STORY LINES
• The Cornell wrestling team will have opportunities to climb closer to its 14th straight Ivy League title and also make a statement on a national stage while thanking its four-man senior class as part of Senior Weekend.
• The Big Red will host Columbia on Saturday, Feb. 6 at 1 p.m. at the Friedman Wrestling Center before welcoming fourth-ranked Oklahoma State on Sunday, Feb. 7 at 1 p.m. in Newman Arena.
• You can listen to this weekend's matches at ESPN Ithaca 1160 AM/107.1 FM or ESPNIthaca.com with Keith Raad on the call or watch on the IvyLeagueDigitalNetwork, with Sunday's match also being simulcast on ESPN3 with Jeremy Menard and Clint Wattenberg on the call.
• Sunday's match against Oklahoma State will serve as the team's Hospicare Challenge Match — every fan in attendance will increase the amount of money donated to Hospicare. The event is free for all students.
• Prior to the Oklahoma State match, the Big Red will honor its four seniors, and at halftime Cornell will induct national champions Troy Nickerson, Jordan Lee, Cam Simaz, Steve Bosak and Kyle Dake into the Hall of Distinguished Wrestling Alumni.
• The weekend will serve as the final home matches for three-time All-American Nahshon Garrett, two-time All-Ivy League selection and 2015 NCAA qualifier Duke Pickett and lineup regulars Chris Dowdy and Logan David. The quartet has combined for a 293-99 record (.747)
• 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.
• Junior Brian Realbuto, the national runner-up a season ago at 157 pounds, is now 25-3 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 (165) and junior Dylan Palacio (157) are the team's fourth and fifth ranked wrestlers, each sitting No. 15 in the latest Intermat poll.
• 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 two-time NCAA qualifier Mark Grey (133) recently returned from injury.
• Against the Lions, Cornell will be looking to extend its 70-match Ivy League win streak and its 95-match win streak over EIWA foes excluding Lehigh.
• Against the Cowboys on Sunday, Cornell will be looking for its first home win over a team ranked in the top five since defeating No. 3 Minnesota 21-16 on Nov. 28, 2011 in Newman Arena.

HOSPICARE CHALLENGE MATCH
• Sunday's 1 p.m. match against No. 4 Oklahoma State will serve as the Hospicare Challenge Match.
• Atendees are encouraged to pledge money for every fan in attendance, or make a set gift.
• Since 2002, Cornell wrestling has hosted the Hospicare Challenge in support of Hospicare and Palliative Care Services.
• You can make a pledge using this card, or can donate online at http://hospicare.kintera.org/cornellwrestling

THE STREAKS
• Cornell is 91-19-1 (.824) 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 is 47-1 (.979) in its last 48 duals against current EIWA competitors dating back to 2010-11.
• Cornell is 86-4-1 (.951) 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 36-4 (.900) in its last 40 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 COLUMBIA
• Columbia enters the weekend with an 8-4 record and a 1-1 mark in Ivy League duals.
• The Lions own wins over Brown, Hofstra and American and are 8-3 against unranked squads and 2-0 in true road matches.
• Columbia most recently topped American (28-9) and dropped a close 19-16 contest to Duke.
• Leading the Lions on the mat is 157-pounder Markus Scheidel (27-7), while three other wrestlers have won 18 matches each entering the weekend.
• Head coach Carl Fronhofer guided his Lions to a fourth-place EIWA finish a season ago and returns three NCAA qualifiers - Scheidel and sophomores Garrett Ryan (285) and Tyrel White (165).

