Lehigh heads to F&M for EIWA Championships

The 14 EIWA member institutions converge on Franklin & Marshall College for the 104th edition of the EIWA Championships. The EIWA is the nation’s oldest wrestling conference, with Lehigh being the historically dominant team in the conference with 192 individual titles and 34 team championships. The Mountain Hawks saw their run of five straight team titles come to an end with a fourth place finish last year. Cornell captured last year’s team championship and is favored to repeat, with Penn and Navy expected to challenge the Big Red. NCAA Championships.

Lehigh comes in following a 12-14 dual season in which the Mountain Hawks were 6-2 in duals against EIWA opposition. The Mountain Hawks have four wrestlers ranked in the top six in the final pre-tournament EIWA rankings. Sophomore Seth Ciasulli (133), junior Trevor Chinn (149) and senior Dave Nakasone (157) are all ranked second in their respective weight classes. Freshman Alex Caruso is ranked fourth at 174.

Since losing by defensive fall to Michigan’s Josh Churella, Chinn has reeled off wins in 12 of his last 13 bouts to improve to 24-8 on the season. Chinn’s only loss in the New Year came to J.P. O’Connor of Harvard, who is expected to be the top seed at 149 this weekend. Chinn has defeated two ranked wrestlers, Don Fisch of Rider and Cesar Grajales of Penn, in his last four bouts.

Chinn is also one of five Mountain Hawks with prior EIWA tournament experience, as he was the runner-up at 149 as a freshman in 2006. Ciasulli and Nakasone both placed fourth last year, while senior Jeff Santo and sophomore Manuel Schubert both have competed at previous EIWA tournaments. Caruso, sophomores Mike Galante, Alex Iacocca and Justin Allen, and freshman Mitch Berger will be competing in their first EIWA tournament.

Lehigh enters the tournament without a returning champion for the first time since 2002, and will be hoping to crown at least one individual champ for the ninth straight year. The last time the Mountain Hawks failed to win an individual title was back in 1999.

The Mountain Hawks have another streak they will be looking to keep intact. Lehigh wrestlers have captured the last five Sheridan Awards for most falls in the quickest time. Troy Letters won the trophy in both 2003 and 2006. Matt Ciasulli won it as a freshman in 2004, while Jon Trenge captured the award in 2005. Matt Fisk earned last year’s Sheridan Award with two falls in the championship bracket.

Lehigh qualified seven wrestlers for the NCAA Championships last year, and has qualified at least that many in each of the last five EIWA Tournaments.

This year the nation’s oldest college wrestling conference holds its 104th championships. Lehigh has historically dominated the EIWA’s, having won 34 team titles including five straight from 2002-2006 and six of the last eight overall

The 104th EIWA Championships get underway Saturday at 10:30 a.m. from Mayser Center on the campus of Franklin & Marshall College. Day two of the tournament features semifinals and consolations on Sunday morning, with the finals slated for 6:30 p.m. on Sunday night. If Lehigh has wrestlers in the EIWA finals, fans can listen to all of the action live on Lehighsports.com with streaming audio powered by Yahoo! Sports.

Event:	104th EIWA Championships
Dates:	March 8-9, 2008
March 8 Schedule:	Preliminaries Session I: 10:30 a.m - 1:00 p.m.
	Quarter Finals Session II: 1:30 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.
	Consolations: 4:15 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.
March 9 Schedule:	Semi-Finals Session III: 10:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
	Consolations: 12:30 p.m. - 1:30 p.m.
	Place Round: 1:30 p.m. - 3:30 p.m.
	Finals Session IV: 6:30 p.m. - 9:30 p.m.
	Semi-Finals Session III: 10:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
Location:	Lancaster, Pa.
Arena:	Mayser Center (4,000)
Lehigh’s dual record:	12-14, 6-2 EIWA
History:	Lehigh has won 34 team championships, most of any EIWA school
TV/Radio:	none
Internet Broadcast:	Live audio of the EIWA finals on Lehighsports.com
	Live video of entire tournament through F&M Related Links Listen to the Greg Strobel report (Free Podcast) Listen to the EIWA finals Sunday night Official EIWA Championships website Lehigh EIWA Championships notes

Completed Event: Men's Wrestling at NCAA Championships on March 21, 2026 , , 16th, 26.5 pts.

Completed Event: Men's Wrestling at NCAA Championships on March 21, 2026 , , 16th, 26.5 ptts.

Completed Event: Men's Wrestling at NCAA Championships on March 20, 2026 , , 16th, 22 pts.

Completed Event: Men's Wrestling at NCAA Championships on March 20, 2026 , , 12th, 22 pts.

Completed Event: Men's Wrestling at NCAA Championships on March 19, 2026 , , 12th, 13 pts.

Completed Event: Men's Wrestling at NCAA Championships on March 19, 2026 , , 11th, 8.5 pts.

Completed Event: Men's Wrestling at EIWA Championships on March 7, 2026 , , 1st, 163.5 pts.

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