2023-24 | SENIOR SEASON
Won his second straight NCAA title at 133 pounds to become Cornell’s 6th multi-time national champ… beat #3 Kai Orine (NC State) in the quarterfinals, #2 Ryan Crookham (Lehigh) in the semifinals and #1 Daton Fix (Oklahoma State) in the finals… was the No. 6 seed… avenged his only two losses of the season against Crookham… ended his career with 20 wins at NCAAs, tied for the most in program history… became the ninth four-time All-American in program history… earned unanimous first-team All-Ivy honors for the third time in his career… was named EIWA Wrestler of the Year… EIWA tournament runner-up… finished 18-2 overall… won a senior world championship at 61kg before the season
2022-23 I JUNIOR SEASON
Hodge Award Trophy finalist ... claimed his first NCAA title with a 10-4 victory in the finals over two-time champion Roman Bravo-Young of Penn State ... named the Most Outstanding Wrestler at the championships ... defeated three-time finalist Daton Fix of Oklahoma State 11-3 in the semifinals and avenged his only regular season loss with an 8-5 victory over Virginia Tech's Sam Latona in the quarterfinals ... was 25-1 with 14 wins with bonus points ... unanimous first-team All-Ivy League selection ... captured his second EIWA title with four consecutive bonus point wins ... opened the season with a title at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational .. was 18-1 against ranked opponents ... served as team captain.
2021-22 I SOPHOMORE SEASON
Third at NCAA Championships to claim second All-America citation ... 2022 EIWA Champion and Coaches Award for Most Outstanding Wrestler at the championship ... finished 19-2 with 15 bonus point wins at 125 ... second-team All-Ivy League after going 2-1 ... was runner-up at 2022 Olympic Trials at 57kg ... team captain.
2019-21 I SOPHOMORE SEASON
The 2020-21 season was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic ... took an Olympic redshirt season in 2019-20.
2018-19 I FRESHMAN SEASON
Took fourth at the 2019 NCAA Championships at 125 pounds, earning his first All-America honor ... was 31-4 on the season with 19 bonus point wins ... named Ivy League Rookie of the Year and to the All-Ivy first team at 125 pounds ... was 26-3 with 17 bonus point wins after moving down to 125 in December ... defeated the No. 2 (Nick Piccininni of Oklahoma State) and No. 4 (Ronnie Bresser of Oregon State) seeds at NCAAs ... also majored No. 9 RayVon Foley of Michigan State and No. 14 Sea Fausz of NC State along the way ... was 7-3 on the season against ranked wrestlers, including a pin of No. 10 Patrick Glory of Princeton ... was a perfect 5-0 in Ivy League duals, winning all five matches with bonus points attached (three major decisions, a tech fall and a pin) ... was 16-0 in dual meets on the season, including a pair of wins at 133 against Binghamton and West Virginia ... his only collegiate losses came against the Big Red’s top 10-ranked 133-pound starter, Chas Tucker, in the finals of the Bearcat Open, to Princeton’s Patrick Glory in the final of the EIWA Championship and two to NCAA top seed Sebastian Rivera of Northwestern at nationals ... had a 23-match win streak snapped in the loss to Glory.
PRIOR TO CORNELL
Arujau was a four-time state champion while wrestling at Syosset HS ... named the Intermat High School Wrestler of the Year as a senior in 2017 ... was a five-time county champion ... posted an overall high school record of 216-1, including closing his career with a streak of 173 wins in a row ... earned a spot on the Junior World Team in the spring of 2018 ... won the UWW Cadet National freestyle title in 2017, earning a silver medal at the Cadet World Games ... took second at UWW Cadet nationals in 2015 ... captured the Super 32 Challenge title at 132 pounds in 2017 and placed third in 2015 ... was FloNationals runner-up in 2014 ... won the Cleveland State Open for FingerLakes Wrestling Club in 2017-18 as part of a 9-1 season.
PERSONAL
Vitali Arujau is the son of Vougar Oroudjov and Zhanna Arujava and has an older and younger brother ... his brother Naryman '15 is a Cornell graduate ... he is enrolled in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.
