ITHACA, N.Y. – Competing at the first Spartan Combat RTC event, 15 members of the Cornell wrestling program came away victorious against wrestlers from a variety of clubs on Friday, January 8. Cornell competitors swept the main card, which featured matches from Kyle Dake '13, Gabe Dean '17, Yianni Diakomihalis and Vito Arujau.
 
Arujau started the night with a dominant performance against Penn's Michael Colaiocco, tech falling the sophomore, 11-0, in 3:39. Dean followed Arujau's performance with an upset win over Mike Macchiavello, the No. 3-ranked wrestler domestically at 97kg. After moving up a weight class to take the match, Dean won the match on criteria, 5-5. Diakomihalis took on a late addition to the card in Anthony Ashnault at 65kg, but faced no issues in a clean 11-0 tech fall.
 
Dake was featured in the main event of the evening, facing an up-and-comer in David McFadden at 79kg. The two-time world champion made quick work of the three-time All-American, winning by tech fall, 11-0.
 
On the under card, a number of Big Red wrestlers who haven't competed in a while got their first taste of live action in several months. Ben Darmstadt, Dom LaJoie, Daniel Koll, Chris Foca, Jonathan Loew, Lewis Fernandes, Colton Yapoujian, Julian Ramirez, Hunter Richard, Jacob Cardenas and Max Dean all earned victories by technical superiority or better. Josh Saunders was the lone member of the program to drop a match, falling to Penn's Anthony Artalona, 2-2, by way of criteria.
 
Replays of the event can be viewed on FloWrestling.com. Dake, Diakomihalis and Arujau will all take the mat this weekend in Nice, France at the Henri Deglane Grand Prix. Freestyle wrestling starts in France on Saturday, January 16 at 4:30 a.m. EST.
 
 
Main Card Results
Vito Arujau over Michael Colaiocco, Tech Fall 11-0 - 3:39
Gabe Dean over Mike Macchiavello, 5-5
Yianni Diakomihalis over Anthony Ashnault, Tech Fall 10-0 - 4:38
Kyle Dake over David McFadden, Tech Fall - 3:39
 
Undercard Results
Ben Darmstadt over Khalil Shakur, Fall - 0:33
Dom LaJoie over Dominic Chavez, Tech Fall 13-3 - 3:45
Daniel Koll over Khalid Blankly, Tech Fall 11-1 - 3:46
Anthony Artalona over Josh Saunders, 2-2
Chris Foca over Neil Antrassian, Tech Fall 13-2 - 2:20
Jonathan Loew over Maximus Hale, Fall 5:10
Lewis Fernandes over Ben Goldin, Tech Fall 14-4 - 4:15
Colton Yapoujian over Jackson Dean, Tech Fall 10-0 - 2:57
Julian Ramirez over Sam Erwin, Tech Fall 10-0 - 0:54
Hunter Richard over Matt Jenkins, Tech Fall 10-0 - 1:32
Jacob Cardenas over Khalil Belk, Tech Fall 10-0 - 0:32
Max Dean over Khalil Shakur, Tech Fall 10-0 - 1:10