STORY LINES
• The Cornell wrestling team has a chance at a signature win when it travels to meet high-powered Missouri on Sunday, Jan. 10 at 1 p.m. CST at Jesse Hall Auditorium.
• You can listen to Sunday's dual meet at ESPN Ithaca 1160 AM/107.1 FM or ESPNIthaca.com with Keith Raad on the call, while Missouri will also host live video of the meet on MUTigers.com.
• Cornell will be looking to get back to .500 and avenge last season's 27-9 defeat at the hands of the Tigers in Ithaca.
• 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 (23-0 at 133) and Gabe Dean (21-0 at 184).
• Garrett, a three-time All-American, won both the Las Vegas Invitational and the Southern Scuffle events and has now won 135 matches, good for fifth on the school's career list.
• Dean, the defending national champion, brings a string of 49 consecutive wins into the Missouri dual, the third-longest in the country (Nick Gwiazdowski of NC State, 71 matches at heavyweight; Isaiah Martinez of Illinois, 57 matches at 157).
• Junior Brian Realbuto, the national runner-up a season ago at 157 pounds, is now 21-3 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. 17 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.
• Missouri brings a streak of 33 consecutive dual meet wins and eight wrestlers ranked in the top 11 of their weight class into a Friday contest with Buffalo.
• The match will feature a number of high profile matchups, including defending national champion Gabe Dean against Missouri's fourth-ranked Willie Miklus at 184 pounds. Dean is 3-0 all-time against Miklus.
• Brian Realbuto, ranked No. 6 at 174, will face former Virginia All-American Blaise Butler (No. 8) and No. 1 Nahshon Garrett meets No. 11 Zach Synon in a rematch of last year's dual meet where Synon won 6-2.
• Big Red head coach Rob Koll will meet up with former assistant coach Brian Smith, a four-time conference coach of the year. Smith spent five seasons at Cornell as an assistant coach under both Jack Spates and Koll.
 
THE STREAKS
• Cornell is 89-17-1 (.836) in dual meet competition in the last seven seasons.
• Cornell has won 68 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 45 straight duals against current EIWA competitors dating back to 2010-11.
• Cornell is 84-3-1 (.960) in dual meet action against current EIWA teams dating back to 2004-05, including 76-0 against teams other than Lehigh.
• The Big Red is 34-3 (.919) in its last 37 home duals dating back to the 2009-10 season.
• Big Red wrestling has won 63 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 MISSOURI
• Heading into Friday's Mid-American Conference dual meet with 6-4 Buffalo, the Tigers sport a perfect 5-0 record and have a 33-match dual win streak intact.
• Missouri features eight nationally ranked wrestlers, including six ranked in the top 10 headlined by second-ranked J'Den Cox at 197 pounds.
• Others ranked in the top 10, include Lavion Mayes (No. 4 at 149), Willie Miklus (No. 4 at 184), Daniel Lewis (No. 6 at 165), Blaise Butler (No. 8 at 174) and Barlow McGhee (No. 8 at 125), while both Matt Manley (141) and Zach Synon (133) are both ranked No. 11.
• The Tigers won the Las Vegas Invitational on Dec. 4-5 with Mayes and Cox each winning individual titles.
• Head coach Brian Smith, a four-time conference coach of the year, spent five seasons as assistant coach at Cornell under both Jack Spates and current Big Red mentor Rob Koll.

THE CORNELL-MISSOURI SERIES
• Missouri leads the all-time series 5-2 in a series that started in 2002.
• The Tigers won that first meeting in Ithaca, 27-12, at Newman Arena on Feb. 23, 2002.
• Missouri also won duals in Columbia, Mo., in 2008 (21-13) and Ithaca in 2009 (18-14) before taking a 22-12 victory at the Grapple at the Garden in 2012.
• Cornell earned its first win over Missouri at the 2010 National Duals in Cedar Falls, Iowa (23-15), then pulled out an 18-15 decision a year later at the Duals.
• Missouri captured a 27-9 victory last season in Ithaca, jumping out to a 17-0 lead and cruising despite wins by Brian Realbuto (157), Dylan Palacio (165) and Gabe Dean (184).
 
