• Cornell head coach Rob Koll is in his 26th season at Cornell (304-93-5, .762; 121-8-1 Ivy, .935)
• 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 15 national titles with 67 All-Americans and 61 individual EIWA champions.

THE CORNELL-VIRGINIA TECH SERIES
• The Big Red has won all three previous meetings with Virginia Tech.
• It will be the first-ever trip to Blacksburg for Cornell, which holds wins over the Hokies in three different states (Iowa, Ohio and Virginia).
• Cornell won the first-ever meeting between the teams in 1992 (37-5 in Charlottesville, Va.) in the Virginia Duals before collecting wins in 2011 (25-10 in Cedar Falls, Iowa) and 2014 (34-0 in Columbus, Ohio) as part of the NWCA National Duals.

LAST TIME VS. VIRGINIA TECH
• Cornell's depth was too much all evening and the Big Red wrestling team opened the EAS Sports Nutrition/NWCA Division I National Duals with a dominant 34-0 win over No. 16 Virginia Tech in the quarterfinals on Feb. 16, 2014.
• The Big Red won each of the first seven matches by decision to go up 21-0 with the Big Red winning a pair of matchups between ranked wrestlers. 
• Included was a Chris Villalonga overtime victory over No. 18 Zach Neibert by a 2-1 decision. 
• That was one of three consecutive one-point decisions in Cornell's favor, as Mike Nevinger topped Erik Spujt 1-0 at 141 and Brian Realbuto topped Sal Mastriani 6-5 at 157 thanks to a last-second escape after his Hokie opponent had reversed him to tie the score with six seconds left. 
On the restart, Realbuto was called for a caution and one second ticked off the clock. The officials put the second back on, and the rookie would need every bit of that last second to get the escape with a hip heist.
• Jacob Aiken-Phillips completed the team's second sweep of the season and Virginia Tech's first since 2007 when he topped Ty Walz at heavyweight by a 6-2 decision.

THE CORNELL-NORTH CAROLINA SERIES
• Cornell leads the all-time series 5-1 dating back to the first meeting during the 1992-93 season.
• Last year was the first-ever meeting between the teams in Ithaca, with the Big Red visiting Chapel Hill once (18-16 Cornell win in 1995-96) and meeting four other times at neutral sites.
• Cornell has won four straight since the Tar Heels' only win in the series, a 28-12 victory on Jan. 7, 1995 in Providence, R.I. as part of the EIWA/ACC Challenge.

LAST TIME VS. VIRGINIA TECH
• The Cornell wrestling team won all the close matches early and added some bonus points late to earn a 32-6 win over No. 24 North Carolina on Feb. 16, 2018 at a sold-out Friedman Wrestling Center. 
• Cornell won three one-point decisions in the first four contested bouts after the home team gained a forfeit to begin the match at 125. 
• The early lead wasn't necessary in the end, as the home team won seven of the nine contests and earned bonus points in the final two to earn its ninth straight win.
• The Big Red won consecutive decisions at 133 and 141 to set the tone, with Chaz Tucker coming out of a battle with Zach Sherman for a 4-3 win, and fourth-ranked Yianni Diakomihalis used riding time for the difference in a 7-6 triumph over No. 19 A.C. Headlee.
• The highlight of the first half of the dual was Fredy Stroker's win over 15th-ranked Kennedy Monday at 157 pounds. 
• It was one of four Cornell wins over ranked Tar Heel opponents. 
• Freshmen Max Dean earned a major decision over No. 17 Chip Ness at 184 and classmate Ben Darmstadt pinned No. 15 Danny Chaid in the first period at 197 to punctuate the dual. 
• Heavyweight Jeramy Sweany and 165-pounder Jon Jay Chavez both used strong rides and tilts to claim major decisions.

LAST TIME OUT
• On Senior Day, Ben Honis knocked off third-ranked and unbeaten Patrick Brucki as Cornell raced out to a 34-0 lead and cruised to a 34-7 win over No. 19 Princeton last Saturday at Friedman Wrestling Center to secure its 17th consecutive Ivy League title. 
• Honis used a late takedown and riding time from a dominant second period on top, then avoided a last-second reversal to hand Brucki his first loss of the year. 
• It came with Cornell already holding a 14-0 team lead and propelled the home team into the break with a nearly insurmountable 21-0 lead. It was the 33rd consecutive victory for Cornell over Princeton.
• Honis' win was one of two for the Big Red in top 20 matchups. 
• No. 11 Vitali Arujau started the second half of the dual with a dominant victory over No. 10 Patrick Glory at 125, controlling the match before finding a cradle in the second period to earn the fall, one of five bonus point wins for the Big Red on the day.

