ST. LOUIS, Mo. -- Sophomore Gabe Dean became the 17th NCAA champion in Cornell wrestling history to lead four All-Americans en route to a fifth-place team finish with 71.5 team points. Dean, one of two Big Red finalists on the evening, defeated Lehigh's Nathaniel Brown 6-2 in the finals.

After placing third a season ago, Dean closed his sophomore campaign with a 43-2 record by winning all five matches in the 184-pound bracket. He became the first Cornellian to claim a national title since Kyle Dake closed his glorious career with his fourth consecutive title in 2013. He is the second Big Red wrestler to win a national title at that weight class, joining 2012 national champ Steve Bosak.

Sophomore Brian Realbuto finished second at 157 pounds after dropping a 10-2 contest to unbeaten Isaiah Martinez of Illinois earlier in the finals session, which was televised by ESPN. He finished sixth at NCAAs a season ago and ended with a 23-3 record.

Cornell's fifth place finish is the program's sixth top five finish in the last seven years at NCAAs and the Big Red crowned a national champion for the seventh time in eight years with a total of nine champs. Head coach Rob Koll has had at least four All-Americans in 10 of his last 11 seasons - the Big Red had three in the other season.

Sophomore Nahshon Garrett placed fifth at 125 pounds and senior Chris Villalonga was sixth at 149 pounds to round out Cornell's four All-Americans.

After a scoreless first period, Dean escaped seven seconds into the second to get on the board. Looking for the match's first takedown, Dean continued to pull on Brown's head until he was able to break through on a shot to make it 3-0 with 45 seconds gone in the second. Brown earned an escape to get back within 3-1 with 30 seconds left in the second and went into the third that way. The Lehigh grappler took the bottom position and was able to get out, but not before Dean was able to surpass a minute of riding time. With 90 seconds to go for a national title and leading 3-2 with a riding time point in his pocket, the sophomore avoided Brown's offense before getting a late takedown to make it 5-2 and put the match away. With the riding time, Dean won his first national title 6-2 and closed the season a perfect 4-0 against Brown.

Realbuto controlled the center of the match in the first period against Martinez, getting in deep on a shot that ended in a stalemate midway through the first period. Cornell challenged the call, which originally was a takedown but was waved off, and that call stood. Moments later, Martinez struck using a high crotch to finish off the takedown. Realbuto escaped right away to cut the deficit to 2-1 after the first period. Martinez opened the second period down after winning the choice, and Realbuto held him down for 18 seconds before giving up the escape to go down 3-1. Martinez earned a takedown in the final 15 seconds and entered the third up 5-1. Entering the final period, Realbuto chose down and was returned to the mat for two nearfalls. An escape for Realbuto cut the deficit to 7-2 with 80 seconds left, but needing a big move and taking a chance, the sophomore surrendered a takedown to Martinez. The freshman completed his unbeaten season with more than a minute of riding time to earn the major decision, 10-2. With the victory Martinez became the first undefeated freshman national champion since the legendary Cael Sanderson in 1999.

Earlier in the day, both Garrett and Villalonga completed their tournaments, Garrett splitting a pair of matches to finish fifth - ending on a high note with a 9-3 decision over Michigan's Conor Youtsey in the place match. He became  the ninth three-time All-American in the process.

Villalonga ended his day on a high note in a different way - with his first All-America nod to close out his career. Despite a pair of losses that sent him to sixth, the four-time NCAA qualifier closed his career with a 122-42 record, two Eastern titles and four All-Ivy honors.

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ST. LOUIS, Mo. – The sophomore duo of Brian Realbuto (157 pounds) and Gabe Dean (184 pounds) will attempt to win the 17th and 18th national champions in Cornell history after each continued to navigate their way through the brackets on Friday at the 2015 NCAA Championships at the Scottrade Center. They will lead four Big Red All-Americans into Saturday's final matches. Cornell enters the final day in third place with 66.5 points, within shouting distance of the top two teams.

Dean won a pair of one-point decisions to make his first final, using one takedown to knock off No. 9 Sam Brooks of Iowa in the quarterfinals, then using a 12 second ride-time advantage to handle Edinboro's Vic Avery in the second tiebreaker, 4-3.

