Columbia (1-5, 0-2 Ivy) at #11 Cornell (6-2, 2-0 Ivy)

Date & Time: Saturday, Jan. 29 at 3 p.m.
Venue: Friedman Wrestling Center - Ithaca, N.Y.
Twitter: @CUBigRedGameday | @BigRedWrestling
 

Navy (3-2, 1-1 EIWA) at #11 Cornell (6-2, 3-1 EIWA)

Date & Time: Saturday, Jan. 29 at 5 p.m.
Venue: Friedman Wrestling Center - Ithaca, N.Y.
Twitter: @CUBigRedGameday | @BigRedWrestling
 

STORY LINES

• The Cornell wrestling team will attempt to maintain its unbeaten home record when EIWA foes Columbia (3 p.m.) and Navy (5 p.m.) visit the Friedman Wrestling Center on Saturday, Jan. 29.
• Andy Malnoske will be on the call on ESPN+.
• Additionally, Columbia and Navy will wrestle a neutral site dual at 1 p.m. That match will not be streamed live.
• 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 11th 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.
• Cornell won a pair of Ivy duals against Harvard and Brown last weekend, outscoring those foes 82-9. 
 

THE STREAKS

• The Big Red is 79-5 (.940) in its last 84 duals against current EIWA competitors dating back to 2010-11.
• Cornell is 118-8-1 (.933) in dual meet action against current EIWA teams dating back to 2004-05, including 106-1 against teams other than Lehigh (2019 loss at Princeton).
• Cornell has won 94 of its last 95 Ivy League dual meets dating back to the 2001-02 campaign.
• Big Red wrestling is 103-2 in dual meets (.981) against unranked teams dating back to the beginning of the 2007-08 season.
• Cornell is 130-30 (.813) 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 60-11 (.845) in its last 71 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 35-1.
• Diakomihalis has won 60 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 67-8 in dual matches (.893) there.
• Since the start of Ivy competition, the Big Red is 304-53-1 (.851) with 40 league titles in 64 seasons (13 second place finishes). That's 116.5 games clear of second-place Penn (184-166-7) and 128.5 games ahead of Princeton (173-179-5).
• Cornell has won 94 of its last 95 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-COLUMBIA SERIES

• Cornell leads the all-time series 92-13 dating back to the 1907-08 season when the teams first met.
• The Big Red has won 34 consecutive dual meets against the Lions.
• Columbia's last win over the Big Red came in a 20-19 Lions victory in Ithaca during the 1985-86 campaign
 

LAST TIME VS. COLUMBIA

• Cornell enjoyed all-around success against Columbia as a pair of wrestlers knocked off ranked opponents en route to a 27-12 victory that featured a pair of bonus point wins on Jan. 11, 2020. 
• Dom Lajoie started things off for the Big Red, defeating No. 23 Joe Manchio by way of an 8-5 decision. 
• Chas Tucker gave the Big Red a 6-0 lead after his 8-2 victory over Trent Svingala, and Noah Baughman picked up Cornell's second ranked win of the dual, upsetting No. 23 Matt Kazimir, 3-1.
 

THE CORNELL-NAVY SERIES

• Navy leads the all-time series 19-7 dating back to the first meeting during the 1911-12 season.
• The two teams last met on Jan. 9, 1998, a 32-3 Big Red victory at the Virginia Duals.
• The last win by the Mids was a 19-13 victory on Jan. 14, 1995, also at the Virginia Duals. 
 

LAST TIME VS. NAVY

• Cornell racked up nine victories, jumping out to a 25-0 lead and routing Navy 32-3 on Jan. 9, 1998 at the Virginia Duals.
• The 16th-ranked Big Red earned bonus victories at 150 with John Fogarty topping Ben Duelly by major decision, at 167 where Joe Tucceri pinned Tony Spiker in the third period, and at heavyweight where Seth Charles majored Colin Crockard to close out the match.
 

NEXT UP

• The Big Red will hit the road for three EIWA dual meets, beginning with a matchup with defending Ivy champion Princeton on Saturday, Feb. 5 at 1 p.m. 
• Cornell will head to Philadelphia the following day for matches against Penn (1 p.m.) and Drexel (5 p.m.)