Diakomihalis, Wrestling Head to Tulsa With History On Their Minds

STORY LINES
• Seven 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 2023 NCAA Wrestling Championship on Thursday, March 16 at the BOK Center in Tulsa, Okla.
• Live video of every match can be viewed on the ESPN family of networks.
• The EIWA and Ivy League champions have set their sights high, believing they should be in the mix for yet another top 10 team finish and hope to reach the podium.
• The Big Red has finished in the top 10 at every championship (excepting the 2021 tournament when Cornell didn’t compete) since 2008, joining Iowa in making that claim.  
• Diakomihalis is looking to become Cornell’s second four-time national champion in program history, joining Olympic bronze medalist Kyle Dake ‘13 and the fifth all-time (also going for that milestone this year is Iowa’s Spencer Lee).
• If he is successful, the Big Red would be the first program to have multiple four-time national champs (Iowa State, Oklahoma State and Ohio State with one apiece).
• Diakomihalis is a four-time NCAA qualifier, becoming the 19th Big Red grappler to reach nationals four times.
• Five qualifiers are making a return trips to nationals — Vito Arujau (133),  Diakomihalis (149), Julian Ramirez (165), Chris Foca (174) and Jacob Cardenas (197).
• Diakomihalis joins Arujau (125) as two of 24 Cornellians that are multiple-time All-Americans.
• First-time national qualifiers are Brett Ungar (125) and Vince Cornella (141).
• Cornell is ranked eighth nationally in the USA Today/NWCA Division I Wrestling Coaches Poll after going 12-3 in dual meet competition.
• The Big Red is also ranked at the top of the NWCA Mid-Major poll for the fourth time in five years.
• Cornell won its 19th Ivy League title in the past 20 seasons in 2022-23, the second straight under head coach Mike Grey after he won four as a student-athlete and eight more as an assistant coach.

Mike Grey '11
The David Dunlop ‘59 Head Coach of Wrestling

• Mike Grey ‘11 is in his second season as the David Dunlop ‘59 Head Coach of Cornell Wrestling.
• 2023 Ivy League and EIWA Coach of the Year, has won consecutive titles in both conferences.
• Has led the team to a 24-6 dual meet record, including a 10-0 mark in Ivy competition.
• Assisted in the development of 10 NCAA champions and 34 All-Americans since joining the Big Red coaching staff in 2011, including one champion and three All-Americans as a head coach.
• Was a two-time All-American and EIWA champion and four-year, first-team All-Ivy League pick as a four-year letter winner for the Big Red.

2023 Big Red NCAA Qualifiers

THE STREAKS
• The Big Red is 93-5 (.949) in its past 98 duals against current EIWA competitors dating back to 2010-11.
• Cornell is 132-8-1 (.940) in dual meet action against current EIWA teams dating back to 2004-05, including 119-1 (.992) against teams other than Lehigh (2019 loss at Princeton).
• Cornell has won 102 of its past 103 Ivy League dual meets dating back to the 2001-02 campaign, including 10 consecutive wins.
• Big Red wrestling is 115-2 in dual meets (.983) against unranked teams dating back to the beginning of the 2007-08 season.
• Cornell is 148-34 (.813) in dual meet competition in the past 11 seasons.
• Cornell is 59-9 (.868) in its last 64 road dual matches.
• The Big Red has crowned at least one EIWA champion in each of the last 20 seasons and in 30 of the last 31 years.
• The Big Red is 66-12 (.846) in its last 78 home duals dating back to the 2009-10 season.
• Cornell has won 44 straight meets against New York state opponents.
• Junior Yianni Diakomihalis is 53-2 and sophomore Vito Arujau is 37-2 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 320 of his last 322 matches in folkstyle (.994).
• Chris Foca has won a team-best 17 consecutive matches, with Diakomihalis right behind with 16 straight.

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) (13 straight for Cornell, 14 for Iowa which did compete in 2021).
• The Big Red has had at least one individual NCAA champion in 11 of the last 13 events in has competed in and at least one finalist in 13 straight tournaments in which it has competed.
• Cornell has at least two wrestlers seeded in the top five in their weight class for its seven straight tournament (No. 1 Yianni Diakomihalis at 149; No. 3 Vito Arujau at 133; No. 4 Julian Ramirez at 165, No. 4 Chris Foca at 174).
• Cornell has placed in the top five at the NCAA championships in six of its last 12 tournaments and in the top 10 in 16 of the last 18 (13 straight).
• The Big Red has had 14 different wrestlers win a combined 22 NCAA titles — Kyle Dake is one of four wrestlers to claim four national crowns (doing it in four different weight classes), Diakomihalis has claimed three and Gabe Dean, Dave Auble and Travis Lee have won two titles apiece.
• Cornell has had 48 wrestlers earn a total of 93 All-America honors, including 71 total All-America citations since 2003.
• The Big Red has qualified at least half its lineup in 23 of its last 24 tournaments, including 21 in a row.
• Cornell has scored at least 50 team points in 16 of its last 18 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 20 tournaments.
• The Big Red’s seven NCAA qualifiers were 79-2 (.975) against wrestlers who will not compete championship tournament.

