Saturday, March 8
Philadelphia, Pa.
10:00 AM
Lehigh University
at
EIWA Championships
Lehigh heads to Philadelphia for 110th EIWA Championships beginning Saturday
3/5/2014 12:50:00 PM | Men's Wrestling
Lehigh EIWA Championships Notes
BETHLEHEM, Pa. – Lehigh joins the other 17 EIWA member institutions in Philadelphia for the 110th EIWA Championships, hosted by Penn Saturday and Sunday at the famed Palestra. The EIWA is the nation's oldest wrestling conference, with Lehigh being the historically dominant team, having won 203 individual titles and 34 team championships. Lehigh finished fourth last season with three individual champions. The Mountain Hawks are coming off a 10-6 dual meet season and will be looking to win their first team title since 2006, while trying to deny Cornell an eighth straight team title. Also at stake are 47 automatic berths to the NCAA Championships in Oklahoma City.
Five Mountain Hawks are ranked in the latest rankings from The Open Mat, led by sophomore Mason Beckman, who comes in at No. 6 at 133. Lehigh also has six wrestlers ranked by FloWrestling and four by both InterMat and W.I.N. Magazine. The NCAA Announced its third and final Coaches' Panel Rankings last week, seven Mountain Hawks represented in the top 33 at their respective weight classes. In addition to Beckman, senior Joey Napoli and freshmen Mitch Minotti and Elliot Riddick are ranked in all five polls. Beckman is likely to earn the No. 1 seed at 133 while Riddick will be in the mix for the top seed at 174.
Beckman made the most of his deferred eligibility season in 2012-13 posting an impressive 39-4 record competing unattached in open tournaments. Beckman won five open tournament titles last season and placed in three others, including a fourth place finish at the Midlands Championships. Beckman finished the regular season at 20-3, which includes a fifth place finish at the Midlands. He won his first 13 dual matches before dropping a 3-1 decision to Iowa's Tony Ramos last month and went 15-1 in dual meet competition. Beckman finished fourth in the EIWA as a true freshman in 2012.
Napoli is one of the most experienced wrestlers on an otherwise young Lehigh team that also features five sophomores and four freshmen among its EIWA entrants. Napoli enjoyed a breakout junior campaign, winning 18 of his first 20 bouts en route to an EIWA title at 157. Injuries have limited Napoli to just 12 bouts this season but he has managed to go 10-2. Napoli owns a 67-31 career mark and is 28-6 over the last two seasons. A Mechanical Engineering major, Napoli is a two-time NCAA qualifier and a two-time member of the NWCA All-Academic Team.
Minotti became the first Lehigh freshman to win an undergraduate Midlands title, leading a contingent of four Mountain Hawks who placed at the 51st Ken Kraft Midlands Championships in late December. The No. 6 seed at 149, Minotti went 6-0 to claim the title, scoring a late takedown to edge Michigan's Eric Grajales 5-4 in the tiebreakers to claim Lehigh's sixth undergraduate Midlands title overall. Minotti's win vaulted the Easton native into the top 15 in the national rankings. He is now 19-7 on the season. As a team the Mountain Hawks finished in ninth place. Beckman finished fifth at 133, while John Bolich had a strong tournament, placing fourth at 197. Nathaniel Brown competed unattached and finished in third place at 184.
The EIWA received 47 automatic bids to the NCAA Championships when the NCAA announced its qualifier allocations last week. Each qualifying tournament was awarded spots per weight class based on current year data including Division I winning percentage, RPI and a coaches ranking. Under this system, the number of automatic qualifiers varies in each weight class within the EIWA. Wrestlers who fail to qualify this weekend will be eligible for one of 40 at-large berths which will be announced on Wednesday, March 12.
This year the nation's oldest college wrestling conference holds its 110th championships. Lehigh has historically dominated the EIWA's, having won 34 team titles including five straight from 2002-2006. The Mountain Hawks have won at least one individual title in each of the last 14 EIWA tournaments. Lehigh had three champions last year (Randy Cruz, Joey Napoli and Nathaniel Brown) to increase its league-leading number of individual champions to 203. Lehigh qualified five wrestlers for the NCAA Championships last year, and has qualified at least five wrestlers in each of the last 14 EIWA tournaments.
Tournament seeds and brackets will be announced Friday evening.
The 110th EIWA Championships get underway Saturday at 10 a.m. from the Palestra. Saturday's lengthy opening session will feature championship bracket matches completed through the quarterfinals plus three rounds of consolations. Session two, featuring the championship semifinals plus consolation fourth round, consolation semifinals and placement matches (for third, fifth and seventh) will begin at 10 a.m. Sunday. The final session, featuring the championship matches will begin at 4 p.m. Sunday and will be preceded by the EIWA Hall of Fame induction ceremony at 3:45 p.m.
Penn has partnered with FloWrestling to provide streaming video coverage of the entire tournament, while audio of Sunday's finals session will be available in the Lehigh Valley on ESPN Radio 1230 and 1320 as well as online at ESPNLV.com.
Like Lehigh Wrestling on Facebook and follow on Twitter for exclusive updates throughout the season.
BETHLEHEM, Pa. – Lehigh joins the other 17 EIWA member institutions in Philadelphia for the 110th EIWA Championships, hosted by Penn Saturday and Sunday at the famed Palestra. The EIWA is the nation's oldest wrestling conference, with Lehigh being the historically dominant team, having won 203 individual titles and 34 team championships. Lehigh finished fourth last season with three individual champions. The Mountain Hawks are coming off a 10-6 dual meet season and will be looking to win their first team title since 2006, while trying to deny Cornell an eighth straight team title. Also at stake are 47 automatic berths to the NCAA Championships in Oklahoma City.
