Yianni Diakomihalis

Yianni Diakomihalis (born John Michael Diakomihalis; April 11, 1999) is an American freestyle and folkstyle wrestler. In freestyle, he is the reigning Pan American champion and a two-time youth level World Champion. As a folkstyle wrestler, Diakomihalis is a two-time NCAA Division I champion out of Cornell University and four-time New York state champion as a high schooler. As of May 16, 2020, he is ranked #2 in the NCAA pound for pound rankings and is the top-ranked wrestler at the 141-pounds rankings.[1][2]

Yianni Diakomihalis
Personal information
Full nameJohn Michael Diakomihalis
National team American
EthnicityGreek
Born (1999-04-01) April 1, 1999
New York, New York, United States
ResidenceRochester, New York
Height1.68 m (5 ft 6 in)
Weight141 lb (64 kg)
Sport
CountryUnited States
SportWrestling
Event(s)Freestyle and folkstyle
College teamCornell Big Red
ClubFinger Lakes Wrestling Club
Coached byRob Koll
Mike Grey
Medal record
Men's freestyle wrestling
Representing  United States
Pan American Championships
2020 Ottawa65 kg
Cadet World Championships
2015 Sarajevo65 kg
2016 Tbilisi65 kg
Collegiate Wrestling
Representing the Cornell Big Red
NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships
2018 Cleveland141 lb
2019 Pittsburgh141 lb
Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association
2018 Hempstead 141 lb
2019 Vestal141 lb

High School

Diakomihalis attended Hilton High School in Hilton, New York along with his brother Greg, who's a five-time NYSPHSAA champion.[3] He made the varsity team in eighth grade (2013) and won the Division I state championship that same year at 99 pounds, defeating future Cornell teammate Vito Arujau in the finals. As a freshman, he also won the state title now at 113 pounds and that was repeated at 120 pounds as a sophomore.[4] As a junior, he became one of the eight four-time NYSPHSAA champions in the history of the New York when he walked through the competition at 138 pounds.[5] As a senior, he found himself unable to compete at the state championships after he suffered an injury that led him out of the tournament. He graduated in 2017 as a four-time NYSPHSAA champion with a 243-3 record on a win streak of 210 matches.[6]

University

As a high school sophomore (2014), Diakomihalis committed to Cornell University.[7] He has competed at 141 pounds in both of the seasons he competed on.

2017-2018

During regular season, he won the Bearcat Open, New York State Intercollegiate, and the Cliff Keen Invitational and compiled a record of 28-1.[8] Post-regular-season, he won the EIWA championships and later went on to win the NCAA championship, joining Kyle Dake as the only Big Reds to do so in their true freshman year of competition and earning notable victories over top-ranked Bryce Meredith, #2 Jaydin Eierman, #8 Dean Heil and #11 Tyler Smith.[9][10]

2018-2019

During regular season, he won the Mat Town Open I and the South Beach Individual and capped a perfect 13-0 record in dual matches, ending the regular season unbeaten.[11] He went on to win his second EIWA championship and earned the Outstanding Wrestler award in the process.[12] At the NCAA championships, he most notably defeated the #2, #3 and #5 ranked wrestlers in Jaydin Eierman, Joseph McKenna and Dominick Demas to claim the National title.[13] Post-season, Diakomihalis was named EIWA Top Wrestler and was the finalist for the Dan Hodge Trophy.[14]

2019-2020

Did not compete as he took an Olympic redshirt year.[15]

2020-2021

Diakomihalis will compete in this season and was added to the rankings, in where he's ranked #2 pound for pound and #1 at 141-pounds.[16][1][2]

Freestyle

Youth level

Diakomihalis is an accomplished cadet freestyle wrestler, he is a two-time World champion and two-time UWW National champion.[17][18] As a junior, he placed third at the 2016 UWW Nationals.[19]

Senior level

2019

After opting for the Olympic redshirt, Diakomihalis attended his first senior level tournament in the US Open. He went 6-0 (three technical falls) with notable wins over Frank Molinaro, Jordan Oliver and Zain Retherford at the finals.[20]

Not long after, he competed in an exhibition match against three-time World medalist Bajrang Punia. He won the match on points (10-8).[21]