A familiar refrain, Dean and Avery wrestled through a scoreless first period before Dean escaped quickly in the second and Avery matched it in the third to go into sudden victory tied at 1-1. There was no scoring in the one-minute overtime, and each wrestler escaped during rideouts to go into the second sudden victory tied 2-2. A huge scramble where both wrestlers had an opportunity to score went by the wayside and the match went back into rideouts. Dean held Avery down for 20 seconds before the Edinboro grappler kicked out, but the Big Red sophomore was able to escape eight seconds in an hold off Avery the rest of the way to pick up the victory.

Realbuto got in a hole that looked daunting, but was able to turn it on under pressure. After allowing three takedowns and a reversal in falling behind 8-4, he used an escape, and two late takedowns, the last shortly before the buzzer, to take a 9-8 lead. Miller had locked in riding time to knot the score and send it to overtime. Once there, Realbuto earned a takedown 16 seconds in to guarantee himself a second straight All-America honor.

The controversy came once the match was over when it was determined that the scorer's table had scored the final seconds incorrectly and did not award an escape to Miller that would have won the match in regulation. The mistake was challenged, but the decision was upheld. Realbuto, wrestling to the score, picked up the last takedown and had Miller in a dangerous spot where he potentially could have earned back points to switch the score in regulation instead of running out the clock had he known.

Realbuto earned his spot in the finals after taking a 7-2 lead over third-seeded Dylan Ness of Minnesota. The senior was injured during a scramble and was forced to default in the first period to send Realbuto on to his first NCAA finals.

Villalonga became a first-time All-American, while Garrett came all the way back in the wrestlebacks to earn his third straight national honor. In the process, he becomes the ninth three-time All-American in Big Red history.

Villalonga advanced to the semifinals and clinched his first All-America nod with a 4-1 decision over Penn's C.J. Cobb, avenging one of his three regular season losses. He dropped his semifinal matchup with top-seeded Drake Houdashelt of Minnesota by a 4-0 score and could still finish as high as third and no lower than sixth tomorrow.

Garrett, like Realbuto later in the day, fell behind in his early wrestleback match to Brandon Jeske of Old Dominion before rallying to earn a 10-6 decision. That woke the sleeping giant, as Garrett majored No. 10 Ronnie Rios of Oregon State (13-3), No. 12 Kory Mines of Edinboro (11-0) and No. 11 Jordan Conaway of Penn State (10-1) in succession to put him into the consolation semifinals. He'll have a chance to avenge a regular season loss to Iowa's Thomas Gilman tomorrow morning for a chance to wrestle for third.

Mark Grey, Dylan Palacio, Jace Bennett and Jacob Aiken-Phillips all had their tournament runs come to an end. Palacio bounced back in his first wrestleback match, an 8-6 victory over Dakota Friesth of Wyoming before a late takedown awarded to Virginia's fourth-seeded Nick Sulzer of Virginia gave him a 7-6 triumph. Bennett, meanwhile, picked up a huge victory over seventh-seeded Abe Ayala of Princeton, 10-8, but fell a match shy of All-America honors after being pinned by Nebraska's 15th-seeded Aaron Studebaker of Nebraska. Both Grey and Aiken-Phillips dropped decisions in the consolation second round. 

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ST. LOUIS, Mo. – On a day full of upsets, three Big Red wrestlers avoided the madness and remain in contention for a national title. Six more suffered at least one loss, but five remain in the hunt for All-America honors. In the end, Cornell wrestling ended day one in seventh place at the 2015 NCAA Championship at the Scottrade Center with 17.5 team points. The Big Red is one point out of fourth, two out of third and just 5.5 behind first-place Ohio State.

"Peaks and valleys on day one," said head coach Rob Koll. "I feel great for the guys that won, and not so great for Nahshon and Duke Pickett … we're not far away from the top of the standings. We go on and win matches, get three to the finals and three or four more guys come through the backside and we win it."

Senior Chris Villalonga (149) and sophomores Brian Realbuto (157) and Gabe Dean (184) each won their first two matches, with both Villalonga and Dean tested to the limit in second round wins. All three will wrestle in the quarterfinals on Friday morning.

Realbuto was especially dominant, earning a major decision and a technical fall in his two victories without surrendering a point. He wrapped up a 9-0 triumph in his opener against Oliver Pierce of Arizona State and then a 17-0 shutout of Oklahoma State's Anthony Collica. He'll look to advance to the semifinals for the second straight year when he faces No. 7 seed Ian Miller of Kent State.