LAST TIME AT NCAAS
• Junior Yianni Diakomihalis claimed his third national title with a dominant 11-5 decision over Nebraska’s Ridge Lovett to capture the 149-pound NCAA wrestling title at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit, Mich.
• His win boosted the team’s tournament points to 54.5, good for seventh in the team race.
• Diakomihalis was joined on podiums by fellow All-Americans Vito Arujau, who took third at 125 pounds, and 184-pounder Jonathan Loew (eighth) as 2022 All-Americans.
• Two other Big Red wrestlers (Julian Ramirez at 165, Lewis Fernandes at 285) dropped blood round matches despite sensational efforts, falling to higher seeded wrestlers by a single takedown. 
• All nine Big Red qualifiers picked up at least one win during the tournament’s opening day.

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 73-9 in dual matches (.890) there.
• Since the start of Ivy competition, the Big Red is 312-53-1 (.854) with 42 league titles in 65 seasons (13 second place finishes). That’s 118.0 games clear of second-place Penn (191-168-7) and 134.0 games ahead of Princeton (176-185-5).
• Prior to stepping on the mat against Stanford on Nov. 20, 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 Vito Arujau, whose last match came earlier that same morning in the fourth-place match.

LAST TIME OUT
• The Cornell wrestling team crowned six champions, including four first-timers, but was headlined by a four-timer as the Big Red ran away with the team title at the 2023 EIWA Championship at the Palestra. 
• The Big Red closed the two-day championship tourney with 165.5 points, well clear of second-place Lehigh (120.5) and Ivy rival Penn (106).
• Yianni Diakomihalis became the 14th four-time champ in conference history with his title at 149 pounds, but was already the third Big Red grappler to take hom a title at that point. 
• Vito Arujau (133) won his second straight championship and first at 133 pounds, while freshman Vince Cornella grabbed his first at 141 pounds. 
• Julian Ramirez (165) and Jacob Cardenas (197) each topped top five wrestlers in the finals for their first titles, with Chris Foca also winning his first with his victory at 174 pounds. 
• The six champions set a Cornell record and were one off the tournament record, while the 165.5 points scored was the seventh-highest by any team.
• The lone runner-up came at 125 pounds where freshman Brett Ungar fell in a tight 2-0 contest to second-ranked All-American Patrick Glory of Princeton.
• Additionally, heavyweight Brendan Furman grabbed seventh at heavyweight, one place out of earning an NCAA bid. He’ll be a contender for an NCAA at-large selection.

CORNELL DOMINATES ALL-IVY AWARDS
• Senior Yianni Diakomihalis became the first student-athlete to be named Ivy League Wrestler of the Year four times as Cornell wrestling swept the conference’s top awards.
• In addition to Diakomihalis as unanimous Wrestler of the Year, Mike Grey was Coach of the Year and Vince Cornella was Rookie of the Year, both unanimously.
• Cornell had six unanimous first-team selections and eight total All-Ivy picks. 
• In addition to Diakomihalis at 149, the Big Red had unanimous first-teamers at 133 (Vito Arujau), 141 (Cornella), 165 (Julian Ramirez), 174 (Chris Foca) and 197 (Jacob Cardenas). 
• Brendan Furman (285) was a second teamer and Brett Ungar (125) was chosen to the honorable mention squad.

WORLD CUP
• Senior Yianni Diakomihalis ‘23 and volunteer assistant coach Nick Gwiazdowski both came home with gold medals after helping Team USA win the Men’s Freestyle World Cup this past weekend at the Xtream Arena in Coralville, Iowa.
• The United States won the finals over Iran 6-4 to claim the gold, with three-time NCAA champ Diakomihalis falling in a narrow 5-4 decision against 2022 world champion Rahman Amouzadhalili. 
• That came on the heels of Team USA’s 10-0 sweep of Georgia that featured an 11-0 tech fall over 2016 World silver medalist Beka Lomtadze at 65 kg. 
• He opened the tournament with a 10-3 loss to world bronze medalist Tulga Tumur Ochir of Mongolia in a 7-3 U.S. team win.
• Gwiazdowski was a team member at 125 kg, but did not see action.