After he won the US Open championship, Diakomihalis sat out of the World Team Trials Challenge and earned himself a spot on Final X: Rutgers to face Zain Retherford.[22] In the first match, he was beaten 4-10 and the second match ended with a lot on controversy; Retherford was down 4-6 when he got a takedown for two points, Diakomihalis ended up earning two more to apparently win the match 8-6, however, there were problems with the scoring and that led to the match being scored 6-6 with an advantage to Retherford, winning the match and the Final X series.[23][24]

A month later, Diakomihalis competed at the prestigious Yasar Dogu Grand Prix. He defeated four opponents such as his Final X opponent Zain Retherford, Ali Rahimzade and Ismail Musukaev to claim the championship.[25]

Two weeks later he went on to compete in the Waclaw Ziolkowski Memorial at Warsaw, Poland. He defeated four opponents (two technical falls) including Ismail Musukaev (by forfeit) to claim the championship.[26]

Due to Final X' controversy, a rematch between Zain Retherford and Diakomihalis took place in a special event called Final X: Yianni vs. Zain. He lost the bout on points, losing his chance to represent the United States at the World Championships.[23]

On December, he competed at the US Nationals. He defeated three opponents before getting heavily upset by Joseph McKenna in the semifinals. He advanced to the finals of the consolation brackets but forfeited his final match.[27]

2020

In his first tournament of the year, Diakomihalis competed at the Pan American Championships. He defeated four opponents including Agustín Destribats and NCAA Division II champion Jose Rodriguez to claim the championship.[28]

Diakomihalis was scheduled to compete at the US Olympic Team Trials on April 4-5 at State College, Pennsylvania.[27] However, the event and the Olympics were postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, leaving him and all the qualifiers unable to compete.[29]

Freestyle record
Senior Freestyle Matches
Res. Record Opponent Score Date Event Location
2020 Pan American Championship at 65 kg
Win 22-4 Mauricio Sanchez 4-0 March 6-9, 2020 2020 Pan American Wrestling Championships

Ottawa, Canada

Win 21-4 Agustin Destribats 7-4
Win 20-4 Jose Rodriguez 9-2
Win 19-4 Luis Orta Fall
2019 US Nationals 4th at 65 kg
Win 18-4 Bryce Meredith TF 10-0 December 20-22, 2019 2019 U.S Senior National Championships

Las Vegas, Nevada, United States

Loss 17-4 Joseph McKenna 5-5
Win 17-3 Ben Whitford 11-3
Win 16-3 Nick Dardanes TF 10-0
Win 15-3 Mario Mason TF 10-0
2019 Final X: Yianni vs Zain at 65 kg
Loss 14-3 Zain Retherford 1-2 September 2, 2019 2019 Final X Wrestle-Off: Yianni vs Zain

Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania

2019 Waclaw Ziolkowski Memorial at 65 kg
Win 14-2 Gor Ogannesyan 9-8 August 2-4, 2019 2019 Ziolkowski, Pytlasinski, Poland Open

Warsaw, Poland

Win 13-2 Sayatbek Okasov TF 11-0
Win 12-2 Shaohua Yuan TF 10-0
2019 Grand Prix Yaşar Doğu at 65 kg
Win 11-2 Haji Mohamad Ali Fall July 11-14, 2019 2019 Grand Prix Yaşar Doğu

Istanbul, Turkey

Win 10-2 Ismail Musukaev 9-9
Win 9-2 Ali Rahimzade TF 13-2
Win 8-2 Zain Retherford 9-5
2019 US World Team Trials at 65 kg
Loss 7-2 Zain Retherford 6-6 June 7-8, 2019 2019 Final X: Rutgers

New Brunswick, New Jersey, United States

Loss 7-1 Zain Retherford 4-10
2019 Beat The Streets at 65 kg
Win 7-0 Bajrang Punia 10-8 May 6, 2019 2019 Beat The Streets: Grapple at the Garden

New York City, New York

2019 US Open at 65 kg
Win 6-0 Zain Retherford 6-4 April 24-27, 2019 2019 U.S Open Wrestling Championships

Las Vegas, Nevada, United States

Win 5-0 Jordan Oliver TF 16-5
Win 4-0 Frank Molinaro 10-3
Win 3-0 Nick Dardanes TF 10-0
Win 2-0 Chase Farr TF 14-4
Win 1-0 Corey Shie 7-4

Youth freestyle record

Junior level
Junior freestyle results
Res. Record Opponent Score Date Event Location
2016 US Nationals at 60 kg
Win 11-1 Jaydin Eierman TF 19-8 April 27-30, 2016 2016 UWW Junior US National Wrestling Championships

