#6 Cornell (5-2, 0-0 Ivy) vs. Brown (2-4, 0-0 Ivy)

Date & Time: Saturday, Jan. 21, 2023 at 12:00 p.m.
Where: Pizzitola Sports Center (Providence, R.I.)
Twitter: @CUBigRedGameday | @BigRedWrestling
Watch Live: ESPN+
 

#6 Cornell (5-2, 0-0 Ivy) vs. Harvard (0-1, 0-0 Ivy)

Date & Time: Saturday, Jan. 21, 2023 at 6:00 p.m.
Where: Malkin Athletic Center (Cambridge, Mass.)
Twitter: @CUBigRedGameday | @BigRedWrestling
Watch Live: ESPN+
 

STORY LINES

• The quest for a 42nd Ivy League title begins for sixth-ranked Cornell this weekend when the Big Red visits Brown and Harvard on Saturday, Jan. 21.
• The Big Red will open the weekend against the Bears at 12 p.m. in Providence, R.I., then heads to Cambridge, Mass. at 6 p.m. to meet the Crimson.
• Both contests will be broadcast live on ESPN+. 
• The Big Red will attempt to extend long win streaks against its Ivy foes, with 24 straight wins over Brown and 20 consecutive vs. Harvard. 
• Mike Grey '11 will coach against former teammate Jordan Leen '09 for the first time when Cornell faces Brown.
• Leen, a three-time All-American, won an NCAA title at 157 pounds as a junior in 2008 for Cornell.
• The four-time NCAA qualifier wrapped up his impressive wrestling career for the Big Red with a 118-29 mark and is now in his first season directing the Brown program.
• Coming off a narrow 18-15 win over No. 20 Lehigh last weekend in Ithaca, the Big Red has won 112-of-113 of its last duals against EIWA foes other than the Mountain Hawks.
• In the win over Lehigh, three-time NCAA champion Yianni Diakomihalis captured his 100th victory in a Cornell singlet .
• Cornell is ranked sixth nationally in the latest USA Today/NWCA Division I Wrestling Coaches Poll and is 5-2 with six of its seven duals against nationally ranked foes.
• 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.  
• Nine Big Red wrestlers are ranked in the top 25 of Intermat's rankings entering the week, including five in the top eight. 
• 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.
• Eight NCAA qualifiers return this season (Dom LaJoie, Vito Arujau, Yianni Diakomihalis, Julian Ramirez, Chris Foca, Jonathan Loew, Jacob Cardenas and Lewis Fernandes), including All-Americans Arujau, Diakomihalis and Loew.
 

THE STREAKS

• The Big Red is 86-5 (.945) in its last 91 duals against current EIWA competitors dating back to 2010-11.
• Cornell is 125-8-1 (.937) 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 109-2 in dual meets (.982) against unranked teams dating back to the beginning of the 2007-08 season.
• Cornell is 141-33 (.810) in dual meet competition in the past 11 seasons.
• Cornell is 55-9 (.859) in its last 64 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 64-12 (.842) in its last 76 home duals dating back to the 2009-10 season.
• Cornell has won 41 straight meets against New York state opponents.
• Junior Yianni Diakomihalis is 47-2 and sophomore Vito Arujau is 31-2 in dual meets during their careers.
• Diakomihalis' recently snapped 75-match win streak will go down as the second-longest streak in program history (Kyle Dake '13 won his final 77 matches).
• Dating back to high school, Diakomihalis has won 310 of his last 312 matches in folkstyle (.994).
 

SERIES NOTES  VS. BROWN

• Cornell has a decisive 58-2 edge in the all-time dual meet series with Brown and has won 24 consecutive matchups.
• The Bears last defeated the Big Red 19-16 on Feb. 15, 1997.
 

SERIES NOTES  VS. HARVARD

• Cornell leads the all-time series 59-9 dating back to their first meeting in 1946-47.
• The Big Red has won 20 consecutive dual meets between the teams, posting an average margin of 32-8 (644-161) in those meets.
• Harvard's last win came during the 2000-01 season, a 28-13 victory in Cambridge, Mass.
 

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 71-9 in dual matches (.888) 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  games clear of second-place Penn (187-170-7) and 128.5 games ahead of Princeton (178-171-5).
• 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.
 

LAST TIME OUT

• Cornell senior Yianni Diakomihalis won his 100th career match and bonus points allowed the sixth-ranked Big Red to top No. 20 Lehigh 18-15 at a sold-out Friedman Wrestling Center. 
• Diakomihalis dominated from the start against Drew Munch, with his escape seconds into the third period ending the match after securing three takedowns, two full sets of back points and an escape over the first two periods to build a 15-1 lead. 
• The victory makes him the 26th wrestler in school history to reach that milestone, and his 100-2 record (.980) is just short of Dave Auble's mark (51-1, .981). 
• While neither team had a full lineup, Cornell did not wrestle four starters
• Two key wins for the Big Red came by way of Cole Handlovic at 157, knocking off 25th-ranked 149-pounder Max Brignola by a 2-0 margin, and 125-pounder Brett Ungar's overtime victory over Jaret Lane. 
• Those two wins ultimately allowed Cornell to snap its three-game skid against its EIWA rival.
• Cornell also earned wins from a pair of top 10 wrestlers, with seventh-ranked Julian Ramirez earning a major decision victory at 165, and fourth-ranked Chris Foca knocking off Jake Logan 9-5 at 174.
 

NEXT UP

• Cornell will remain on the road for a tilt with EIWA foe Army West Point on Saturday, January 28 at 2 p.m. before visiting Ivy rival Columbia on Sunday, Jan. 29 at 1 p.m.
• The Black Knights lead the all-time series with the Big Red 16-10-1, though Cornell has won three straight.
• The Big Red hasn't won a dual against Army in West Point since 1979.
• Cornell has an 89-15 lead in the series vs. Columbia with 34 consecutive victories.