Thursday, March 17
New York, N.Y.
12:00 PM
Lehigh University
at
NCAA Championships
Mountain Hawks set for NCAA Championships, beginning Thursday at MSG
3/14/2016 5:14:00 PM | Men's Wrestling
Lehigh NCAA Tournament Notes | Audio | Watch ESPN | NCAA Wrestling | Brackets announced
BETHLEHEM, Pa. – Lehigh sends nine wrestlers to the World's Most Famous Arena for the 86th NCAA Wrestling Championships at New York's Madison Square Garden. The Mountain Hawks finished second to Cornell at the EIWA Championships scoring an incredible 160 points, while placing all 10 entrants and qualifying nine wrestlers for the NCAA Championships.
Seven of Lehigh's nine qualifiers have previous NCAA Championships experience including returning finalist Nathaniel Brown at 184 and two-time All-American Mason Beckman at 133. EIWA Champion Darian Cruz earned All-America honors as a true freshman in 2014 and is seeded seventh at 125. Senior Max Wessell also won an EIWA title and is seeded eighth at 285. Lehigh finished 13th last year in St. Louis and has crowned three All-Americans at each of the last two NCAA Tournaments.
In the last five seasons, Lehigh has produced one NCAA champion, six NCAA finalists and 14 All-Americans. Lehigh has three returning All-Americans competing this weekend in Brown, Beckman (sixth at 133 in 2014 and 2015) and Darian Cruz. The fourth All-American on Lehigh's roster, junior Mitch Minotti was unable to compete at the EIWA Championships due to injury.
Darian Cruz and Wessell captured individual EIWA championships to lead Lehigh to a second place finish at the 112th EIWA Championships at Princeton's Jadwin Gym. Both wrestlers had to get over the hump against Bucknell wrestlers in the finals and both were successful. Cruz defeated Paul Petrov 2-1 thanks to 1:05 riding time advantage for his first win in four tries against the Bison wrestler. Wessell was leading 2-1 against Bucknell's Joe Stolfi at 285 when Stolfi injured his shoulder on a mat return and was unable to continue. Wessell's injury default win gave Lehigh a final total of 160 points, the most for the Mountain Hawks in eight seasons under Pat Santoro, who was named EIWA Coach of the Year for the third time. Cruz and Wessell's titles give Lehigh wrestlers 207 career EIWA championships.
The Mountain Hawks extended their streak of consecutive seasons with at least one individual EIWA Champion to 17. Lehigh placed all 10 wrestlers, with eight finishing in the top four. The Mountain Hawks qualified nine wrestlers for the NCAA Championships. Senior Mason Beckman also reached the finals at 133 but fell to Cornell's Nahshon Garrett. Juniors Randy Cruz (141) and Laike Gardner (149) and freshman Ryan Preisch (165) all finished third in their respective weight classes, while seniors Nathaniel Brown (184) and John Bolich (197) both finished fourth. Unseeded freshman Gordon Wolf qualified for the NCAA Championships at 174 with his fifth place finish. Freshman Ian Brown finished seventh at 157 in place of injured All-American Mitch Minotti, but was Lehigh's lone EIWA Tournament entrant not to earn a bid to the NCAA Championships.
Bolich will be the first Mountain Hawk on the mats Thursday as he drew a pigtail round matchup at 197 against Shawn Scott of Northern Illinois. Darian Cruz will be next against Wisconsin's Johnny Jimenez at 125.
Cruz was one of four Lehigh qualifiers to earn top 16 seeds. Randy Cruz claimed the No. 16 seed at 141, while Brown is seeded 10th at 184 and Wessell eighth at 285.
Lehigh has the sixth most NCAA Champions (27) and the eighth most All-Americans (142) of all Division I wrestling programs. The Brown and White have never won the NCAA Team Championship, coming as close as second in 1939, third in 1965, 1979 and a tie for third in 2004.
The Mountain Hawks finished 13th last year and will be looking to return to the top ten for the first time since finishing eighth in both 2011 and 2012. Ohio State won the team title last year but Penn State, winners of the previous four team titles enter this weekend as favorites.
The 86th NCAA Championships get underway Thursday at 12 p.m. from New York's Madison Square Garden. The opening round will feature pigtail rounds and preliminaries. The three-day tournament concludes Saturday with the national finals set for 8 p.m. Free live audio coverage of all of Lehigh's NCAA Tournament action can be heard for free at Lehighsports.com/watch, while information on ESPN's expansive video coverage is listed below.
BETHLEHEM, Pa. – Lehigh sends nine wrestlers to the World's Most Famous Arena for the 86th NCAA Wrestling Championships at New York's Madison Square Garden. The Mountain Hawks finished second to Cornell at the EIWA Championships scoring an incredible 160 points, while placing all 10 entrants and qualifying nine wrestlers for the NCAA Championships.
Seven of Lehigh's nine qualifiers have previous NCAA Championships experience including returning finalist Nathaniel Brown at 184 and two-time All-American Mason Beckman at 133. EIWA Champion Darian Cruz earned All-America honors as a true freshman in 2014 and is seeded seventh at 125. Senior Max Wessell also won an EIWA title and is seeded eighth at 285. Lehigh finished 13th last year in St. Louis and has crowned three All-Americans at each of the last two NCAA Tournaments.
