By Betsy Veysman

Every time Kyle Dake has moved up, he's won a championship.

After an NCAA title at Cornell as a true freshman back in 2010, Dake went up one weight class each of the next three seasons and the result was always the same - an NCAA title.
Now, it's time for Dake to do it again.

On Friday, Dake told New York Wrestling News that he will test the waters at 86 kg when he travels to the Intercontinental Cup in Khasavjurt, Russia for the mid October tournament.

"Kyle wants to take the opportunity to wrestle an international event at the higher weight," said his business manager Nick Garone. "He's looking forward to competing in that class as he makes a decision of whether to go up permanently or stay at 74 kg for the Olympic trials next year."

Dake has wrestled his freestyle career thus far at 74 kg, where won the Cerro Pelado International in 2014 and was twice the runner up at the United States World Team Trials. That includes a second place finish in 2015, where Dake made his return after overcoming a number of significant injuries that kept him off the mat for nearly a year and a half.
While it will be his first time competing at 86 kg, Dake got a chance to see that class up close and personal at the recent World Championships in Las Vegas as he served as the training partner to Team USA's Jake Herbert.

"It wasn't until after the World Championships that I thought about bumping up," Dake said. "I've wrestled with a ton of 86 kg guys in the past and feel very comfortable competing against them."

After he makes his debut in the new class in Russia, Dake also plans on wrestling at the Olympic Team Trials Qualifier in December leading up to his run at a spot on Team USA.
"I'm really excited to compete again," Dake said. "I haven't been on the mat for a long time and want to get as much experience in as I can before I win a gold medal in Rio."

Kyle Dake gave "a huge shoutout to my sponsors Milwaukee Tool, X-Athletic, FlipsWrestling and Finger Lakes Wrestling Club for making everything possible."