Harvard (1-1, 0-0 Ivy) at #12 Cornell (4-2, 0-0 Ivy)

Date & Time: Saturday, Jan. 22 at 1 p.m.
Venue: Friedman Wrestling Center - Ithaca, N.Y.
Twitter: @CUBigRedGameday | @BigRedWrestling
 

Brown (2-4, 0-0 Ivy) at #12 Cornell (4-2, 0-0 Ivy)

Date & Time: Saturday, Jan. 22 at 3 p.m.
Venue: Friedman Wrestling Center - Ithaca, N.Y.
Twitter: @CUBigRedGameday | @BigRedWrestling
 

STORY LINES

• It's been a long offseason, and the Cornell wrestling team wants its Ivy League title back.
• After having its string of 17 consecutive Ivy League titles snapped in 2020 and missing the 2021 season due to COVID, the Big Red will open the 2022 conference campaign with dual meets against Harvard (1 p.m.) and Brown (3 p.m.) on Saturday, Jan. 22 at the Friedman Wrestling Center.
• Andy Malnoske will be on the call on ESPN+.
• The Big Red hasn't dropped consecutive Ivy League contests since 1982, and a win in the opener against the Crimson would avoid that after its 19-13 defeat at the hands of Princeton on Feb. 9, 2020.
• It will be 713 days since that loss, and the Big Red will attempt to start a new streak after winning an Ivy League record 92 matches in a row from 2002-10.
• Standing in the way is Harvard and Brown, two teams that Cornell has long gotten the better of, with 19 straight wins over the Crimson and 23 consecutive vs. the Bears.
• After missing the 2020-21 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Big Red is in hot pursuit of regaining its Ivy League and EIWA titles and is prepared to make a mark at nationals.
• Cornell is ranked 12th nationally in the latest USA Today/NWCA Division I Wrestling Coaches Poll and with nine of its grapplers ranked in the top 33 of their respective weight classes according to Intermat.
• The Big Red has set its sights high — with the NCAA Championships set for Detroit, Mich. in March, Cornell believes it should be in the mix for yet another top 10 team finish.
• Cornell has finished in the top 10 at every championship (excepting the 2021 championship when the Big Red didn't compete) since 2008, joining Iowa in making that claim.  
• Back in the lineup after taking Olympic redshirts are All-American Vito Arujau (133) and two-time NCAA champion Yianni Diakomihalis (149).
• Seven previous NCAA qualifiers are on the roster — Arujau (133), Dom LaJoie (133), Diakomihalis (149), Hunter Richard (157), Jonathan Loew (184), Ben Darmstadt (197), Brendan Furman (285).
• Two-time NCAA champion Diakomihalis joins Arujau and Darmstadt as All-Americans back on the roster.
 

THE STREAKS

• The Big Red is 77-5 (.939) in its last 82 duals against current EIWA competitors dating back to 2010-11.
• Cornell is 116-8-1 (.932) in dual meet action against current EIWA teams dating back to 2004-05, including 104-1 against teams other than Lehigh (2019 loss at Princeton).
• Cornell has won 92 of its last 93 Ivy League dual meets dating back to the 2001-02 campaign.
• Big Red wrestling is 101-2 in dual meets (.981) against unranked teams dating back to the beginning of the 2007-08 season.
• Cornell is 128-30 (.810) in dual meet competition in the last 11 seasons.
• Cornell is 51-8 (.864) in its last 59 road dual matches.
• The Big Red has crowned at least one EIWA champion in each of the last 19 seasons and in 29 of the last 30 years.
• The Big Red is 58-11 (.841) in its last 69 home duals dating back to the 2009-10 season.
• Cornell has won 39 straight meets against New York state opponents.
• Sophomore Vito Arujau is a perfect 22-0 in dual matches for the Big Red, while junior Yianni Diakomihalis is 33-1.
• Diakomihalis has won 58 consecutive matches, the second-longest streak in program history (Kyle Dake '13 won 77).
 

NOTES TO KNOW

• Cornell's 17 straight Ivy League titles from 2003-19 is a record of consecutive Ivy titles by the same team in a sport. The Big Red 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.
• Since the Friedman Wrestling Center opened in January of 2003, the Big Red is 65-8 in dual matches (.890) there.
• Since the start of Ivy competition, the Big Red is 302-53-1 (.850) with 40 league titles in 64 seasons (13 second place finishes). That's 116 games clear of second-place Penn (183-166-7) and 128 games ahead of Princeton (172-179-5).
• Cornell has won 92 of its last 93 Ivy League dual meets, but is on its first one-match losing streak since 2002 after its 19-13 loss at Princeton on Feb. 9, 2020.
• Prior to stepping on the mat against Stanford on Nov. 20, junior Yianni Diakomihalis hadn't wrestled in a Cornell singlet since winning the NCAA title on March 23, 2019 — a span of 973 days. Same for sophomore Vito Arujau, whose last match came earlier that same morning in the fourth-place match.
 

THE CORNELL-HARVARD SERIES

• Cornell leads the all-time series 58-9 dating back to their first meeting in 1946-47.
• The Big Red has won 19 consecutive dual meets between the teams, posting an average margin of 32-8 (609-155) in those meets.
• Harvard's last win came during the 2000-01 season, a 28-13 victory in Cambridge, Mass.
 

THE CORNELL-BROWN SERIES

• Cornell has a decisive 57-2 edge in the all-time dual meet series with Brown and has won 23 consecutive matchups.
• The Bears last defeated the Big Red 19-16 on Feb. 15, 1997.
 

LAST TIME VS. HARVARD, BROWN

• Cornell wrestling racked up its 300th all-time Ivy League victory with a 32-9 win over Harvard.
• Facing Brown in the nightcap of the doubleheader, the Big Red came out on top by a final score of 36-4, winning at nine of the 10 weights.
• Cornell opened its dual against Harvard with four straight victories, led by major decisions from Dom LaJoie at 125 pounds and Hunter Richard at 149. 
• LaJoie scored a 12-3 upset over Harvard's No. 15-ranked Nolan Hellickson, while Richard defeated Aaron Kruk by a 12-4 final.
• The Big Red won the first seven matches of the night and ended it with Brendan Furman scoring points quick and early en route to pinning James Valentino in 43 seconds.
 

NEXT UP

• The Big Red will host a home dual doubleheader on Saturday, Jan. 29 when it welcomes Ivy League foe Columbia for a 3 p.m. start and EIWA challenger Navy at 5 p.m.
• The Big Red leads the all-time series with the Lions 92-13 and has won 34 consecutive duals.
• The Midshipmen lead Cornell 19-7 dating back to 1911-12, though the teams haven't met since the 1997-98 season (32-3 Cornell victory).