"This is the best I've ever seen Brian look. He has two big matches tomorrow – hopefully only two matches tomorrow – and I don't think there's anyone out there he can't beat," Koll said.

Villalonga grinded out a pair of victories, including a 6-4 overtime decision over Penn State's Zack Beitz, the No. 12 seed, in the second round. He will look to earn All-America honors for the first time out of the championship draw when he attempts to avenge one of his three regular season losses when he faces No. 13 seed C.J. Cobb of Penn.

Gabe Dean won a pair of matches against Big 10 wrestlers, topping Purdue's Patrick Kissel 10-1 in the opening round and rallying in the third period to top No. 16 seed Timothy Dudley of Nebraska to run his win streak to 25 matches. He'll attempt to reach the semifinals for the second straight year when he meets Iowa's No. 9 seed, Sammy Brooks. Dean and Brooks met last month at the NWCA National Duals, with Dean earning a 6-2 decision.

Two seeded Big Red wrestlers, second-seeded Nahshon Garrett at 125 and ninth-seeded Jace Bennett at 197, were upset on day one, with Bennett falling in the first round before bouncing back in the evening to remain alive in the wrestlebacks. Garrett won his first round match, only to fall behind 4-0 in the first period against West Virginia's Zeke Moisey and never recovering in a 5-2 loss.
The morning session briefly saw Cornell reach the top of the team standings midway through the first round as Cornell won its first five matches of the day, including Mark Grey's upset of 15^th-seeded Nick Soto of Chattanooga with a late first period fall. Grey was as impressive in the nightcap against No. 2 seed Bradley Taylor of Wisconsin, but a late takedown and two back points helped Taylor avoid the upset. Grey, who advanced to the All-America round a year ago, will continue in the wrestlebacks on Friday morning.

Along with Garrett, Grey and Bennett, both 165-pounder Dylan Palacio and heavyweight Jacob Aiken-Phillips went 1-1 on day one to remain alive. Palacio earned a major decision as the No. 12 seed in round one over Troy Reaghard of Pitt before dropping a 7-2 contest to Ohio State's Bo Jordan. Aiken-Phillips lost to Penn State's No. 8 seed James Lawson of Penn State before coming back in the evening session for a 4-0 shutout over Ivy League rival David Ng of Harvard.

Both Realbuto at 157 and Palacio at 165 earned major decision wins, as did sophomore classmate Dean at 184.

Cornell's three first round losses included Bennett's upset defeat at 197 and was the lone seeded Big Red wrestler to fall in the round of 32. Unseeded Duke Pickett dropped his match at 174 on a third period takedown and Aiken-Phillips fell to Penn State's heavyweight. Pickett also dropped his first wrestleback match by a 6-5 margin to Oklahoma's Matt Reed.a

After the first round, Cornell sat tied for third with its 11 points and with six wrestlers remaining in championship contention.

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#2 Nahshon Garrett – 125 Pounds
First Round: #2 Nahshon Garrett (Cornell) won by decision over Tim Lambert (Nebraska), 10-6
Second Round: Zeke Moisey (West Virginia) won by decision over #2 Nahshon Garrett (Cornell), 5-2
Consolation Second Round: #2 Nahshon Garrett (Cornell) won by decision over Brandon Jeske (Old Dominion), 10-6
Consolation Third Round: #2 Nahshon Garrett (Cornell) won by major decision over #10 Ronnie Rios (Oregon State), 13-3
Consolation Fourth Round: #2 Nahshon Garrett (Cornell) won by major decision over #12 Kory Mines (Edinboro), 11-0
Consolation Quarterfinal: #2 Nahshon Garrett (Cornell) won by major decision over #11 Jordan Conaway (Penn State), 10-1
Consolation Semifinal: #6 Thomas Gilman (Iowa) won by fall over #2 Nahshon Garrett (Cornell), 6:25
Fifth Place Match: #2 Nahshon Garrett (Cornell) won by decision over Conor Youtsey (Michigan), 9-3