Five Mountain Hawks are ranked in the latest rankings from The Open Mat, led by sophomore Mason Beckman, who comes in at No. 6 at 133. Lehigh also has six wrestlers ranked by FloWrestling and four by both InterMat and W.I.N. Magazine. The NCAA Announced its third and final Coaches' Panel Rankings last week, seven Mountain Hawks represented in the top 33 at their respective weight classes. In addition to Beckman, senior Joey Napoli and freshmen Mitch Minotti and Elliot Riddick are ranked in all five polls. Beckman is likely to earn the No. 1 seed at 133 while Riddick will be in the mix for the top seed at 174.
Beckman made the most of his deferred eligibility season in 2012-13 posting an impressive 39-4 record competing unattached in open tournaments. Beckman won five open tournament titles last season and placed in three others, including a fourth place finish at the Midlands Championships. Beckman finished the regular season at 20-3, which includes a fifth place finish at the Midlands. He won his first 13 dual matches before dropping a 3-1 decision to Iowa's Tony Ramos last month and went 15-1 in dual meet competition. Beckman finished fourth in the EIWA as a true freshman in 2012.
Napoli is one of the most experienced wrestlers on an otherwise young Lehigh team that also features five sophomores and four freshmen among its EIWA entrants. Napoli enjoyed a breakout junior campaign, winning 18 of his first 20 bouts en route to an EIWA title at 157. Injuries have limited Napoli to just 12 bouts this season but he has managed to go 10-2. Napoli owns a 67-31 career mark and is 28-6 over the last two seasons. A Mechanical Engineering major, Napoli is a two-time NCAA qualifier and a two-time member of the NWCA All-Academic Team.
Minotti became the first Lehigh freshman to win an undergraduate Midlands title, leading a contingent of four Mountain Hawks who placed at the 51st Ken Kraft Midlands Championships in late December. The No. 6 seed at 149, Minotti went 6-0 to claim the title, scoring a late takedown to edge Michigan's Eric Grajales 5-4 in the tiebreakers to claim Lehigh's sixth undergraduate Midlands title overall. Minotti's win vaulted the Easton native into the top 15 in the national rankings. He is now 19-7 on the season. As a team the Mountain Hawks finished in ninth place. Beckman finished fifth at 133, while John Bolich had a strong tournament, placing fourth at 197. Nathaniel Brown competed unattached and finished in third place at 184.
The EIWA received 47 automatic bids to the NCAA Championships when the NCAA announced its qualifier allocations last week. Each qualifying tournament was awarded spots per weight class based on current year data including Division I winning percentage, RPI and a coaches ranking. Under this system, the number of automatic qualifiers varies in each weight class within the EIWA. Wrestlers who fail to qualify this weekend will be eligible for one of 40 at-large berths which will be announced on Wednesday, March 12.
This year the nation's oldest college wrestling conference holds its 110th championships. Lehigh has historically dominated the EIWA's, having won 34 team titles including five straight from 2002-2006. The Mountain Hawks have won at least one individual title in each of the last 14 EIWA tournaments. Lehigh had three champions last year (Randy Cruz, Joey Napoli and Nathaniel Brown) to increase its league-leading number of individual champions to 203. Lehigh qualified five wrestlers for the NCAA Championships last year, and has qualified at least five wrestlers in each of the last 14 EIWA tournaments.
Tournament seeds and brackets will be announced Friday evening.
The 110th EIWA Championships get underway Saturday at 10 a.m. from the Palestra. Saturday's lengthy opening session will feature championship bracket matches completed through the quarterfinals plus three rounds of consolations. Session two, featuring the championship semifinals plus consolation fourth round, consolation semifinals and placement matches (for third, fifth and seventh) will begin at 10 a.m. Sunday. The final session, featuring the championship matches will begin at 4 p.m. Sunday and will be preceded by the EIWA Hall of Fame induction ceremony at 3:45 p.m.
Penn has partnered with FloWrestling to provide streaming video coverage of the entire tournament, while audio of Sunday's finals session will be available in the Lehigh Valley on ESPN Radio 1230 and 1320 as well as online at ESPNLV.com.
| Event: | 110th EIWA Championships |
| Dates: | March 8-9, 2014 |
| March 8 Schedule: | Session 1: Championship first round, second round and quarterfinals plus first three consolation rounds: 10 a.m. |
| March 9 Schedule: | Session 2: Championship semifinals, consolation fourth round, semifinals and finals: 10: a.m. |
| Session 3: Championship finals: 4 p.m. | |
| Location: | Philadelphia, Pa. |
| Arena: | The Palestra (8,700) |
| Lehigh's dual record: | 10-6, 6-2 EIWA |
| History: | Lehigh has won 34 team championships, most of any EIWA school |
| TV: | None |
| Radio: | The finals will air on ESPN Radio 1230 and 1320 on Sunday beginning at 3:45 p.m. with Steve Lomangino |
| Internet Broadcast: | Penn has partnered with FloWrestling to provide streaming video of the entire tournament. Audio of Sunday's finals will be streamed on ESPNLV.com. |
Like Lehigh Wrestling on Facebook and follow on Twitter for exclusive updates throughout the season.
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