#10 Cornell (13-2, 9-1 EIWA, 5-0 Ivy) at the 2022 NCAA Championship

Date & Time: Thursday-Saturday, March 17-19
Venue: Little Caesars Arena - Detroit, Mich.
Twitter: @CUBigRedGameday | @BigRedWrestling
 

STORY LINES

• Nine Big Red grapplers will take the mat looking to propel the Big Red to yet another top 10 NCAA finish with their eyes set on claiming All-America awards and national titles when matches begin at the 2022 NCAA Wrestling Championship beginning on Thursday, March 17 at Detroit's Little Caesars Arena.
• Live video of every match can be viewed on the ESPN family of networks.
• Cornell has set its sights high, believing it should be in the mix for yet another top 10 team finish.
• The Big Red has finished in the top 10 at every championship (excepting the 2021 championship when Cornell didn't compete) since 2008, joining Iowa in making that claim.  
• After missing the 2020-21 campaign due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Big Red has already reclaimed the Ivy League and EIWA crowns this season.
• Cornell won its 18th Ivy League title in the last 19 seasons, but the first under head coach Mike Grey after he won four as a student-athlete and eight more as an assistant coach.
• Cornell is ranked 10th nationally in the latest USA Today/NWCA Division I Wrestling Coaches Poll.
• The Big Red is also ranked at the top of the NWCA Mid-Major poll for the third time in four years.
• Back in the lineup after taking Olympic redshirts during the 2019-20 and 2020-21 seasons are All-American Vito Arujau (133) and two-time NCAA champion Yianni Diakomihalis (149).
• Diakomihalis is looking to become the second three-time national champion in program history, joining Olympic bronze medalist Kyle Dake '13 (a four-time champion). 
• The Big Red brings a school record-tying nine qualifiers to nationals this season — joining the 1964, 2005, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2015 and 2016 seasons.
• Five qualifiers are making a return trips to nationals — Vito Arujau (125), Dom LaJoie (133), Diakomihalis (149), Hunter Richard (157) and Jonathan Loew (184), though LaJoie, Loew and Richard had their 2020 appearances cut due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Returning national champion Diakomihalis joins Arujau (125) as All-Americans eyeing another podium finish.
• Entering 2022 NCAAs, there are 23 former Big Red wrestlers who have earned All-America honors more than once with Arujau trying to become the 24th.
• Diakomihalis is a three-time NCAA qualifier, becoming the 33rd Big Red grappler to reach nationals at least three times.
• First-time national qualifiers include Julian Ramirez (165), Chris Foca (174), Jacob Cardenas (197) and Lewis Fernandes (285).
• Fernandes is out to become the first Big Red All-American at heavyweight in program history.
 

THE STREAKS

• Diakomihalis has won 70 consecutive matches, the second-longest streak in program history (Kyle Dake '13 won 77).
• The Big Red is 85-5 (.944) in its last 90 duals against current EIWA competitors dating back to 2010-11.
• Cornell is 124-8-1 (.936) in dual meet action against current EIWA teams dating back to 2004-05, including 112-1 (.991) against teams other than Lehigh (2019 loss at Princeton).
• Cornell has won 97 of its last 98 Ivy League dual meets dating back to the 2001-02 campaign.
• Big Red wrestling is 108-2 in dual meets (.982) against unranked teams dating back to the beginning of the 2007-08 season.
• Cornell is 136-31 (.814) in dual meet competition in the last 11 seasons.
• Cornell is 54-9 (.857) in its last 63 road dual matches.
• The Big Red is 63-11 (.851) in its last 74 home duals dating back to the 2009-10 season.
• Cornell has won 41 straight meets against New York state opponents.
• Junior Yianni Diakomihalis is 41-1 and sophomore Vito Arujau is 26-1 in dual meets during their career.
 