Las Vegas, Nevada

Yes 10-1 Joshua Terao TF 10-0
Yes 9-1 Kaden Gfeller Fall
Win 8-1 Benjamin Lamantia TF 11-0
Win 7-1 Parker Nein TF 11-0
Loss 6-1 Jaydin Eierman 11-12
Win 6-0 Michael McDaniel TF 10-0
2015 Phil Portuese NE Regional at 132 lb
Win 5-0 Jonathan Gabriel TF 10-0 May 1-3, 2015 2015 Phil Portuese NE Regional

East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania

Win 4-0 Jacob Wasser TF 10-0
Win 3-0 Zack Trampe TF 11-0
Win 2-0 Alex Joya TF 11-0
Win 1-0 Ezekiel Beatty TF 12-1

Cadet level
Cadet freestyle results
Res. Record Opponent Score Date Event Location
2016 World Championship at 63 kg
Win 35-1 Stefan Tonu 8-4 September 13-18, 2016 2016 Cadet World Wrestling Championships

Tbilisi, Georgia

Win 34-! Jintaro Motoyama 9-3
Win 33-1 Ulan Tolegen TF 10-0
Win 32-1 Daniel Markarashvili TF 10-0
Win 31-1 Tobias Portmann TF 15-3
2016 US Nationals at 63 kg
Win 30-1 Jaime Hernandez TF 10-0 June 2-5, 2016 2016 UWW Cadet US National Wrestling Championships

Akron, Ohio

Yes 29-1 Jaime Hernandez 9-0
Yes 28-1 Will Lewan 9-0
Win 27-1 Nikolas Chavez TF 11-0
Win 26-1 Tyler Shilson TF 10-0
Win 25-1 P.J. Gohn TF 10-0
Win 24-1 Cal Hansen TF 10-0
2015 World Championship at 58 kg
Win 23-1 Jintaro Motoyama 8-4 August 25-30, 2015 2015 Cadet World Wrestling Championships

Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina

Win 22-1 Soslan Guchakov 10-5
Win 21-1 Dmytro Mykhniuk TF 10-0
Win 20-1 Fazil Hasanov 4-0
Win 19-1 Maksat Talkambaev TF 10-0
2015 US Nationals at 58 kg
Win 18-1 Vito Arujau 8-4 June 28-31, 2015 2015 UWW Cadet US National Wrestling Championships

Akron, Ohio

Yes 17-1 Vito Arujau Fall
Yes 16-1 Ben Freeman 11-5
Win 15-1 Alex Lloyd TF 12-0
Win 14-1 Jason Kraisser TF 10-0
Win 13-1 Seth Schroeck TF 10-0
Win 12-1 Tariq Wilson TF 10-0
2014 USAW Nationals at 120 lb
Loss 11-1 Dylan Duncan 4-12 July 23-25, 2014 2014 USMC Fargo Junior National Championships

Fargo, North Dakota

Yes 11-0 Coltan Williams Fall
Yes 10-0 Garrett Lambert TF 10-0
Win 9-0 Travis Piotrowski 16-8
Win 8-0 Caleb Call TF 10-0
Win 7-0 Requir Vandermerwe 5-4
Win 6-0 Taylor Brown TF 11-0
2014 Phil Portuese NE Regional at 120 lb
Win 5-0 Tim Kane TF 17-6 May 2-4, 2014 2014 Phil Portuese NE Regional

East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania

Win 4-0 Andrew Merola TF 10-0
Win 3-0 Zack Zeamer TF 10-0
Win 2-0 Marshall Keller TF 12-2
Win 1-0 Jose Christopher Morales TF 16-6

NCAA record
NCAA Championships Matches
Res. Record Opponent Score Date Event
2019 NCAA Championships at 141 lbs
Win 10-0 Joey McKenna SV-1 6-4 March 21-23, 2019 2019 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships
Win 9-0 Jaydin Eierman 6-5
Win 8-0 Dom Demas 5-1
Win 7-0 Chad Red 7-3
Win 6-0 Pete Lipari 10-5
2018 NCAA Championships at 141 lbs
Win 5-0 Bryce Meredith 7-4 March 15-17, 2018 2018 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships
Win 4-0 Jaydin Eierman SV-1 6-4
Win 3-0 Dean Heil 6-5
Win 2-0 Nick Gil MD 13-4
Win 1–0 Nick Zanetta MD 10-1

