HEAD COACH ROB KOLL
• Cornell head coach Rob Koll is in his 27th season at Cornell (306-94-5, .761; 121-8-1 Ivy, .934)
• He is the David R. Dunlop '59 Head Coach of Wrestling at Cornell
• The all-time winningest wrestling coach in program history, Koll has guided the Big Red to 17 straight Ivy League titles (20 overall), 11 EIWA crowns and eight top five NCAA team finishes, including second twice (2010, 2011)
• He was the 2005 NWCA Division I Coach of the Year and the Dan Gable Coach of the Year
• His wrestlers have won 16 national titles with 71 All-Americans and 64 individual EIWA champions.

A LOOK AT NC STATE
• Have won four consecutive duals to open the 2019-20 season, defeating Old Dominion (22-11), Belmont Abbey (36-6), UNC Pembroke (40-2) and Reinhardt (45-0). 
• NC State projects to wrestle seven ranked wrestlers against Cornell on Saturday.
• Top-ranked wrestler at 157 pounds, Hayden Hidlay, is the lone member of the Wolfpack breaking into the top 10, with 141-pounder Tariq Wilson the next highest ranked wrestler at No. 11.
• Hayden Hidlay is a two-time All-American, placing fourth at NCAA's last year.
• Tariq Wilson earned All-American status in 2018 wrestling at 133 pounds and is a two-time NCAA qualifier.
• Both Thomas (17, 19) and Daniel Bullard (18, 19) are two-time NCAA qualifiers.
• NC State wrestlers are 33-7 through 40 dual matches.
• Trent Hidlay (184) and Tyrie Houghton (197) lead the team in dual match victories with four each.
• NC State wrestles at Binghamton on Saturday night, complicating their potential starting lineup a bit.

A WIN OVER NC STATE WOULD
• give Cornell its 10th conseuctive victory in its season opening dual.
• be Cornell's fourth straight victory over the Wolfpack in a series the Big Red leads, 3-0.
• make the Big Red 40-7 in dual meets over the last four years (.847).
• be the 307th career victory for head coach Rob Koll (306-94-5, .761).
• give the Big Red an 824-403-20 (.668) all-time dual meet record.

THE CORNELL-NC STATE SERIES
• Cornell leads the all-time series 3-0, but the two sides haven't met on the mat since 2014 at the Northeast Duals.
• The series began in 1991, a 23-13 Big Red victory over the No. 15 ranked Wolfpack from Recreation Hall in State College, Pa.
• Teams met for the second time on Jan. 6, 1996, a decisive 32-6 victory over the Wolfpack that was wrestled at UNC's Carmichael Auditorium in Chapel Hill, N.C.
• This is NC State's first time in Ithaca as all previous duals were wrestled at neutral sites.

LAST TIME VS. NC STATE
• Six wins by Big Red Wrestlers led Cornell to a 20-13 win over No. 23 ranked NC State on Nov. 29 at the Northeast Duals on the campus of Hudson Valley Community College in Troy, N.Y.
• Mark Grey (141) and Duke Pickett (174) each knocked off ranked Wolfpack wrestlers, and Nahshon Garrett (125) and Gabe Dean (184) picked up bonus point victories.
• The No. 9-ranked Grey scored an 8-6 decision over No. 15 Same Speno in sudden victory to give Cornell a 7-3 lead.
• Pickett defeated No. 17 Pete Renda, 5-3, in a match that NC State needed if they wanted to pull off the upset over No. 3 Cornell.
• Nahshon Garrett defeated Jake DeAngelo by major decision, 16-3, and Gabe Dean defeated Michael Macchiavello by major decision, 15-2.
• Also picking up victories for Cornell were Chris Villalonga (149) and Jace Bennett (197).

