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Cornell will attempt to claim its 13th straight Ivy title and, in the process, post its most dual wins in a season since 1999 when the Big Red visits Columbia on Saturday, Feb. 7 at 6 p.m., hours after wrestling Hofstra at noon. Jeremy Menard will be calling the action on ESPN Ithaca (1160 AM/107.1 FM) for both duals, with the Columbia match being broadcast on the Ivy League Digital Network.

The Big Red, who will be looking for its 13th consecutive Ivy League title with a win over Columbia, enters the weekend having won 67 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.

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. Eight 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 19-2 with seven wins over nationally ranked wrestlers, five by bonus wins. Senior Chris Villalonga is 20-2 this season at 149 pounds and is ranked seventh 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 9-2 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 11-2 on the season thus far. Junior Duke Pickett, arguably the team's most improved wrestler, climbed into the Intermat top 20 this week at 174 pounds. He has posted a 21-4 record on the season.

THE STREAKS:
• Cornell is 83-14-1 (.852) in dual meet competition in the last six seasons.
• Cornell has won 67 consecutive Ivy League dual meets dating back to the 2001-02 campaign.
• The Big Red has won 40 straight duals against current EIWA competitors dating back to 2010-11.
• Cornell is 79-3-1 (.958) 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 32-3 (.914) in its last 35 home duals dating back to the 2009-10 season.
• Big Red wrestling has won 59 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 HOFSTRA:
• At 5-9 this season in dual meet competition, Hofstra has wins over Maryland, Princeton and American.
• Hofstra features a pair of nationally-ranked wrestlers in Jamel Hudson at 141 (No. 17) and Cody Ruggirello at 149 (No. 16).
• Hudson is 19-3 on the season and has posted an impressive 35-7 career mark. Ruggirello is 20-4 on the year and 52-32 for his career.
• Ruggirello, expected to be a challenger at the EIWA meet for the Big Red's Chris Villalonga, will likely meet up for the first time this season.
• Also posting strong campaigns are Jahlani Callender at 157 (15-12) and heavyweight Mike Hughes (17-9).
• First-year head coach Dennis Papdatos took over his alma mater this past summer after assistant coaching stints at North Carolina and Binghamton.

THE SERIES WITH HOFSTRA:
• Cornell leads the all-time series 17-4 dating back to the 1985-86 season when the teams first met.
• The Big Red has won 11 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:
• With a majority of backups in the lineup as the Big Red wrestling team gets healthy for EIWA's, Cornell was able to celebrate Senior Day with a 28-19 win over Hofstra on Feb. 22, 2014 at the Friedman Wrestling Center.
• Knowing they would receive a pair of forfeits, Cornell chose to put out five backups into the lineup to rest some of the starters prior to the EIWA championships in two weekends at the Palestra in Philadelphia.
• Of the three Big Red starters who did wrestle, two earned bonus point wins and top-ranked Nahshon Garrett won an easy decision over a two-time NCAA qualifier at 125 pounds.
• No. 3 Gabe Dean at 184 pounds and No. 14 Mark Grey at 133 each had their hands raised by forfeit to give the Big Red a 9-8 lead after four matches and a 28-8 advantage after eight matches.
• The dual started at 157 pounds, the first time all season Cornell started wrestling at a weight class other than 125.

ABOUT COLUMBIA:
• The Lions have posted a 4-2 record this season, including wins over Hofstra, American, Binghamton and Buffalo.
• Though none of its wrestlers enter the weekend ranked by Intermat, a number are having outstanding seasons.
• Angelo Amenta (14-9 at 133), Garrett Ryan (16-10 at heavyweight) and Markus Scheidel (14-6 at 157) will be among Cornell's top competitors.
• The Lions qualified four wrestlers for NCAAs a season ago, including Scheidel, as well as Zack Hernandez (9-9 at 184) and Shane Hughes (11-8 at 174).
• Fourth-year head coach Carl Fronhofer, a former All-American at Pittsburgh, has coached 12 NCAA qualifiers for the Lions.

THE SERIES WITH COLUMBIA:
• Cornell leads the all-time series 86-13 dating back to the 1907-08 season when the teams first met.
• The Big Red has won 28 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:
• Heading into the final two matches of its Ivy League dual with Columbia tied at 15-15, it fell on unheralded Jace Bennett and Jacob Aiken-Phillips to bring home Cornell wrestling's 12th consecutive Ivy league title. The upperclassmen delivered.
• The pair of juniors each earned dominant wins without surrendering a point to give the Big Red a 22-15 victory over the Lions in a hard-fought dual on Feb. 8, 2014 at Friedman Wrestling Center.
• After No. 11 Shane Hughes pinned Craig Eifert at 174 pounds and Zack Hernandez was able to carve out a 6-3 decision over Billy George at 184 pounds to knot the team score at 184, there might have been some trepidation in Friedman. Not on Jace Bennett's face.
• Without four starters in the lineup, Cornell was never able to run away despite dominance at the top. Two of Cornell's wins came by decision with seven-point victories, one point shy of a major.

RECAPPING THE PRINCETON & LOCK HAVEN DUALS:
• Cornell raced out to a 29-3 lead on the strength of four bonus point victories and moved one step closer to its 13th consecutive Ivy League title with a 29-9 triumph over Princeton on Friday evening at Friedman Wrestling Center.
• Sophomore Gabe Dean's second period pin over Brett Harner highlighted the night, with junior Nahshon Garrett and senior Chris Villalonga each posting technical falls. Sophomore Mark Grey added a major decision victory at 133 and Brian Realbuto at 157, Dylan Palacio at 165 and Duke Pickett at 174 all had comfortable wins of at least five points in helping decide the dual.
• Saturday saw seniors Craig Eifert, Jesse Shanaman and Jace Bennett all pick up wins in their final regular season home dual to help Cornell knock off Lock Haven 22-13.
• Cornell's four regular starters all took different paths to victory.
• Nahshon Garrett started the Big Red out right with an easy tech fall victory over Jake Field at 125 and Duke Pickett took home a 13-2 major decision over Tyler Wood at 174.
• On the other end of the spectrum, seniors Chris Villalonga and Jace Bennett both grinded out wins at 149 and 197, respectively. Villalonga held off 2014 NCAA qualifier Daniel Neff 3-2, while Bennett topped Phil Sprenkle 7-6.

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:
• With two wins this weekend, the Big Red would improve to 15-1 on the season in dual meets. That total is the most since Cornell went 16-2-1 during the 1998-99 campaign and the fifth-most in school history.
• The Big Red will have the rare ability to clinch at Ivy League title before half the conference has wrestled its second conference match. A win over the Lions would give them an unprecedented 13th consecutive crown without Harvard or Columbia having wrestled a second Ivy match. Princeton will be taking the mat for its second match at 6 p.m. like the Big Red. Brown and Penn will only have wrestled its second Ivy match Saturday at 1 p.m.
• 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 256-81-5 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 67 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.
• 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.
• 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 100-8-1 (.922) in its 109 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 12-94.
• Dating back to the 2002-03 season (13 years), Cornell's perfect 64-0 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 9-52.
• Current Cornell wrestlers are 119-39 in Ivy League dual matches (.753).

NEXT UP:
• Cornell will open the NWCA National Duals at home with a matchup with Drexel on Sunday, Feb. 15 at 2 p.m. at Newman Arena.
• The Big Red leads the all-time series 7-1-1 dating back to the first meeting between the programs in the 1977-78 season.
• The winner will head to the quarterfinal round beginning on Feb. 21 in Iowa City, Iowa.