STORY LINES
• No. 15 Cornell and No. 6 Lehigh perennially battle atop the EIWA standings, and the Mountain Hawks will look to overcome the recent Big Red dominance in conference dual meet competition when the two teams meet on Saturday, Jan. 23 at 6:30 p.m. at Friedman Wrestling Center.
• You can listen to this weekend's match at ESPN Ithaca 1160 AM/107.1 FM or ESPNIthaca.com with Keith Raad on the call or watch on the IvyLeagueDigitalNetwork.
• Cornell enters the weekend having won five straight duals against its rival Mountain Hawks and 47 straight against EIWA foes dating back to Lehigh's 17-15 win on Jan. 20, 2011 in Bethlehem, Pa.
• The home team has won nine consecutive EIWA titles and the two teams have combined to win the last 14.
• Cornell is 45-5 (.900) all-time in the Friedman Wrestling Center, including 42-2 in its last 44 matches, but is 0-1 against Lehigh after dropping a 16-16 match by criteria on Jan. 25, 2004.
• The Big Red has set its sights high — with the NCAA Championships set for MSG in March, Cornell believes it should be in the mix for its first team title if it can get its lineup healthy.
• Cornell features a pair of unbeaten, top-ranked wrestlers in Nahshon Garrett (24-0 at 133) and Gabe Dean (24-0 at 184).
• Garrett, a three-time All-American, won both the Las Vegas Invitational and the Southern Scuffle events and has now won 136 matches, good for fifth on the school's career list.
• Dean, the defending national champion, brings a string of 52 consecutive wins into the weekend's duals, the third-longest in the country (Nick Gwiazdowski of NC State, 75 matches at heavyweight; Isaiah Martinez of Illinois, 60 matches at 157).
• Junior Brian Realbuto, the national runner-up a season ago at 157 pounds, is now 24-3 on the season and has been ranked as high as No. 1 at 174 pounds after moving up two weight classes during the offseason.
• Senior Duke Pickett is the fourth ranked wrestler, sitting No. 19 at 165 pounds.
• A number of Big Red wrestlers in the lineup are on the borderline of being ranked, including freshman Dalton Macri (125), Joey Galasso (149) and Jeramy Sweany (285), while both Mark Grey (133) and Dylan Palacio (157) — formerly ranked at their weights — are expected back from injury this semester.
 
THE STREAKS
• Cornell is 91-18-1 (.832) in dual meet competition in the last seven seasons.
• Cornell has won 70 consecutive Ivy League dual meets dating back to the 2001-02 campaign.
• Cornell has placed in the top five at the NCAA championships in six of the last seven seasons and in the top 10 in 11 of the last 13 years (eight straight).
• The Big Red has won 47 straight duals against current EIWA competitors dating back to 2010-11.
• Cornell is 86-3-1 (.961) in dual meet action against current EIWA teams dating back to 2004-05, including 78-0 against teams other than Lehigh.
• The Big Red is 36-3 (.923) in its last 39 home duals dating back to the 2009-10 season.
• Big Red wrestling has won 65 consecutive dual meets against unranked teams dating back to the beginning of the 2007-08 season.
• Cornell has won nine consecutive EIWA team titles, the longest streak in conference history.
• The Big Red has crowned at least one EIWA champion in each of the last 14 seasons and in 24 of the last 25 years.
• Cornell has won 27 straight meets against New York state opponents.
• Cornell has won seven consecutive EIWA championships at 125 pounds (Troy Nickerson in 2009, 2010; Frank Perrelli in 2011, 2012; Nahshon Garrett in 2013, 2014, 2015), the most consecutive in one weight class by any school since Lehigh won at 177 pounds from 1974-81, a record eight straight seasons.
• The Big Red has won four consecutive New York State team titles.
 
ABOUT LEHIGH
• Lehigh brings a 10-1 dual meet record and an eight-match win streak into Saturday's dual meet against the Big Red.
• Six wrestlers enter the week ranked in the top 20 in the most recent Intermat poll, including 2015 national finalist and third-ranked Nathaniel Brown (13-2) at 184. Brown enters the weekend 0-6 against Cornell's defending national champion Gabe Dean (24-0).
• Two matches between ranked wrestlers and four more of great significance for EIWA seeding dot the lineup, with a match at 165 behind No. 19 Duke Pickett (19-7) of Cornell and No. 15 Ryan Preisch (12-5) joining the headlining 184-pound matchup.
• Lehigh is 5-0 against EIWA opponents this season, outscoring its opponents 158-34 (average of 31.6-6.8).
• The Mountain Hawks have finished second to the Big Red at the EIWA championships in five of the last seven seasons.
• Eighth-year head coach Pat Santoro, a two-time EIWA Coach of the Year, has directed Lehigh to a 110-35-1 record and coached up 15 All-Americans.

