PRINCETON, N.J. -- 2018-19 Ivy League wrestling champion Cornell swept Wrestler and Rookie of the Year honors and split Coach of the Year with the team that finished second, Princeton, after a vote by the League’s coaches.
Big Red sophomore
Yianni Diakomihalis was unanimously voted Wrestler of the Year, while his teammate freshman
Vitali Arujau was tabbed Rookie of the Year. Cornell head coach
Rob Koll and Princeton head coach
Chris Ayres shared Coach of the Year honors.
Diakomihalis is the first-ever Ivy to earn Wrestler of the Year after being named Rookie and Wrestler of the Year the previous season. He is the 19
th Big Red to receive the award and the fourth to do so in back-to-back seasons, joining
Mark Fergeson (1992, 93),
Mack Lewnes (2009, 10) and
Cam Simaz (2011, 12). Diakomihalis, the defending national champion at 141 pounds, also received unanimous first-team All-Ivy honors at 141 for the second-straight season.
Arujau is the 17
th Big Red to be named Rookie of the Year and the third in the past four seasons. He gives Cornell back-to-back such honors for the first time since
Nahshon Garrett and
Gabe Dean received the award in consecutive seasons in 2013 and 2014, respectively. Arujau, who was also unanimously selected to the first team at 125, went 5-0 in Ivy action this season and clinched a berth to his first-ever NCAA Championships after finishing second at EIWAs.
Koll and Ayres share Coach of the Year for the third time in the past four seasons, and the first since 2017. Koll has received the award each of the five years since it was implemented in 2015. The ninth-ranked Big Red won the Ivy League title for the 17
th-straight season and finished second at EIWAs. Ayres led Princeton to a No. 19 ranking as well as second-place in the Ivy League standings and a third-place showing at the EIWA championships.
A total of 21 All-Ivy recipients are freshmen, sophomores or juniors, so the future is bright for Ivy League wrestling. For Cornell, Arujau and Diakomihalis were joined on the first team by junior
Chas Tucker at 133, junior
Brandon Womack at 174, sophomore
Max Dean at 184, senior
Ben Honis at 197 and senior
Jeramy Sweany at heavyweight. Princeton, meanwhile, saw junior
Matthew Kolodzik (149) and freshman
Quincy Monday (157) each earn unanimous first team honors. Brown also placed two on the first team in senior
Jon Viruet at 165 and senior
Ian Butterbrodt at heavyweight.
Penn received five All-Ivy accolades, highlighted by freshmen
Anthony Artalona (149) and
Ben Goldin (heavyweight) on the second team, while Columbia received three All-Ivy accolades, including second team honors for freshman
Matt Kazimir (133) and junior
Laurence Kosoy (165). Harvard sophomore
Lukus Stricker was selected honorable mention at 133 pounds to represent the Crimson.
WRESTLER OF THE YEAR
*Yianni Diakomihalis, Cornell (So., 141 – Rochester, N.Y.)
ROOKIE OF THE YEAR
Vitali Arujau, Cornell (Fr., 125 – Syossett, N.Y.)
CO-COACHES OF THE YEAR
Rob Koll, Cornell
Chris Ayres, Princeton
FIRST-TEAM ALL-IVY^
125 – *Vitali Arujau, Cornell (Fr., 125 – Syossett, N.Y.)
133 – *Chas Tucker, Cornell (Jr., 133 – Worcester, Mass.)
141 – *Yianni Diakomihalis, Cornell (So., 141 – Rochester, N.Y.)
149 – *Matthew Kolodzik, Princeton (Jr., 149 – Bellbrook, Ohio)
157 – *Quincy Monday, Princeton (Fr., 157 – Chapel Hill, N.C.)
165 – *Jon Viruet, Brown (Sr., 165 – Springfield, Mass.)
174 – *Brandon Womack, Cornell (Jr., 174 – Scottsboro, Ala.)
184 – *Max Dean, Cornell (So., 184 – Lowell, Mich.)
197 – *Ben Honis, Cornell (Sr., 197 – Syracuse, N.Y.)
HWT – Ian Butterbrodt, Brown (Sr., HWT – North Andover, Mass.)
Jeramy Sweany, Cornell (Sr., HWT – Vacaville, Calif.)
SECOND-TEAM ALL-IVY
125 – Pat Glory, Princeton (Fr., 125 – Randolph, N.J.)
133 – Matt Kazimir, Columbia (Fr., 133 – Auburn Township, Ohio)
141 – Marshall Keller, Princeton (Fr., 141 – Christianburg, Va.)
149 – Anthony Artalona, Penn (Fr., 149 – Seffner, Fla.)
157 – Adam Santoro, Cornell (Jr., 157 – Valhalla, N.Y.)
165 – Laurence Kosoy, Columbia (Jr., 165 – Boca Raton, Fla.)
174 – Travis Stefanik, Princeton (Fr., 174 – Nazareth, Pa.)
184 – CJ Lafragola, Brown (Sr., 184 – Little Egg Harbor, N.J.)
197 – Patrick Brucki, Princeton (So., 197 – Orland Park, Ill.)
HWT – Ben Goldin, Penn (Fr., HWT – Orlando, Fla.)
HONORABLE MENTION
125 – Carmen Ferrante, Penn (Fr., 125 – Newton, N.J.)
133 – Lukus Stricker, Harvard (So., 133 – Rootstown, Ohio)
Doug Zapf, Penn (Fr., 133 – Downingtown, Pa.)
141 – A.J. Vindici, Penn (Sr., 141 – Randolph, N.J.)
149 – Jon Furnas, Cornell (Sr., 149 – Powell, Ohio)
157 – Christian LaBrie, Brown (Sr., 157 – Exeter, R.I.)
165 – Andrew Berreyesa, Cornell (Fr., 165 – Reno, Nev.)
174 – Max Elling, Columbia (Sr., 174 – Bloomsbury, N.J.)
184 – Kevin Parker, Princeton (Jr., 184 – Clifton Park, N.Y.)
197 – Tucker Ziegler, Brown (Sr., 197 – Myersville, Md.)
*-unanimous selection
^-first team expanded due to ties in the voting