THE STREAKS
• The Big Red is 71-2 (.973) in its last 73 duals against current EIWA competitors dating back to 2010-11.
• Cornell is 110-5-1 (.953) in dual meet action against current EIWA teams dating back to 2004-05, including 98-0 against teams other than Lehigh.
• Head coach Rob Koll's teams have racked up 17 Ivy League titles in a row, the longest title streak in any sport in conference history.
• Cornell has won 88 consecutive Ivy League dual meets dating back to the 2001-02 campaign.
• Sophomore Yianni Diakomihalis enters the weekend with an individual 35-match win streak.
• Big Red wrestling is 91-2 in dual meets (.978) against unranked teams dating back to the beginning of the 2007-08 season.
• Cornell is 128-25-1 (.834) in dual meet competition in the last eight seasons.
• Cornell is 46-5 (.902) in its last 51 road dual matches after having its 12-meet win streak away from home at Lehigh on Jan. 12.
• Cornell has placed in the top five at the NCAA championships in six of the last 10 seasons and in the top 10 in 14 of the last 16 years (11 straight).
• The Big Red has crowned at least one EIWA champion in each of the last 17 seasons and in 27 of the last 28 years.
• The Big Red is 52-6 (.897) in its last 58 home duals dating back to the 2009-10 season.
• Sophomore Max Dean is 26-1 and classmate Yianni Diakomihalis is 24-1 in dual matches for their career, with freshman Vitali Arujau unbeaten at 13-0.

TEAM NOTES TO KNOW
• The Big Red has won 17 consecutive Ivy crowns and 88 straight Ivy matches.
• Cornell's 17 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 four 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.
• Cornell went 43-7 in individual Ivy matches in 2018-19, its best showing since going 43-6 during the 2010-11 campaign.
• The Big Red outscored its first five Ivy League opponents by a 196-26 margin.
• Head coach Rob Koll became the eighth Big Red coach in any sport to reach 300 career victories with a win at Brown on Jan. 26, 2019 and now sports a 304-93-5 record in dual meets.
• Since the Friedman Wrestling Center opened in January of 2003, the Big Red is 77-14-1 in dual matches (.842) there.

WORK IN CLASSROOM HONORED BY NWCA
• Cornell joined Minnesota as the lone NCAA wrestling schools to rank in the top 10 at both the national championships and the NWCA
All-Academic team list.
• Cornell ranked eighth nationally with its team 3.368 grade point average.
• Seniors Gabe Dean, Brian Realbuto and Dylan Palacio and freshman Noah Baughman were honored individually for their outstanding achievements in the classroom.
• Cornell ranked second among all schools with three All-Americans listed individually, behind only Ohio State's four.
• The Big Red moved up from last season's No. 17 ranking on the All-Academic list among 30 schools that posted a 3.1 GPA or better as a team.
• All six Ivy League schools were listed, with Harvard taking the top spot for the second straight year (3.586).
• Of the 30 teams, 22 were repeat selections from last year.

HIRSCH '94 RECEIVES NCAA SILVER ANNIVERSARY AWARD
• Dr. David Hirsch '94 received the NCAA's Silver Anniversary Award at the 2019 Honors Celebration on Jan. 23 during the 2019 NCAA Convention in Orlando, Fla. 
• He was joined in receiving the award by Tim Cullen (Air Force), Mia Hamm (North Carolina), Lisa Leslie (Southern California), Heath Shuler (Tennessee) and Jason Varitek (Georgia Tech). 
• The Silver Anniversary Award annually recognizes distinguished individuals on the 25th anniversary of the conclusion of their college athletics careers. 
• Hirsch was the 1994 NCAA Division I wrestling champion at 126 pounds. 
• He became the first Cornell student-athlete since 1960 and just the fifth in school history to win a national wrestling crown. 
• A member of the Cornell Athletics and Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association (EIWA) Halls of Fame, Hirsch was a three-time EIWA champion and a two-time All-American during his time on East Hill. 
• His record of 116-17 ranked third in career wins at Cornell at the time. 
• Following graduation in 1994 with a degree in Applied Economics & Management, Hirsch graduated from New York University College of Dentistry in 1999 and then completed medical school, wrapping up a six-year oral and maxillofacial surgery residency at Bellevue/NYU. 
• Today, Hirsch is chief of the Division of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery/General Surgery, Department of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York. 
• Throughout his professional career, Hirsch has traveled internationally for philanthropic purposes, performing surgeries ranging from correction of genetic deformities to major head and neck reconstruction. 

NEXT UP
• The Big Red will welcome No. 6 Ohio State to Newman Arena on Friday, Feb. 22 at 6:30 p.m.
• The contest will support Ithaca's Hospicare & Palliative Care Services.