THE CORNELL-LEHIGH SERIES
• Lehigh leads the all-time series 59-31-3, though Cornell has had the better of it recently.
• Cornell has won five straight against its EIWA rival.
• The series began in 1910, a 5-2 Big Red victory in Ithaca.
• The Big Red swept a pair of dual meets against the Mountain Hawks a season ago, topping Lehigh 21-9 in Bethlehem during the regular season and then again 22-15 in the third place match at the NWCA National Duals.
 
LAST TIME VS. LEHIGH
• The Cornell wrestling team tuned up for the upcoming EIWA championships with a win over the team that will likely be its largest obstacle toward an unprecedented ninth straight conference title, earning third place at the 2015 NWCA/Cliff Keen National Duals with a 22-15 win over No. 11 Lehigh on Feb. 22, 2015 at Iowa's Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
• The Big Red ended its dual meet season with a 17-2 record (9-0 EIWA, 5-0 Ivy), the program's most wins in a season since the 1992-93 team under Jack Spates went 18-4.
• The Big Red's second win of the season over its EIWA rival was its fifth straight over the Mountain Hawks and the program's 44th consecutive over league foes.
• The teams traded forfeits - Lehigh at 125 and Cornell at heavyweight - and between those were a number of tight matchups.
• Four decisions were decided by a takedown or less with each team winning two.
• Impressive wins by top 10 Cornell grapplers Gabe Dean at 184 and Jace Bennett at 197 over their top 10 Lehigh counterparts ultimately was the difference.
• Dean, the top-ranked wrestler at 184, dominated third-ranked Nathaniel Brown by a 7-2 margin, while Bennett topped 10th-ranked Elliot Riddick for the second time this season as well, this time by a 4-1 margin.
 
CORNELL, LEHIGH DOMINATE EIWA
• Cornell and Lehigh have been the dominant programs in the EIWA for the last two decades, winning 16 of the last 17 championships.
• The Big Red has won nine consecutive championship titles after the Mountain Hawks had won six of the previous seven crowns.
• The Big Red's 23 team titles ranks behind only Lehigh's 34, while its 147 individual titles is second only to the Mountain Hawks' 205.
• Head coach Rob Koll's team enters Sunday's road dual with a 37-match win streak against EIWA opponents, with its last loss coming in Bethlehem, Pa. by a 17-15 margin to Lehigh on Jan. 20, 2011 when Cornell entered Stabler Arena as the No. 1 team in the country.
 
TALL IVY
• Since Rob Koll took over the Cornell program in 1993, the Big Red has gone 103-8-1 (.924) in its 112 Ivy League matches.
• Over that same span, Penn is next best at 89-20-1, followed by Brown (45-66-1).
• Rounding out the field is Columbia 43-68, Harvard 36-74-1 and Princeton 15-95.
• Dating back to the 2002-03 season (14 years), Cornell's perfect 67-0 record laps the competition. Penn is second-best at 49-16, followed by Columbia 32-34, Brown 19-48-1, Harvard 18-47-1 and Princeton 12-53.
• Since the start of Ivy competition, the Big Red is 280-52-1 (.842) with 36 league titles in 60 seasons (12 second place finishes).
 
SOUTHERN SCUFFLE
• Junior Gabe Dean became the ninth three-time Scuffle champion and senior Nahshon Garrett won his second title as the Cornell wrestling team finished fourth in a loaded 2016 Defense Soap & Flips Wrestling Southern Scuffle field.
• Cornell finished the two-day tournament with four wrestlers on the podium and 98.5 points to finish behind only Penn State (183), Oklahoma State (158) and Lehigh (104.5).
• Dean swept through an all-EIWA semifinals, defeating Navy's Matthew Miller 10-5 in the semis and Nathaniel Brown of Lehigh 8-2 in the finals.
• During the tournament he became the 23rd Big Red wrestler to 100 wins (104-5).
• The victory over Brown was a rematch of last season's NCAA and EIWA championship matches.
• Garrett, the No. 1-ranked wrestler at 133 pounds was even more dominant, earning bonus points in each match en route to the title.
• He busted out quickly in the finals against Penn State's Jordan Conaway, majoring him 14-4 for the crown.
• That came after earlier in the day taking an injury default win over Kaid Brock of Oklahoma State after dominating the first 90 seconds.
• He took a tech fall victory over Minnesota's Sam Brancale in the quarterfinals after earning a fall and a tech fall in victories on day one.
• Also finishing on the podium were junior Brian Realbuto at 174 pounds and 165-pounder Duke Pickett, both of whom finished sixth.
 
