STORY LINES:
• Cornell wrestling's final tuneup for championship season comes when the Big Red hosts fourth-ranked Ohio State in the 2017 NWCA National Duals Championship Series presented by Theraworx and the United States Marine Corps on Sunday, Feb. 19 at 1 p.m. at Newman Arena.
• The match will be broadcast on TrackWrestling, with live video and live stats available.
• Will LeBlond will be on the call locally for 1160 EPSN Ithaca,
• Cornell has a long history in the National Duals, going 29-22 in 16 all-time appearances and becoming one of just seven schools to claim the title when it won in 2011.
• At 12-2 this season, Cornell clinch an unprecedented 15th consecutive Ivy League title last weekend with wins over Penn and Princeton.
• After those victories, Cornell has now won 78 consecutive duals against Ivy foes, 76 in a row against unranked opponents, 31 consecutive against Princeton and 15 straight vs. Penn.
• Cornell has already guaranteed itself a winning dual meet record for the 31st straight year and the 39th time in the last four decades.  
• Ranked eighth nationally in the latest USA Today/NWCA Division I Wrestling Coaches Poll, Cornell also holds down the top spot in the first-ever NWCA/NDS Mid-Major Top 20 poll announced three weeks ago.
• Senior Gabe Dean, a leading candidate for the Hodge Trophy, has dominated all season long and has won 18 of his 26 matches this season by fall with seven victories over wrestlers ranked in the top 20 — including six bonus point wins.
• The Big Red has big goals — Cornell is eyeing yet another top five team effort at NCAAs and has a number of wrestlers with national championship and All-America aspirations.
• Dean, along with 2015 NCAA finalist and two-time All-American Brian Realbuto, as well as 2016 All-American Dylan Palacio, headline an experienced and talented lineup.
• Seniors Taylor Simaz (157) and either Dylan Palacio or Brandon Womack (165) make up the starting lineup at the two middle weights.
• In addition, two-time NCAA qualifier Mark Grey (133) and 2016 NCAA qualifier Joey Galasso (149) join first-year starter Will Koll (141) in the regular lineup.
• Senior Craig Scott and 2016 NCAA qualifier Jeramy Sweany are competing for the top spot at heavyweight, while Honis and Owen Scott are jockeying at 197 and freshman Noah Baughman will be the choice at 125 pounds.
• In the first NCAA Wrestling Coaches' Panel Rankings released this season, seven Big Red wrestlers appeared in the top 33, including top-ranked Gabe Dean at 184 and third-ranked Brian Realbuto at 174.
• Grey sits 17th at 133, while Simaz (No. 24 at 157), Galasso (No. 26 at 149), Honis (No. 26 at 197) and Koll (No. 33 at 133) also appear in the weight class rankings.
• Ohio State features three top-ranked wrestlers - Nathan Tomasello at 133, Bo Jordan at 174 and Kyle Snyder at 285.
• Both Snyder (2016) and Tomasello (2015 at 125) have won NCAA titles, as has 10th-ranked Myles Martin at 184 (2016 at 174).
• Third-ranked Realbuto will have a chance to make his case for a top seed at NCAAs when he faces top-ranked Jordan at 174, while defending NCAA champions Dean and Martin (174) square off for the second time this season at 184.
• Dean and Martin wrestled at the preseason NWCA All-Star Classic in Cleveland, Ohio in November, with Dean picking up five takedowns en route to a 13-4 major decision victory in a battle of No. 1 vs. No. 2.

THE STREAKS:
• Cornell has won 10 consecutive EIWA team titles, the longest streak in conference history.
• Head coach Rob Koll's teams have racked up 15 Ivy League titles in a row, the longest title streak in any sport in conference history.
• Cornell has won 78 consecutive Ivy League dual meets dating back to the 2001-02 campaign.
• Cornell is 105-22-1 (.824) in dual meet competition in the last seven seasons.
• The Big Red is 41-6 (.872) in its last 47 home duals dating back to the 2009-10 season.
• Senior Gabe Dean has a 36-match win streak, the seventh-longest streak in school history (personal best: 52 matches from 2014-16).
• The Big Red has crowned at least one EIWA champion in each of the last 15 seasons and in 25 of the last 26 years.
• The Big Red is 58-1 (.983) in its last 59 duals against current EIWA competitors dating back to 2010-11.
• Cornell is 97-4-1 (.956) in dual meet action against current EIWA teams dating back to 2004-05, including 86-0 against teams other than Lehigh.
• Cornell has placed in the top five at the NCAA championships in six of the last eight seasons and in the top 10 in 12 of the last 14 years (nine straight).
• Big Red wrestling has won 76 consecutive dual meets against unranked teams dating back to the beginning of the 2007-08 season.
• Cornell has won 33 straight meets against New York state opponents.
• The Big Red has claimed a record five consecutive New York State team titles.

