak over Ivy opponents to 66.
• The Big Red shut out the Quakers 18-0 over the final five matches, spurred on by a first period fall by sophomore Dylan Palacio over Ray Bethea, to turn the tide of the dual and get the crowd of better than 2,100 back into the match.
• Consecutive overtime wins, including a late rally to get there for Duke Pickett, and another top-five victory for Gabe Dean, was one of three consecutive matches the Big Red won by a single point or in overtime.
• Against Lehigh, the Mount Hawks looked to be heading into halftime with a 9-6 advantage.
• Instead, sophomore Brian Realbuto showed he is back to form and reversed the score, figuratively and literally.
• The Big Red would go on to win a pair of overtime victories over ranked wrestlers after the break and go on for a 21-9 triumph over the Mountain Hawks.
• After giving up a four-point move in the opening seconds of his matchup with 16th-ranked Mitch Minotti, seventh-ranked Realbuto chipped away, chipped away until he was able to use a five-point move in the closing seconds for an 11-8 comeback win at 157 pounds, silencing the Lehigh home crowd.
• Top-ranked Gabe Dean later won his second match of the weekend against a top five wrestler in sudden victory with a takedown and Jace Bennett earned his second win over a grappler ranked in the top 11 in eight days at 197 in the rideout sessions.
• Despite the lopsided final, the match was anything but dull. Three matches were decided in overtime, another three by three points or less.
• It was Cornell's fourth straight against the Mountain Hawks and its 39th straight against EIWA competitors.

EIWA RANKINGS:
• Eight of Cornell's 10 starters are ranked among the top four in their respective weights in the latest EIWA rankings.
• As a team, Cornell sits at the top, ahead of Lehigh and Bucknell.
• Ivy League foes Penn (No. 4) and Columbia (No. 6) are ranked among the top six teams.
• Cornell has five wrestlers at the top of their weight classes: Nahshon Garrett at 125, Chris Villalonga at 149, Brian Realbuto at 157, Duke Pickett at 174 and Gabe Dean at 184.
• In addition, Mark Grey is fourth at 133, Dylan Palacio is second at 165 and Jace Bennett is third at 197.

NOTES TO KNOW:
• Head coach Rob Koll became the ninth Big Red coach in any sport to reach 250 career victories with a sweep at the Grapple at the Garden. He now sports a 254-81-5 record in dual meets.
• Cornell wrestlers had a strong summer - Nahshon Garrett won the 2014 University Freestyle Nationals, while Gabe Dean was the junior freestyle champion at 84kg/185 pounds to earn a spot on the junior world team.
• 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.
• 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 66 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 10-1 in dual meets in 2014-15, Cornell has posted double figures in wins for the fifth straight season and the 17th time in 22 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.

TALL IVY:
• Since Rob Koll took over the Cornell program in 1993, the Big Red has gone 99-8-1 (.921) in its 108 Ivy League matches.
• Over that same span, Penn is next best at 85-20-1, followed by Brown (45-60-1).
• Rounding out the field is Columbia 40-65, Harvard 35-70-1 and Princeton 12-93.
• Dating back to the 2002-03 season (12 years), Cornell's perfect 63-0 record laps the competition. Penn is second-best at 45-16, followed by Columbia 29-31, Brown 19-41-1, Harvard 17-43-1 and Princeton 9-51.
• Current Cornell wrestlers are 112-36 in Ivy League dual matches (.757).

NEXT UP:
• Cornell kicks off February with road dual meets at Hofstra (12 p.m.) and Columbia (6 p.m.) on Saturday, Feb. 7.
• The dual with the Lions will close out the Big Red's five-match Ivy League schedule.