LAS VEGAS INVITATIONAL
• Senior Nahshon Garrett became the fifth person to claim three Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational titles to start the night, upsetting the No. 1 ranked wrestler at 133 pounds to lead three Cornell champions as the Big Red finished second as a team.
• Juniors Brian Realbuto (174) and Gabe Dean (184) capped the night with dominant efforts in the finals as five Big Red wrestlers reached the podium at one of the nation's premier events.
• Garrett remained unbeaten since his move up to 133 pounds by knocking off undefeated defending national champion Corey Brewer of Oklahoma, the event's top seed.
• He rallied from an early 7-2 deficit for an impressive 14-9 victory to claim his third title, joining four-time champion Logan Stieber (Ohio State, 2011-14) and fellow three-time champions Ben Askren (Missouri, 2004-06), Andrew Howe (Oklahoma/Wisconsin, 2009-10, 13) and fellow Big Red great Mack Lewnes (Cornell, 2008-10).
• Dean will have a chance to join Garrett on that list a year from now after earning his second crown with a dominant 15-6 major decision victory over 12th-ranked Dominic Abounader of Michigan.
• Rounding out the championship performances was a dominant 11-1 finals win by Realbuto over No. 15 Bryce Hammond of Cal-Bakersfield.
• Missouri won the team title with 154 points with Cornell settling in as the runner-up with 113 points.
• Cornell won the 2010 title and has now finished in the top six in each of the last eight seasons and five times in the top three.
• The Big Red has won 17 individual titles dating back to 2004, including at least two in three straight years.
 
GRAPPLE AT THE GARDEN
• The Cornell wrestling team got into early holes in both dual matches and couldn't make up enough ground late as the Big Red dropped a 21-14 decision to No. 5 Nebraska and a 21-13 contest to No. 14 Rutgers on Nov. 29, 2015 at the Grapple at the Garden in Madison Square Garden.
• Cornell's three returning All-Americans, the staples of the Big Red lineup, each went 2-0 on the day with Nahshon Garrett topping a pair of nationally ranked wrestlers at 133.
• Garrett earned an 11-3 major decision victory over Nebraska's 10th-ranked Eric Montoya and captured a 6-1 decision over No. 17 Anthony Giraldo of Rutgers.
• No. 2 Brian Realbuto topped Nebraska's 15th-ranked 174-pounder 9-6 and defeated Phil Bakuckas of Rutgers 6-1.
• Top-ranked Gabe Dean had an 11-3 major decision over Nebraska's seventh-ranked T.J. Dudley and overcame a slow start to major Nicholas Gravina of Rutgers, 13-5.
• Freshman heavyweight Jeramy Sweany had an outstanding effort in a 5-2 win over No. 13 Collin Jensen in the first dual before a closer-than-the-final-score 8-1 loss to No. 7 Billy Smith of Rutgers.
 
NEW YORK STATE CHAMPIONSHIPS
• Cornell pinned its way to a fourth consecutive New York State Wrestling title, easily securing the title by winning five individual titles and cruising past second place Army 202-171 at Barton Hall.
• Binghamton (133.5), Buffalo (136) and Columbia (123.5) rounded out the top five teams.
• Nahshon Garrett (133), Dylan Realbuto (141), Duke Pickett (165), Brian Realbuto (174) and Gabe Dean (184) all won titles, two more Big Red wrestlers reached the finals (Dalton Macri medically forfeited to second at 125; Will Koll lost to teammate Dylan Realbuto in a one-point decision in the finals) and the other three reached the semifinals, with Jeramy Sweany medically forfeiting out the rest of the tournament after winning his first two matches at heavyweight by fall.
• Winning by fall became a theme on the day, as the Big Red won 15 matches by pin in the championship bracket, where its 10 scoring wrestlers posted a cumulative 35-4 record with 26 bonus point victories.
 
