Randy Cruz wins second EIWA title to lead Lehigh to second place finish

Saturday, March 7

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Lehigh University

EIWA Championships

Randy Cruz wins second EIWA title to lead Lehigh to second place finish

3/7/2015 10:11:00 PM | Men's Wrestling

Final Brackets | Team Scores | Friday recap

BETHLEHEM, Pa. – Sophomore Randy Cruz won the EIWA title at 141 pounds to lead the Lehigh wrestling team on the final day of the 111th EIWA Championships Saturday at Stabler Arena. Cruz won a 6-1 decision over Princeton's Jordan Laster in the finals to win Lehigh's 205th individual title and become its 57th multi-time EIWA Champion.

The Mountain Hawks began the day in contention for the team title just five points behind Cornell. Lehigh placed four wrestlers in the finals and had four others wrestling for third but a rough finals session left the Mountain Hawks in second place with 145 points, while Cornell distanced itself with 176 to claim its ninth straight team title.

"It was a good tournament," Lehigh head coach Pat Santoro said. "I wouldn't call what happened tonight falling apart. The deeper you get into a tournament, the better kids you wrestle. Everyone wrestled really well. We fought hard. We're obviously disappointed we didn't have more champions, but this is all practice for the NCAA Tournament and that's what we're all pointing to. Overall I'm proud of the way we wrestled."

Along the way Lehigh automatically qualified seven wrestlers for the NCAA Championships.

(3/7/2015) Wrestling EIWA day two 3/7/15

Cruz, the No. 3 seed at 141, advanced to the finals by avenging an early season loss to Jamel Hudson of Hofstra with an 11-4 win in the semifinals. Leading 5-4 early in the third period, Cruz locked up a cradle on the edge for a takedown, and after a restart used another cradle for a three-point near fall to generate some cushion.

In his finals match, Cruz scored takedowns in the first and third periods and added a third period escape plus a 3:05 riding time advantage, while only conceding a third period penalty point for stalling. Cruz won an EIWA title as a freshman at 133.

"Randy started moving his feet and when he moves his feet he's really dangerous," Santoro said. "He can take people down and that's what he started doing this weekend. Randy loves the postseason and he did a great job."

Lehigh's three other finalists came up short in their bids for EIWA titles.

Junior Mason Beckman wrestled a strong match against Drexel's Kevin Devoy at 133 but riding time was the difference as Devoy prevailed 7-7 on ten seconds of riding time in the second tiebreaker period. Devoy struck first in the rematch from last year's finals, turning Beckman for three points early in the second period. Beckman escaped and scored takedowns in the second and third periods to go up 5-4 before Devoy tied things up with an escape. In overtime, Beckman came close to a takedown near the edge on several occasions but never established full control. The wrestlers traded escapes in both tiebreaker periods with Devoy earning the win on riding time.

"Mason was unbelievable," Santoro said. "He gave up three back points but after that he really wrestled a great match. I'm proud of the way he wrestled. If he keeps wrestling like this he can do some damage in two weeks."

Beckman advanced to the finals with a 2-1 win over rival Mark Grey of Cornell after riding out Grey in the third period to overcome a locked hands penalty point.

After Saturday's final session, Beckman was awarded the Sheridan Trophy for most falls in the fastest time in the championship bracket after securing two in 4:37 on Friday.

Senior Santiago Martinez made a strong run to the finals at 174 but came up on the short end of a 3-1 score in sudden victory against Navy's Jadaen Bernstein. An apparent Bernstein takedown late in regulation was waved off but the Navy freshman secured the winner after thwarting a Martinez counter attempt with 19 seconds left in sudden victory.

Martinez reached the finals and clinched a NCAA berth with a win by injury default over Army's Brian Harvey in 33 seconds. Martinez led 2-0 and was looking to turn Harvey when the Black Knight suffered an injury and was forced to default.

The Mountain Hawks' fourth finalist was junior Nathaniel Brown. After advancing to the finals with a 7-3 win over Bucknell's Thomas Sleigh, Brown was hoping the third time would be the charm against Cornell's Gabe Dean in a battle of top five grapplers at 184. Brown had the two best early shots but could not convert while Dean scored a double on the edge in front of the Lehigh corner to lead 2-0 after one period. Dean went on to win 8-2 and also won the Coaches' Trophy as the tournament's outstanding wrestler.

Four Mountain Hawks finished in fourth place with three of those wrestlers earning bids to St. Louis.

Sophomore Mitch Minotti bounced back from a quarterfinal loss on Friday with a pair of 3-1 decisions at 157. After reaching the third place match, Minotti medically forfeited to fourth place.

Also medically forfeiting to fourth place was sophomore Elliot Riddick, who punched a ticket to the NCAA tournament with a 3-2 win over Army's Bryce Barnes in the consolation semifinals at 197. Riddick was involved in the key semifinal match that seemed to swing momentum back to Cornell. In the semifinals, the third-seeded Riddick met No. 2 Jace Bennett of Cornell. Riddick opened the scoring with a second period takedown after choosing neutral but Bennett pulled even with escapes in the second and third periods. The bout was 2-2 in the third when a scramble ensued and Bennett ended up on top with the decisive takedown in a 4-2 win. Riddick fought through an injury to win his consolation semifinal before forfeiting in the third place match.