THE CORNELL-COLUMBIA SERIES
• Cornell leads the all-time series 87-13 dating back to the 1907-08 season when the teams first met.
• The Big Red has won 29 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
• The Big Red capped off a perfect 2015 Ivy League campaign with a 38-0 win at Columbia, sweeping through the Lions like they have their conference counterparts for more than a decade.
• The win extended Cornell's win streak over Ancient Eight foes to 68 matches over more than 13 seasons.
• It was the Big Red's 29th straight against the Lions.
• Cornell won all 10 matches, with Jace Bennett winning by fall at 197 and both Brian Realbuto (157) and Gabe Dean (184) earning technical falls.
• Nahshon Garrett's major decision triumph at 125 was the fourth bonus point win, while Nick Arajau (141), Craig Eifert (165) and Duke Pickett (174) all won decisions by a takedown or less.
 
ABOUT OKLAHOMA STATE
• The Cowboys are 8-2 overall and 5-0 in Big XII competition with narrow early season losses to Iowa (18-16) and N.C. State (19-15) and victories over Minnesota, Oklahoma and Iowa State, as well as snapping Missouri's 37-match dual win streak with a 23-9 victory.
• The Cowboys feature nationally ranked wrestlers at nine weights, including the No. 1 grapplers at 141 (Dean Heil) and 165 (Alex Dieringer) and  three more in the top five (No. 5 Eddie Klimara at 125, No. 5 Kyle Crutchmer at 174 and No. 5 Austin Marsden at 285).
• Also ranked in the top 20 entering the weekend are No. 18 Gary Wayne Harding at 133, No. 13 Anthony Collica at 149, No. 6 Joe Smith at 157 and No. 16 Nolan Boyd at 184.
• Head coach John Smith, in his 25th season directing the Oklahoma State program, having guided the Cowboys to five NCAA team titles, 17 conference crowns and 111 All-America honors.

THE CORNELL-OKLAHOMA STATE SERIES
• Oklahoma State leads the all-time series 3-0 dating back to the first meeting between the programs in 2003-04.
• The Cowboys won that first dual 22-12 at the 2004 National Duals in Cleveland and then topped the Big Red 23-12 a year later at the same event.
• The last time the two squads met, Oklahoma State took home a 21-16 victory at the first-ever Grapple at the Garden on Dec. 16, 2012 at Madison Square Garden.

LAST TIME VS. OKLAHOMA STATE
• Each team won five matches, but bonus points tilted the team result to No. 2 Oklahoma State on Dec, 16, 2012 at the Grapple at the Garden.
• Four of five Cowboy victories came by bonus points, including a fall at 174 and major decisions at 149, 157 and heavyweight.
• Top-ranked Kyle Dake earned a hard-fought 4-1 win over No. 3 Tyler Caldwell at 165 for the Big Red.
• Steve Bosak claimed a 5-3 decision over Chris Chionuma at 184 and Mike Nevinger earned a major decision win at 141.
• Jace Bennett (197) and Nahshon Garrett (125) also earned decisions to round out the Cornell wins.
 
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 89-21-1, followed by Brown (45-66-1).
• Rounding out the field is Columbia 43-69, Harvard 37-74-1 and Princeton 16-95.
• Dating back to the 2002-03 season (14 years), Cornell's perfect 67-0 record laps the competition. Penn is second-best at 49-17, followed by Columbia 32-35, Harvard 19-47-1, Brown 19-48-1 and Princeton 13-53.
• 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.

THE BIG RED AT THE 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 (84-40) and junior Brian Realbuto (84-14) are heading toward joining the 100-win club with at least six dual matches, as well as the EIWA and NCAA championships still on the docket.
• Since the Friedman Wrestling Center opened in January of 2003, the Big Red is 65-13-1 (.829), but just 1-2 against teams ranked in the top five.
• 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 264-86-5 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.

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
• The Big Red hit the road for a pair of Ivy League dual meets, squaring off with Penn on Saturday, Feb. 13 at 1 p.m., then visiting Princeton that evening at 7 p.m.
• The Big Red won last season's dual meet with the Quakers 26-9 to take an 82-21-1 series lead and extend its win streak to 13 straight.
• Cornell leads the all-time series with the Tigers 53-15, including last season's 29-9 to make it 29 in a row.