NOTES TO KNOW
• Junior Gabe Dean has a 52-match win streak, the third-longest in the nation and the longest by a Big Red grappler since Kyle Dake '13 won his final 79 matches en route to four straight NCAA crowns.
• Dean became the 23rd Cornellian with 100 career wins and ranks 20th (107).
• Dean joined the school's top 10 for career falls with his pin against Harvard and now has 26 in his first three seasons.
• Dean also ranks third all-time at Cornell in individual winning percentage (107-5, .955), behind only Dave Auble (.981, 51-1) and Dake (.972, 137-4).
• Senior Nahshon Garrett, a three-time All-American, sports a 25-match win streak and is unbeaten 24-0 this season.
• Garrett ranks fifth all-time at Cornell with 136 wins and needs one more to match four-time national champion Kyle Dake '13 for fourth.
• Garrett had 83 career bonus wins, good for fourth on the school's all-time charts and needs one more to match Travis Lee '05 for third.
• Both senior Duke Pickett (83-40) and junior Brian Realbuto (83-14) are both heading toward joining the 100-win club with at least seven dual matches, as well as the EIWA and NCAA championships still on the docket.
• The Big Red finished the 2014-15 dual meet season with a 17-2 record, the third-highest total in school history. Cornell won a record 21 matches during the 1991-92 campaign.
• The Big Red has had at least one individual NCAA champion in seven of the last eight years and at least one finalist in eight straight campaigns.
• The Big Red has had 12 different wrestlers win a combined 17 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 37 wrestlers earn a total of 72 All-America honors, including 52 total All-Americans since 2002.
• Since Rob Koll took over prior to the 1993-94 campaign, Cornell has had 143 NCAA qualifiers, 52 All-Americans and 12 national champions. In the first 63 seasons of the NCAA tournament, the Big Red program had 82 total NCAA qualifiers, 16 All-Americans and five national champions.
• 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 last season. He now sports a 264-85-5 record in dual meets.
• Cornell wrestlers have won at least 20 total matches in eight straight NCAA tournaments and 12 of the last 13.
• The Big Red has won 13 consecutive Ivy crowns and 70 straight Ivy matches.
• Cornell's 13 straight Ivy League titles build on the Big Red's record of consecutive Ivy titles by the same team in a sport. The wrestling team has won three more than Cornell had in men's gymnastics (from 1967-68 to 1976-77) and men's lacrosse (1973-74 to 1982-83), as well as 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 14 seasons and in 24 of the last 25 years. Only Lehigh, with 16 straight years with an Eastern champion, has a longer current streak.
• Cornell has had at least three individual EIWA champions in seven consecutive seasons.
• In the last six 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 252-81-3 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 (87-13), Cortland (17-1), Geneseo (1-0), Hofstra (18-4), 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.
 
WOMACK WINS AT NWCA ALL-STAR CLASSIC
• Brandon Womack, a six-time Alabama state champion in high school, debuted for the Big Red with an 8-3 victory over American's Jason Grimes, Jr. at 174 pounds in one of the Showcase Matches at the 50th NWCA All-Star Classic on Nov. 1.
• Second period nearfall points gave the Big Red freshman the victory at the national showcase that featured a number of experimental rules, including a three-point takedown.
 
DAKE '13 CLAIMS SENIOR NATIONAL FREESTYLE CHAMPIONSHIP
• Needing to finish in the top seven at his weight class to qualify for the Olympic Trials, Kyle Dake did that and more in Las Vegas, Nev., on Dec. 19.
• At a new weight, Dake battled his way to the 2015 U.S. Senior Freestyle National championship by defeating rival David Taylor in the finals, 11-4.
• Entering the tournament as the No. 7 seed, Dake nearly won by tech fall in the first 30 seconds against Taylor with an opening takedown before rolling him three times to expose Taylor's back for two points each to gain an 8-0 lead, but Taylor reversed to cut the lead to 8-2.
• Taylor looked to be getting back into the match after earning a takedown to make it 8-4, but Dake reversed him and rolled him again to make it 11-4 at the end of one.
• Dake defended throughout the second period with no points being scored.
• He moved to 7-0 all-time against Taylor in collegiate and international competition.
• Dake, who was underseeded largely due to his recent move to the 86kg from 74kg, topped Titan Mercury Wrestling Club teammate Tyrel Todd by fall 1:53 into his first match.
• In the quarterfinals, Dake controlled the match against Titan teammate Keith Gavin, the No. 2 seed in the tournament, en route to a 6-2 win by decision.
• Dake won a nailbiter in the semifinals against No. 3 seed Jon Reader, earning the first two takedowns of the match to build a 4-0 lead on his way to a 6-4 triumph to reach the finals.
 
NEXT UP
• Cornell closes out its home dual meet schedule when it continues Ivy League competition against Columbia on Saturday, Feb. 6 at 1 p.m. at the Friedman Wrestling Center.
• The Big Red will also host Oklahoma State on Sunday, Feb. 7 at 1 p.m. at Newman Arena in a match that will be simulcast on ESPN3 and the Ivy League Digital Network.