Sophomore Doug Vollaro qualified for NCAAs with a fourth place finish at heavyweight. Vollaro lost 6-0 to Joe Stolfi of Bucknell in the semifinals but came back to defeat David Ng of Harvard in the consolation semifinals, 3-1 with a takedown with one second remaining in sudden victory. In the third place match, Vollaro suffered a knee injury ten seconds into the second period of his bout with Cornell's Jacob Aiken-Phillips and had to default.

Freshman Scott Parker matched his seed with a fourth place finish, coming up just one place short of automatic NCAA qualification. Parker dropped a 12-5 decision to top seed Nahshon Garrett of Cornell in the semifinals but came back to beat Johnson Mai of Columbia 10-4 in the next round. In the third place match, Parker gave up takedowns in the first and third periods and came up on the short end of a 5-3 decision against Bucknell's Paul Petrov. Parker's fate is in the hands of the NCAA selection committee, who will announce at large selections on Wednesday.

At 149, freshman Drew Longo capped a strong tournament with a sixth place finish despite entering the tournament unseeded. Longo's day began with an impressive 15-9 decision over third-seeded Cody Ruggirello of Hofstra. Ruggirello scored a late first period takedown to lead 2-0 but Longo dominated from there, totaling six takedowns in the final two periods, including three in the first 20 seconds of the second period. Longo dropped his final two matches to finish sixth but showed a strong finish to a season that will likely end with a 13-16 record.

The only other Lehigh wrestler aside from Cruz to win his final bout on Saturday was senior Marshall Peppelman, who pinned Zack Zupan of Binghamton in 5:53 to place seventh at 165. Peppelman gave up a late reversal and three-point near fall to lose 8-4 to Columbia's Tyrel White in the consolation quarters and will need an at-large bid to advance to his second NCAA Tournament.

"The biggest goal is the NCAA Tournament," Santoro said. "Yeah, we're disappointed, everyone is hurting right now but we'll regroup next week."

Lehigh's NCAA qualifiers will now move on to the NCAA Championships, March 19-21 in St. Louis, Mo. At-large selections and brackets for the NCAA Championships will be announced Wednesday.

125 – No. 4 Scott Parker – 4th place
Semifinals: L by dec. No. 1 Nahshon Garrett (Cornell)
Consolation semifinals: dec. No. 7 Johnson Mai (Columbia) 10-4
Third place match: L by dec. No. 3 Paul Petrov (Bucknell) 5-3

133 – No. 1 Mason Beckman – 2nd place
Semifinals: dec. No. 4 Mark Grey (Cornell) 2-1
Finals: L by dec. No. 2 Kevin Devoy (Drexel) 7-7, tb2, rt

141 – No. 3 Randy Cruz – 1st place
Semifinals: dec. No. 2 Jamel Hudson (Hofstra) 11-4
Finals: dec. No. 4 Jordan Laster (Princeton) 6-1

149 – Drew Longo – 6th place
Third round consolations: dec.. No. 3 Cody Ruggirello (Hofstra) 15-9
Consolation semifinals: L by major dec. No. 4 Matthew Cimato (Drexel) 12-4
Fifth place match: L by dec. No 2 C.J. Cobb (Penn) 6-3

157 – No. 2 Mitch Minotti – 4th place
Third round consolations: dec. Rich Eva (Princeton) 3-1
Consolation semifinals: dec. No. 4 Russell Parsons (Army) 3-1
Third place match: medical forfeit to No. 7 Andres Blanco (Drexel)

165 – No. 6 Marshall Peppelman – 7th place
Third round consolations: L by dec. No. 8 Tyrel White (Columbia) 8-4
Seventh place match: Fall No. 7 Zack Zupan (Binghamton) 5:53.

174 – No. 3 Santiago Martinez – 2nd place
Semifinals: W by injury default No. 2 Brian Harvey (Army) 0:33
Finals: L by dec. No. 4 Jadaen Bernstein (Navy) 3-1, sv

184 – No. 2 Nathaniel Brown – 2nd place
Semifinals: dec. No. 6 Thomas Sleigh (Bucknell) 7-3
Finals: L by dec. No. 1 Gabe Dean (Cornell) 8-2

197 – No. 3 Elliot Riddick – 4th place
Semifinals: L by dec. No. 2 Jace Bennett (Cornell) 4-2
Consolation semifinals: dec. No. 5 Bryce Barnes (Army) 3-2
Third place match: medical forfeit to Abe Ayala (Princeton)

285 – No. 3 Doug Vollaro - 4th place
Semifinals: L by dec. No. 2 Joe Stolfi (Bucknell) 6-0
Consolation semifinals: dec. No. 5 David Ng (Harvard) 3-1, sv
Third place match: L by injury default No. 7 Jacob Aiken-Phillips (Cornell) 3:10