Mark Grey – 133 Pounds
First Round: Mark Grey (Cornell) won by fall over #15 Nick Soto (Chattanooga), 2:53
Second Round: #2 Bradley Taylor (Wisconsin) won by decision over Mark Grey (Cornell), 5-1
Consolation Second Round: Gary Wayne Harding (Oklahoma State) won by decision over Mark Grey (Cornell), 6-1

#5 Chris Villalonga – 149 Pounds
First Round: #5 Chris Villalonga (Cornell) won by decision over Marcus Cain (Duke), 4-2
Second Round: #5 Chris Villalonga (Cornell) won by decision over #12 Zack Beitz (Penn State), 6-4 (sv1)
Quarterfinal: #5 Chris Villalonga (Cornell) won by  decision over #13 C.J. Cobb (Penn), 4-1
Semifinal: #1 Drake Houdashelt (Missouri) won by decision over #5 Chris Villalonga (Cornell), 4-0
Consolation Semifinal: #4 Brandon Sorensen (Iowa) won by decision over #5 Chris Villalonga (Cornell), 6-2
Fifth Place Match: #15 Bryant Clagon (Rider) won by decision over #5 Chris Villalonga (Cornell), 6-3

#2 Brian Realbuto – 157 Pounds
First Round: #2 Brian Realbuto (Cornell) won by major decision over Oliver Pierce (Arizona State), 9-0
Second Round: #2 Brian Realbuto (Cornell) won by technical fall over Anthony Collica (Oklahoma State), 17-0
Quarterfinal: #2 Brian Realbuto (Cornell) won by decision over #7 Ian Miller (Kent State), 11-9 (sv-1)
Semifinal: #2 Brian Realbuto (Cornell) won by injury default over #3 Dylan Ness (Minnesota)
Final: #1 Isaiah Martinez (Illinois) won by major decision over #2 Brian Realbuto (Cornell), 10-2

#12 Dylan Palacio – 165 Pounds
First Round: #12 Dylan Palacio (Cornell) won by major decision over Troy Reaghard (Pittsburgh), 14-4
Second Round: #5 Bo Jordan (Ohio State) won by decision over #12 Dylan Palacio (Cornell), 7-2
Consolation Second Round: #12 Dylan Palacio (Cornell) won by decision over Dakota Friesth (Wyoming), 8-6
Consolation Third Round:  #4 Nick Sulzer (Virginia) won by decision over #12 Dylan Palacio (Cornell), 7-6

Duke Pickett – 174 Pounds
First Round: #9 Cody Walters (Ohio) won by decision over Duke Pickett (Cornell), 5-3 (tb-1)
Consolation First Round: Matt Reed (Oklahoma) won by decision over Duke Pickett (Cornell), 6-5

#1 Gabe Dean – 184 Pounds
First Round: #1 Gabe Dean (Cornell) won by major decision over Patrick Kissel (Purdue), 10-1
Second Round: #1 Gabe Dean (Cornell) won by decision over #16 Timothy Dudley (Nebraska), 9-7
Quarterfinal: #1 Gabe Dean (Cornell) won by decision over #9 Sam Brooks (Iowa), 3-2
Semifinal: #1 Gabe Dean (Cornell) won by decision over #13 Vic Avery (Edinboro), 4-3 (tb-2)
Final: #1 Gabe Dean (Cornell) won by decision over #7 Nathaniel Brown (Lehigh), 6-2

#9 Jace Bennett – 197 Pounds
First Round: Trent Noon (Northern Colorado) won by decision over #9 Jace Bennett (Cornell), 8-4
Consolation First Round: #9 Jace Bennett (Cornell) won by major decision over Shawn Scott (Northern Illinois), 12-1
Consolation Second Round: #9 Jace Bennett (Cornell) won by decision over #7 Abe Ayala (Princeton), 10-8
Consolation Third Round: #15 Aaron Studebaker (Nebraska) won by fall over #9 Jace Bennett (Cornell), 6:12

Jacob Aiken-Phillips – 285
First Round: #8 James Lawson (Penn State) won by decision over Jacob Aiken-Phillips (Cornell), 9-3
Consolation First Round: Jacob Aiken-Phillips (Cornell) won by decision over David Ng (Harvard), 4-0
Consolation Second Round: #10 Ty Walz (Virginia Tech) won by decision over Jacob Aiken-Phillips (Cornell), 10-4