LAST TIME OUT
• Cornell crowed three champions at the 2019 Jonathan Kaloust Bearcat Open hosted by Binghamton University.
• Noah Baughman took first at 141 pounds, junior Hunter Riahcard earned two bonus point victories en route to the 149 pounds title and in his first collegiate action, freshman Colton Yapoujian brought it home at 157 pounds.
• Cornell had 13 wrestlers place at the open, including three second place and two third place finishes.
• Adam Santoro (165), Ben Darmstadt (184), and Jonathan Loew (197) each took second place at the open.
• Dom Lajoie (125) and Brendan Furman (285) placed third for Cornell.
• Chris Schoenherr (149) and Jake Brindley (165) placed fourth, Jonah Barley (184) and Ryan Moore (141) placed fifth and Andrew Merola (165) took sixth following a medical forfeit.

DIAKOMIHALIS INVITED TO WHITE HOUSE
• Yianni Diakomihalis will be honored at The White House in Washington, D.C. on Friday, Nov. 22 as part of the annual NCAA National Champions Day. Individual champions from the 2019 NCAA Wrestling Championships will be in attendance, along with student-athletes from other sports.
• Student-athletes and coaches will visit The White House in the morning on Friday and meet with President Donald Trump as part of the tour.
• A two-time NCAA Champion, Diakomihalis will be joined in Washington, D.C. by The David Dunlop '59 Head Coach of Wrestling, Rob Koll, who is in his 27th season leading the program at Cornell.
• This is the first time that all NCAA Division I individual champions have been invited to The White House.
• Other wrestlers in attendance will be Jason Nolf, Bo Nickal, Mason Manville and Nick Nevills of Penn State, Nick Suriano and Anthony Ashnault of Rutgers, Mekhi Lewis of Virginia Tech and Drew Foster from Northern Iowa.

BEN DARMSTADT RETURNS TO THE MAT
• After missing the 2018-29 season due to injury, sophomore Ben Darmstadt made his much anticipated return to the mat for Cornell at the Binghamton Open on Sunday, Nov. 10.
• It was Darmstadt's debut at 184 pounds after wrestling the entirety of his freshman season at 197.
• Darmstadt opened the season ranked No. 2 at 184 pounds by FloWrestling.
• Darmstadt took second place at the Binghamton Open as he shook off some rust following a long lay-off from competition.
• Defeated Army's Jed Smith in round one, 10-8, before pinning Reid Robilotto (0:55) and Jonah Barley (0:44).
• Met then No. 10-ranked Lou DePrez of Binghamton in the finals, a tough match-up, and lost by a 7-2 decision.
• Meets up-and-coming redshirt freshman Trent Hidlay on the mat this weekend against NC State, looking to bounce back.

FOUR WRESTLERS TAKING OLYMPIC REDSHIRTS
• Cornell will be without the services of Vito Arujau, Yianni Diakomihalis, Andrew Berreyesa and Max Dean for the 2019-20 as each pursues making the 2020 Olympic team.
• Arujau and Dean were All-Americans in 2018-19 and Diakomihalis is the two-time defending champion at 141 pounds. Dean also earned All-American status in 2017-18 when he placed eighth at NCAA's.
• Berreyesa competes in Greco Roman wrestling, where he recently represented the United States on the U23 World Team.

NEXT UP
• The Big Red will compete Cornell Open on Sunday, Nov. 24 in Barton Hall. Wrestlers from nine different collegiate programs are expected to attend with 121 total wrestlers registered to attend, including 29 for Cornell. For more information about the Cornell Open, click here.
• Cornell's next dual is in Columbus, Ohio on Sunday, Dec. 1, when the Big Red meet the No. 4-ranked Buckeyes of Ohio State.
• Cornell has met the Buckeyes on 13 occasions, holding a 7-5-1 record in the all-time series that dates back to 1998, when Cornell defeated Ohio State, 15-14, following a bench misconduct point deduction.
• The Big Red last defeated Ohio State on Feb. 19, 2017, a 19-18 win at the NWCA Cliff Keen National Duals.
• Last season, Ohio State defeated Cornell by a final tally of 25-9, Arujau, Diakomihalis and Tucker all picked up wins by decision for the Big Red.