ITHACA, N.Y. – Cornell wrestling alumnus, Kyle Dake '13, is set to compete for his second consecutive world title at the 2019 UWW World Championships in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan on Saturday, Sept. 21. Action gets underway Saturday with qualification rounds starting at 1 a.m. EDT, 11 a.m. ALMT, followed by the semi-finals at 6:45 a.m. EDT, 4:45 p.m. ALMT.
 
Draws for the tournament were released on Friday, with the No. 1-seeded and returning world champion Dake drawing 2019 Asian Championships bronze medalist, Oibek Nasirov of Kyrgyzstan in round one. The winner of Gadzhi Nabiev of Russia and Yudai Takahashi of Japan awaits in round two.
 
The reigning champion earned his spot on the 2019 Senior World Team following a best-of-three series victory over Alex Dieringer at a special wrestle-off in Round Rock, Texas on August 17. Dake bested Dieringer by decisions of 3-2 and 4-2 to clinch his spot on the team for the second straight year.
 
In 2018, Dake rolled to his first 79kg world championship, defeating opponents by a combined tally of 37-0, and earning three tech falls in the process, before besting Jabrayil Hasanov by a 2-0 decision in the finals.
 
Dake became the first NCAA wrestler to win national titles in four different weight classes, the first to win four national titles without taking a redshirt season and just the third athlete to claim four national titles overall during his time at Cornell. The 2013 Hodge Award winner as the national Wrestler of the Year was a three-time EIWA Wrestler of the Year. The Outstanding Wrestler of the NCAA tournament in 2013, Dake became the third Cornell wrestler to capture the award and the first since Dave Auble in 1960. He wrapped up his amazing career with a 137-4 record, including winning his final 79 collegiate matches. Dake was named the Charles H. Moore Senior co-Athlete of the Year at Cornell, the Sports Illustrated Male College Athlete of the Year and was an ESPY finalist for Best Male College Athlete in 2013. The four-time NCAA All-American was elected to the EIWA Hall of Fame in 2014.
 
Kyle Dake at the 2018 UWW World Championships

• Defeated Martin Obst (Germany), TF, 11-0
• Defeated Davit Khutishvili (Georgia), TF, 11-0
• Semi-Finals: Defeated Akhmed Gadzhimagomedov (Russia), TF, 13-0
• Finals: Defeated Jabrayil Hasanov (Azerbaijan), 2-0

 
79-Kilogram Schedule (All Times in EDT)
Friday, Sept. 20– 10:45 p.m. – Medical Examinations and Weigh-in (Qualificaion and Semifinals)
 
Saturday, Sept. 21 – 1 a.m. – Qualification Rounds
Saturday, Sept. 21 – 6:45 a.m. – Semifinals
Saturday, Sept. 21 – 10:30 p.m. – Weigh-in (Repechage, Finals)
 
Sunday, Sept. 22 – 5:30 a.m. – Repechage
Sunday, Sept. 22 – 8 a.m. – Finals