Kyle Dake

Kyle Douglas Dake (born February 25, 1991) is an American freestyle wrestler and graduated folkstyle wrestler who currently competes at 74 kilograms.

In Greco-Roman, he was a three-time FILA US National finalist, winning the championship in 2008, as well as the US World Team Trials.

He placed fourteenth at the 2008 Greco-Roman Junior World Championships.

Between 2010 and 2013, he became only the third wrestler to win four NCAA Division I Wrestling titles.

Among four-time champions, Dake is the first wrestler to win each title in four different weight classes, and the only one to not redshirt a season during his college career.

Following his senior season, WIN magazine awarded Dake the Dan Hodge Trophy as the most outstanding college wrestler and the Wade Schalles Award for best collegiate pinner.

In the age-group, Dake focused more in the Greco-Roman discipline, but in freestyle, he was a two–time FILA US National All-American and a Fargo All-American.

Dake made his senior freestyle debut in April 2011, at the age of 20, when he became the US university national runner-up to 2010 US national champion Andrew Howe.

In June, he competed at the US World Team Trials, where he posted wins over J.P O'Connor and Tyler Caldwell, going 3–2 overall.

In April 2012, Dake, then a three–time NCAA champion, attempted to become the US Olympic team member at 74 kilos, but was unable to as he was defeated by Trent Paulson in the semifinals.

Overall, he had wins over David Taylor (pin), and Nick Marable (twice) to place third.

After graduation, Dake competed at the 2013 US World Team Trials in an attempt of representing the US at the 2013 World Championships, but after defeating Trent Paulson, David Taylor, and Andrew Howe, he was unable to win the best-of-three finale, falling to the defending Olympic and World Champion Jordan Burroughs, who would go on to again claim the World Championship.

Competing at the Heydar Aliyev Golden Grand Prix in Azerbaijan, Dake severely injured his hand, but still topped two-time World Champion from Russia Denis Tsargush, before losing twice to place fifth.

Due to his injury, Dake was unable to continue competing for the rest of 2013, and only came back in February 2014 at his championship performance from the Granma Cup, but after more injuries and infections, he sat out until November 2014, where he won a single match.

During 2015, he competed at the US World Team Trials after winning the Northeastern Regionals, and was able to advance to the best–of–three finals.

Dake was once again defeated twice in a row by Jordan Burroughs, who would go on to claim his third World Championship.

Dake then did not compete until December, when he moved up to 86 kilograms for the US Nationals, placing first after beating David Taylor, Jon Reader, Keith Gavin and Tyrel Todd.

In 2016, his appearances were also scarce, as he only competed at the Alexander Medved Open, placing ninth, and at the US Olympic Team Trials.

At the trials, Dake defeated Richard Perry and David Taylor to advance to the best-of-three finals.

Facing J'den Cox, Dake was defeated in the first match, and after coming back to win the second match, he was defeated again in the third match, placing second at the US Olympic Team Trials.

In 2017, Dake moved back down to 74 kilograms, and claimed the Grand Prix of Paris in January after defeating Alex Dieringer in the finals.

At the US Open in April, Dake once again defeated Dieringer in the semifinals, but lost to Jordan Burroughs on criteria and placed second.

At the US World Team Trials, Dake defeated two-time NCAA champion Isaiah Martinez and three-time NCAA champion Alex Dieringer to make the best-of-three finals.

Facing Jordan Burroughs, Dake took the first match on criteria, but lost twice in a row by decision, seemingly having ended the rivalry 1–7 in favor of Burroughs.

He competed one more time in December, when he moved up to 79 kilograms and helped Team USA reach second place at the Clubs World Cup with six technical falls.

In his first event of the year, Dake competed at the Golden Grand Prix Ivan Yarygin.

After defeating Alan Zaseev and Rashid Kurbanov, he was defeated by Akhmed Gadzhimagomedov, claiming the silver medal.

However, he came back to the top of the podium at the World Cup, where he was able to beat Sosuke Takatani and Tariel Gaprindashvili, before defeating Jabrayil Hasanov en route to a team title.

Later in the month, Dake claimed his second US national title, defeating Alex Dieringer in the finale.

After defeating Liván López at Beat the Streets, Dake made his first US World Team at Final X: State College, when he defeated Zahid Valencia twice in a row.

To warm up, Dake claimed the Yasar Dogu International when he defeated Jabrayil Hasanov, Ayhan Sucu, and Ibrahim Yusubov.

In October, Dake competed at the World Championships for the first time in his career, at age 27.

He won every match via technical fall without giving up a point up until the finals, defeating Martin Obst, Davit Khutsishvili and avenging his only loss at the weight class to Akhmed Gadzhimagomedov.

In the finale, Dake once again defeated Jabrayil Hasanov, on points, to comfortably claim his first World Championship.

Dake is a four-time and the reigning World Champion, winning back-to-back titles twice, at 79 kilos in 2018 and 2019 and 74 kilos in 2021 and 2022.

He claimed a bronze medal at the 2020 Summer Olympics (competing for the first time at 74 kilos) held in Tokyo.

During his first World Championship tournament, Dake outscored his opposition 37 points to zero, not surrendering a single point.

In college, he became the third four-time NCAA Division I National Champion in history, and the only one to ever do so in four different weight classes, and without a redshirt season.

He was named the Dan Hodge Trophy winner and Schalles Award winner as a senior and he also claimed three EIWA titles, competing out of Cornell University.

Kyle Dake competed for the wrestling team at Cornell University.