ABOUT OHIO STATE:
• Fourth-ranked Ohio State enters the weekend with an 11-2 dual meet record (7-2 Big Ten) and three straight wins.
• Its only losses this season have come to No. 2 Penn State (32-12) and No. 3 Iowa (21-13).
• Head coach Tom Ryan sports a 244-131-1 career record in 22 seasons at Hofstra and Ohio State, including 135-48 guiding the Buckeyes over the last 11 years.
• Ohio State features three top-ranked wrestlers - Nathan Tomasello at 133, Bo Jordan at 174 and Kyle Snyder at 285.
• Both Snyder (2016) and Tomasello (2015 at 125) have won NCAA titles, as has 10th-ranked Myles Martin at 184 (2016 at 174).

THE CORNELL-OHIO STATE SERIES:
• The all-time series is tied 6-6-1 dating back to the first-ever meeting between the programs in 1928-29.
• The Big Red lost that first-ever meeting in Columbus 15-13 on March 2, 1929.
• Cornell has won four of the last six meetings dating back to 2004 with three of those contests being decided by a single team point.
• The Big Red won the last meeting 27-6 in the National Duals on Jan. 8, 2011 in Cedar Falls, Iowa.
• The Buckeyes last earned a win in the series the prior year, a 27-14 win in Cedar Falls.

LAST TIME VS. OHIO STATE:
• The No. 1 Big Red wrestling team opened the National Duals with a dominating 27-6 win over Ohio State on Jan. 8, 2011 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
• Cornell won eight out of 10 weight classes with returning NCAA champion Kyle Dake winning by technical fall at 149 pounds, and Frank Perrelli earning bonus points at 125 with a major decision.
• With a victory at 165 pounds, senior Justin Kerber notched his 100th career win.
• The Big Red never trailed, taking a 4-0 lead out of the gates and eventually 24-3 before splitting the final two matches of the dual.
 
CORNELL AT THE NATIONAL DUALS:
• This is Cornell's 14th appearance in the last 15 years in the NWCA National Duals, with the Big Red winning the event during the 2010-11 season.
• Cornell has made 16 overall appearances in the event with a 29-22 record
• The Big Red has faced Arizona State (0-1); Boise State (0-1); Cal State Bakersfield (1-0); Central Michigan (1-0); Cleveland State (1-0); Drexel (1-0); Hofstra (1-1); Illinois (0-1); Indiana (1-0); Iowa (0-4); Iowa State (2-0); Lehigh (1-0); Maryland (1-0); Michigan (2-1); Michigan State (0-1); Minnesota (2-4); Missouri (2-0); Nebraska (1-0); Northern Iowa (1-0); Northwestern (0-1); Ohio (1-0); Ohio State (3-2); Oklahoma (2-1); Oklahoma State (0-2); Penn State (1-2); Purdue (1-0); Virginia Tech (2-0); Wisconsin (1-0).
• Only the elite programs in the country have won the NWCA National Duals, with Oklahoma State and Minnesota each winning eight, Iowa claiming six, Penn State winning three, and Cornell, Iowa State and Missouri winning one each.
• The Big Red did not qualify in 2015-16, as Lehigh took the EIWA's spot in the new format.
• In the second year of this format, teams from the Big Ten Conference will face off with non-Big Ten teams in a showcase weekend of college wrestling dual meets.
• Last season, eight Big Ten teams hosted events around the country.
• In 2017, the Big Ten will be visiting college campuses in the ACC, Big 12, EIWA, EWL and Southern Conference.

NEXT UP:
• Cornell will attempt to claim an unprecedented 11th consecutive EIWA title when it heads to Bucknell's Sojka Pavilion on March 3-4 in Lewisburg, Pa.