LAST TIME VS. MISSOURI
• No. 5 Missouri won the first four matches of the dual to build a 17-0 lead and never looked back, picking up a 27-9 triumph over No. 5 Cornell at Friedman Wrestling Center in a battle of unbeatens on Jan. 10, 2015.
• Cornell made a late run, winning three of four matches leading out of the middle weights and punctuated by a pair of top 20 wins.
• Sophomore Brian Realbuto got Cornell on the board with his 7-4 win over No. 10 Joey Lavallee at 157, his second win in a week and a half over the Tigers' star at that weight as he continues his comeback from a knee injury.
• Dylan Palacio also picked up a 9-4 victory over NCAA qualifier Mikey England at 165 to cut the Big Red deficit to 17-6.
• Top-ranked Gabe Dean won a solid 4-2 decision over No. 14 Willie Miklus, who like Realbuto got his second win over Missouri's ranked starter in the last 10 days.
 
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.
 
THE BIG RED AT THE NYS 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.
 
DUAL DOMINANCE
• Cornell finished 17-2 last season in dual meets with wins over six nationally ranked teams (No. 4 Minnesota, No. 11 Lehigh (twice), No. 12 Edinboro, No. 21 Oklahoma and No. 23 North Carolina State).
• Individual wrestlers recorded a 130-59 record in duals (one double forfeit).
• Three Big Red regulars posted perfect records in dual meets, with Gabe Dean leading the way with an 18-0 mark. In addition, Dylan Palacio went 13-0 and Brian Realbuto was 12-0.
• Also posting impressive dual meet records were Nahshon Garrett at 15-2, Chris Villalonga at 13-3 , Jace Bennett at 12-5 and Duke Pickett at 11-3.
 
TALL IVY
• Since Rob Koll took over the Cornell program in 1993, the Big Red has gone 101-8-1 (.923) in its 110 Ivy League matches.
• Over that same span, Penn is next best at 89-20-1, followed by Brown (45-64-1).
• Rounding out the field is Columbia 42-68, Harvard 36-73-1 and Princeton 15-95.
• Dating back to the 2002-03 season (13 years), Cornell's perfect 65-0 record laps the competition. Penn is second-best at 49-16, followed by Columbia 31-34, Brown 19-45-1, Harvard 18-46-1 and Princeton 12-53.
• Since the start of Ivy competition, the Big Red is 278-52-1 (.841) with 36 league titles in 60 seasons (12 second place finishes).
 
NOTES TO KNOW
• Junior Gabe Dean has a 49-match win streak, the third-longest in the nation and the longest 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 (104).
• He needs one fall to join the school's top 10, entering the Missouri dual with 24.
• Dean also ranks third all-time at Cornell in individual winning percentage (104-5, .954), behind only Dave Auble (.981, 51-1) and Dake (.972, 137-4).
• Senior Nahshon Garrett, a three-time All-American, sports a 24-match win streak and is unbeaten 23-0 this season.
• Garrett ranks fifth all-time at Cornell with 135 wins and needs to 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 (83-39) and junior Brian Realbuto (80-14) are both heading toward joining the 100-win club with at least nine 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 262-84-5 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 68 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.
 
NEXT UP
• Cornell looks to extend its string of 68 consecutive Ivy League match victories and take its first step toward a 14th consecutive Ancient Eight title when it welcomes Harvard (Jan. 15, 6:30 p.m.) and Brown (Jan. 16, 1 p.m.) to the Friedman Wrestling Center next weekend.
• The Big Red leads the all-time series with the Crimson 53-9 and has won 13 consecutive matches dating back to Harvard's last win in 2001.
• Cornell has a 52-2 edge against Brown and has won 18 straight dating back to Brown's last win in 1997.