NCAA NOTES

• Cornell and Iowa are the only two schools to finish in the top 10 at NCAAs every year since 2008, excepting 2021 (the Ivy League did not compete due to COVID-19) (12 straight for Cornell, 13 for Iowa which did compete in 2021).
• The Big Red has had at least one individual NCAA champion in 10 of the last 12 events in has competed in and at least one finalist in 12 straight tournaments in which it has competed.
• Cornell has at least two wrestlers seeded in the top five in their weight class for its sixth straight tournament (No. 1 Yianni Diakomihalis at 149; No. 2 Vito Arujau at 125).
• Cornell has placed in the top five at the NCAA championships in six of its last 11 tournaments and in the top 10 in 15 of the last 17 (12 straight).
• The Big Red has had 14 different wrestlers win a combined 21 NCAA titles — Kyle Dake is one of three wrestlers to claim four national crowns (doing it in four different weight classes), while Gabe Dean, Dave Auble, Travis Lee and Yianni Diakomihalis have won two titles apiece.
• Cornell has had 47 wrestlers earn a total of 90 All-America honors, including 68 total All-America citations since 2003.
• The Big Red has qualified at least half its lineup in 22 of its last 23 tournaments, including 20 in a row.
• Cornell has scored at least 50 team points in 15 of its last 17 NCAA tournaments, finishing no lower than 12th in any campaign.
• At least two Cornellians have taken the podium as All-Americans in each of its last 19 tournaments.
• The Big Red's nine NCAA qualifiers were 119-7 (.944) against wrestlers who will not compete championship tournament.
 

LAST TIME AT NCAAs

• Sophomore Yianni Diakomihalis claimed his second national title, classmate Max Dean came tantalizingly close to his first and Cornell posted a top 10 team finish for the 12th consecutive year at the 2019 NCAA Wrestling Championships in Pittsburgh. 
• The Big Red placed seventh overall, accumulating 59.5 points and crowning four All-Americans during the three-day meet.
• Diakomihalis became the fifth multi-time national champion in program history with another clutch performance on college's biggest stage. 
A takedown in the final seconds sent the match to sudden victory where he used a trip for a takedown to knock off No. 2 Joey McKenna of Ohio State.  
• Dean wasn't as fortunate, as the sophomore surrendered a late takedown to Northern Iowa's Drew Foster in a 6-4 defeat.
• First-time All-Americans Vitali Arujau (125) and Ben Honis (197) place fourth and eighth, respectively, at their weights.
 

CORNELL DOMINATES ALL-IVY AWARDS

• Junior Yianni Diakomihalis became the first student-athlete to be named Ivy League Wrestler of the Year three times and first-year head coach Mike Grey was named Coach of the Year when the conference announced its year-end awards. 
• Cornell had five unanimous first-team selections and nine total All-Ivy picks. 
• In addition to Diakomihalis at 149, the Big Red dominated the upper weight categories with unanimous first-teamers at 174 (Chris Foca), 184 (Jonathan Loew), 197 (Jacob Cardenas) and 285 (Lewis Fernandes). 
• Vito Arujau (125) and Dom LaJoie (133) were second teamers and Hunter Richard (157) and Julian Ramirez (165) were chosen honorable mention.
 

NAHSHON GARRETT '16 INDUCTED INTO EIWA HALL OF FAME

• Nahshon Garrett '16 was inducted into the EIWA Hall of Fame at the 2022 Championships in Ithaca.
• Garrett captured the 2016 NCAA title at 133 pounds with a 7-6 win over Iowa's Cory Clark. 
• He became the sixth four-time NCAA All-American at Cornell joining Kyle Dake, Travis Lee, Dustin Manotti, Troy Nickerson and Cam Simaz. 
• A national finalist in 2014 at 125 pounds, Garrett was the 10th four-time EIWA champion in league history. 
• Following his senior campaign Garrett was named Ivy League Wrestler of the Year for a second time, while becoming the sixth Big Red wrestler to become a four-time first team All-Ivy selection. 
• After a 37-0 campaign as a senior, Garrett finished his collegiate career with a 149-12 record. 
 

NOTES TO KNOW

• 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.
• 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 70-8 in dual matches (.897) there.
• Since the start of Ivy competition, the Big Red is 307-53-1 (.852) with 41 league titles in 65 seasons (13 second place finishes). That's 119 matches clear of second-place Penn (187-170-7) and 128.5 ahead of Princeton (178-171-5).
• Cornell has finished in the top two as a team at each EIWA Tournament since 2005.
• The Big Red has the top two streaks of consecutive titles, winning six straight from 1912-17 and then 11 from 2007-17.
• The Big Red has crowned at least one EIWA champion in each of the past 20 seasons and in 30 of the past 31 tournaments it has participated in.
• Since, Cornell wrestlers have won at least three EIWA titles at each weight except 285 pounds — the last Big Red heavyweight to stand at the top of the podium was Seth Charles in 1999.
• Kyle Dake '13 claimed the bronze medal at 76kg at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan (held in summer of 2021).

NEXT UP

• With the season complete, Cornell will begin defense of its Ivy League and EIWA titles when practice begins in the fall.