Stats
Season Year School Rank Weigh Class Record Win Bonus
2019 Sophomore Cornell University #1 (1st) 141 29-0 100.00% 58.62%
2018 Freshman #3 (1st) 37-1 97.37% 68.42%
Career 66-1 98.51% 64.18%

Awards and honors
2020
2019
2018

References
  1. "P4P". www.flowrestling.org. Retrieved 2020-05-18.
  2. "141". www.flowrestling.org. Retrieved 2020-05-18.
  3. Johnson, James. "Hilton's Greg Diakomihalis sets Section V record with fifth state wrestling title". Rochester Democrat and Chronicle. Retrieved 2020-05-19.
  4. Johnson, James. "Diakomihalis leads trio of champions". Rochester Democrat and Chronicle. Retrieved 2020-05-19.
  5. BV (2016-03-03). "#4 & #1: Yianni & Greg Diakomihalis Both Win NYS Titles for State Champion Hilton". New York Wrestling News. Retrieved 2020-05-19.
  6. Johnson, James. "Yianni Diakomihalis' high school wrestling career is over". Rochester Democrat and Chronicle. Retrieved 2020-05-19.
  7. "Hilton's Yianni Diakomihalis commits to Cornell". USA TODAY High School Sports. 2014-11-11. Retrieved 2020-05-19.
  8. "Yianni Diakomihalis - 2020-21 - Wrestling". Cornell University Athletics. Retrieved 2020-05-19.
  9. "Three Crowned EIWA Champs, Big Red Takes Second Overall". Cornell University Athletics. Retrieved 2020-05-19.
  10. Lipari, Andy. "Hilton grad Yianni Diakomihalis wins NCAA Division I wrestling championship for Cornell". Rochester Democrat and Chronicle. Retrieved 2020-05-19.
  11. LLC, ACS. "Yianni Diakomihalis (Cornell) Profile". www.wrestlestat.com. Retrieved 2020-05-19.
  12. Smith, Earl (2019-03-10). "2019 EIWA Championships Final Results & Automatic Qualifiers". The Open Mat. Retrieved 2020-05-19.
  13. "NCAA wrestling championships: Penn State wins 2019 national title | NCAA.com". www.ncaa.com. Retrieved 2020-05-19.
  14. "Diakomihalis Unanimously Repeats as EIWA Top Wrestler". Cornell University Athletics. Retrieved 2020-05-19.
  15. "College wrestling: The 2020 Olympic redshirt factor, broken down | NCAA.com". www.ncaa.com. Retrieved 2020-05-19.
  16. "Yianni Diakomihalis Will Wrestle For Cornell Next Season". www.flowrestling.org. Retrieved 2020-05-19.
  17. "UPDATE: Diakomihalis wins gold, Webster wins bronze in freestyle at UWW Cadet Worlds". Retrieved May 19, 2020.
  18. "Diakomihalis, Steveson make USA Wrestling history; Americans finish second at Cadet World Championships". Retrieved May 19, 2020.
  19. www.usawmembership.com https://www.usawmembership.com/senior_national_teams/2019?bio=1911. Retrieved 2020-05-19. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  20. "Diakomihalis Wins US Open, Honis Earns Second". Cornell University Athletics. Retrieved 2020-05-19.
  21. "2019 Beat the Streets Grapple at the Garden Results". Retrieved May 19, 2020.
  22. "Final X: Rutgers men's freestyle championship series preview". Retrieved May 19, 2020.
  23. "Zain Retherford Beats Yianni Diakomihalis in Wrestleoff, Makes 2019 World Team". Roar Lions Roar. 2019-09-03. Retrieved 2020-05-19.
  24. Smith, Earl (2019-08-15). "Arbitrator Rules in Yianni/Zain Controversy". The Open Mat. Retrieved 2020-05-19.
  25. "Dieringer and Diakomihalis earn titles at Yasar Dogu, bringing total gold medal count to three". Retrieved May 19, 2020.
  26. "Diakomihalis claims gold in thrilling finals match at Ziolkowski Memorial". Retrieved May 19, 2020.
  27. "Wrestling's Diakomihalis and Arujau Qualify for Olympic Team Trials". Cornell University Athletics. Retrieved 2020-05-19.
  28. "Men's freestyle wins six gold medals and team title on last day of Pan Am Championships in Canada". Retrieved May 19, 2020.
  29. Scott, Roxanna. "USA Wrestling postpones Olympic trials due to coronavirus concerns". USA TODAY. Retrieved 2020-05-19.
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