In the last five seasons, Lehigh has produced one NCAA champion, six NCAA finalists and 14 All-Americans. Lehigh has three returning All-Americans competing this weekend in Brown, Beckman (sixth at 133 in 2014 and 2015) and Darian Cruz. The fourth All-American on Lehigh's roster, junior Mitch Minotti was unable to compete at the EIWA Championships due to injury.
Darian Cruz and Wessell captured individual EIWA championships to lead Lehigh to a second place finish at the 112th EIWA Championships at Princeton's Jadwin Gym. Both wrestlers had to get over the hump against Bucknell wrestlers in the finals and both were successful. Cruz defeated Paul Petrov 2-1 thanks to 1:05 riding time advantage for his first win in four tries against the Bison wrestler. Wessell was leading 2-1 against Bucknell's Joe Stolfi at 285 when Stolfi injured his shoulder on a mat return and was unable to continue. Wessell's injury default win gave Lehigh a final total of 160 points, the most for the Mountain Hawks in eight seasons under Pat Santoro, who was named EIWA Coach of the Year for the third time. Cruz and Wessell's titles give Lehigh wrestlers 207 career EIWA championships.
The Mountain Hawks extended their streak of consecutive seasons with at least one individual EIWA Champion to 17. Lehigh placed all 10 wrestlers, with eight finishing in the top four. The Mountain Hawks qualified nine wrestlers for the NCAA Championships. Senior Mason Beckman also reached the finals at 133 but fell to Cornell's Nahshon Garrett. Juniors Randy Cruz (141) and Laike Gardner (149) and freshman Ryan Preisch (165) all finished third in their respective weight classes, while seniors Nathaniel Brown (184) and John Bolich (197) both finished fourth. Unseeded freshman Gordon Wolf qualified for the NCAA Championships at 174 with his fifth place finish. Freshman Ian Brown finished seventh at 157 in place of injured All-American Mitch Minotti, but was Lehigh's lone EIWA Tournament entrant not to earn a bid to the NCAA Championships.
Bolich will be the first Mountain Hawk on the mats Thursday as he drew a pigtail round matchup at 197 against Shawn Scott of Northern Illinois. Darian Cruz will be next against Wisconsin's Johnny Jimenez at 125.
Cruz was one of four Lehigh qualifiers to earn top 16 seeds. Randy Cruz claimed the No. 16 seed at 141, while Brown is seeded 10th at 184 and Wessell eighth at 285.
Lehigh has the sixth most NCAA Champions (27) and the eighth most All-Americans (142) of all Division I wrestling programs. The Brown and White have never won the NCAA Team Championship, coming as close as second in 1939, third in 1965, 1979 and a tie for third in 2004.
The Mountain Hawks finished 13th last year and will be looking to return to the top ten for the first time since finishing eighth in both 2011 and 2012. Ohio State won the team title last year but Penn State, winners of the previous four team titles enter this weekend as favorites.
The 86th NCAA Championships get underway Thursday at 12 p.m. from New York's Madison Square Garden. The opening round will feature pigtail rounds and preliminaries. The three-day tournament concludes Saturday with the national finals set for 8 p.m. Free live audio coverage of all of Lehigh's NCAA Tournament action can be heard for free at Lehighsports.com/watch, while information on ESPN's expansive video coverage is listed below.
| Event: | 86th NCAA Championships |
| Dates: | March 17-19, 2016 |
| Session 1: | Thursday, March 17, 12 p.m. (pigtail round, round of 32) |
| Session 2: | Thursday, March 17, 7 p.m. (round of 16 and wrestleback prelims) |
| Session 3: | Friday, March 18, 11 a.m. (quarterfinals and wrestlebacks) |
| Session 4: | Friday, March 18, 8 p.m. (semifinals and wrestlebacks) |
| Session 5: | Saturday, March 19, 11 a.m. (consolation semifinals and medal rounds – 3rd-8th) |
| Session 6: | Saturday, March 19, 8 p.m. (national finals) All session times listed are Eastern Daylight |
| Location | New York |
| Arena | Madison Square Garden |
| History: | Lehigh's best finish was second in 1939. The Mountain Hawks finished 13th last year with three All-Americans. Ohio State is the defending team champion. |
| Television: | Sessions 1, 2, 3 and 5 live on ESPNU (SE Dial Position 174/523 (HD), DirecTV channel 208). Sessions 4 (semifinals) and 6 (finals) live on ESPN. |
| Radio: | None |
| Internet: | FREE live audio of all Lehigh matches at Lehighsports.com/watch Streaming video of entire tournament on ESPN3/WatchESPN. |
Players Mentioned
133
/ Men's Wrestling
197
/ Men's Wrestling
149/157
/ Men's Wrestling
184
/ Men's Wrestling
125
/ Men's Wrestling
141
/ Men's Wrestling
149
/ Men's Wrestling
157
/ Men's Wrestling
165
/ Men's Wrestling
285
/ Men's Wrestling
174
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