Kyle Dake's Monstrous Hit List
Kyle Dake's Monstrous Hit List
Will Kyle Dake make his first World Team at Final X. Before he takes on upstart Zahid Valencia, let's review the greatest hits of his amazing career.
Kyle Dake has been on the precipice of making a world or an Olympic freestyle team an agonizing number of times. Dake was runner-up to Jordan Burroughs in 2013, 2015, and 2017 at 74kg and second place to J'den Cox at 86kg at the 2016 Rio Olympic Team Trials.
Once again in the wrestle-off for a world team spot, this time in his third weight class of 79kg, Dake faces the upstart from Arizona State, Zahid Valencia, at Final X in State College, PA, on Saturday.
Will Dake finally break through and earn the right to represent the red, white, and blue in Budapest, Hungary, this October? We'll find out this weekend. But first, let's take a look at the incredible hit list Kyle Dake has compiled over the course of his amazing career.
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Sifting through Dake's entire college career will no doubt unearth more gems, but just limiting ourselves to his NCAA tournaments, which Dake once four times, yields a trove of collegiate scalps and still manages to get the point across that he is pretty good at wrestling.
In 2010, Dake took out Reece Humphrey of Ohio State in tiebreakers in the semis. Humphrey is a two-time All-American and three-time senior freestyle world team member. In the finals, Dake beat three-time All-American and two-time finalist Montell Marion of Iowa for his first NCAA championship.
In 2011, it was Frank Molinaro of Penn State who Dake bested for his second NCAA title. Molinaro is a four-time All-American, a 2012 NCAA champ, and fifth-place finisher at the Rio Olympics.
Title No. 3 came a year later at the expense of Iowa's Derek St. John, an NCAA champ the year prior and another four-time All-American.
To go 4 for 4, Dake had to go through yet another four-time All-American in the semis in Tyler Caldwell, followed by a showdown with four-time finalist, two-time champ, and two-time Hodge Trophy winner David Taylor. In the college match of the new millennium, it was Dake who prevailed once again.
Dake would transition smoothly onto the freestyle circuit after wrapping up his legendary college career at Cornell. Dake wrestled for a spot on the world or Olympic team in four out of the next five years. His fifth in six years will be this weekend against Valencia.
Injuries kept Dake out of action for most of 2014, but let's take a look at those World and Olympic Team Trials for more evidence of Dake's otherworldly skills.
2013 World Team Trials
Dake took out NCAA champion Trent Paulson 8-1 before once again beating David Taylor 7-4. Then it was a showdown with another NCAA champ in Andrew Howe, who came so close to unseating Jordan Burroughs in the Olympic team trials in 2012. Dake squeaked by Andrew Howe in OT and advanced to the best two-out-of-three wrestle-off with the eventual world team member Burroughs.
Watch Dake's match with Howe at the 2013 WTT:
Though he fell short of his goal of competing in the World Championships, Dake nonetheless notched one of his most impressive wins later that year overseas when he beat three-time world champ and Olympic bronze medalist Denis Tsargush of Russia at the 2013 Gold Grand Prix in Baku, Azerbaijan.
2015 World Team Trials
Injuries kept Dake out of action for the 2014 trials, but he came roaring back in 2015. At the World Team Trials in Madison, WI, Dake once again beat Taylor, this time by the score of 8-2. Then it was another date with Andrew Howe. Things played out similarly to 2013, as Dake would beat Howe, this time 2-1, but then lose to Burroughs in the best two-of-three wrestle-off.
2016 Olympic Team Trials
No stranger to changing weight classes, Dake would move up to 86kg for the 2016 Olympic year. There he would once again fall just short of making the team, although he did rack up a few more bold-faced wins. Taylor—who also moved up a weight class—was beaten 4-3, and Richard Perry, very much a full-sized 86-kilogrammer, was felled by the score of 10-7.
Dake would take the future world and Olympic bronze medalist J'den Cox to the limit, winning one of the best two-out-of-three matches 5-3 but falling short in the series 2-1.
Dake was with the sizable American contingent that trekked to Paris in early 2017. At the Grand Prix of Paris, Dake dispatched three-time NCAA champ Alex Dieringer for the first time, 10-0. Dake beat another NCAA champ, Matt Brown, by the same score at that tournament.
2017 U.S. Open
With Burroughs no longer sitting in the team trials finals, Dake jumped into the U.S. Open to try to earn the spot. He bested Dieringer, this time 3-0; however, Dake was foiled in the finals by Burroughs once more.
2017 World Team Trials
Another team trials brought another victory over Dieringer for Dake. Dieringer continued to close the gap with Dake but lost 2-1 nonetheless. Earlier in the tournament, Dake dispatched two-time NCAA champ and four-time finalist Isaiah Martinez of Illinois to the tune of 9-2.
Then it was another showdown with Burroughs. Dake managed to win the first bout in the best two-out-of-three wrestle-off, but Burroughs would come storming back and make seventh straight world team in Lincoln, Nebraska.
Watch Dake beat Jordan Burroughs, the four-time world champ and 2012 Olympic champ:
2018 World Cup
Dake was part of the World Cup-winning American squad that took home the top prize in Iowa City. At that event, Dake beat two world medalists, Sosuke Takatani of Japan, who won silver in 2014, and Jabrail Hasanov of Azerbaijan. Hasanov also took bronze at the 2010 and 2011 World Championships.
2018 U.S. Open
Dake would qualify for Final X by dint of his U.S. Open title, which he won by beating Josh Asper 10-0 and Dieringer in a 5-5 thriller.
Most recently, Dake showed he is a force to be reckoned with by demolishing the highly credentialed Cuban Livan Lopez at Rumble on the River, the 2018 edition of the annual Beat the Streets events. Lopez has two world bronze medals, a world silver, and an Olympic bronze to his name, all in four consecutive years from 2011 to 2014
Watch Dake's 13-1 victory over Lopez:
Will Dake finally break through and make a senior world team? We will find out together Saturday night. See you there!