Saturday, March 5
Princeton, N.J.
9:00 AM
Lehigh University
at
EIWA Championships
Mountain Hawks head to Princeton for 112th EIWA Championships
3/2/2016 3:13:00 PM | Men's Wrestling
Lehigh Tournament Notes | EIWA Championships Central | EIWA Wrestling | Video
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BETHLEHEM, Pa. – Lehigh joins the other 15 EIWA member institutions in Princeton, N.J. for the 112th EIWA Championships Saturday and Sunday at Jadwin Gym. The EIWA is the nation's oldest wrestling conference, with Lehigh being the historically dominant team, having won 205 individual titles and 34 team championships. The Mountain Hawks went 13-3 in the dual season and were the EIWA's top dual meet team with a 7-0 mark against conference foes. Lehigh finished second to Cornell in each of the last two EIWA tournaments and will try to deny the Big Red a tenth straight team title. Also at stake are 51 automatic berths to the NCAA Championships at New York's Madison Square Garden.
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The Mountain Hawks have wrestlers ranked in seven of ten weight classes in the latest rankings by InterMat, FloWrestling and Amateur Wrestling News. Eight Mountain Hawks appear in rankings by The Open Mat. Senior Nathaniel Brown is the top ranked Mountain Hawk across the board as he is ranked no lower than third. Seven Mountain Hawks are ranked in all four polls: Brown, seniors John Bolich and Max Wessell, juniors Randy Cruz and Mitch Minotti, sophomore Darian Cruz and freshman Ryan Preisch. Junior Laike Gardner is ranked only by The Open Mat at 149.
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By way of its 7-0 dual record against EIWA foes, Lehigh represented the conference at the NWCA National Duals Championship Series. The Mountain Hawks dropped a tightly-contested 18-15 decision to No. 13 Rutgers at the RAC on February 20. Billy Smith's 3-2 tiebreaker win over senior Max Wessell broke a 15-15 tie and gave Rutgers a 6-4 edge in match victories. The Mountain Hawks got major decision wins from Darian Cruz, Mason Beckman and John Bolich, as well as a win by decision from Nathaniel Brown.
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Randy Cruz deferred his eligibility in 2013-14 while moving up from 133 to 141, a move that paid off when he won his second career EIWA championship last March. In 2013, Cruz became Lehigh's first true freshman EIWA champion since 1980. Cruz has now won titles in his first two years of eligibility and last season fell one win short of earning All-America honors. Cruz owns a 71-27 career record that includes 16 wins by fall. With Cruz's triumph at 141 last year, Lehigh wrestlers have won at least one individual EIWA title in 16 consecutive tournaments.
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Lehigh welcomes All-American Darian Cruz back into the lineup after Cruz deferred his eligibility last season. Cruz finished seventh at 125 as a true freshman in 2014, becoming Lehigh's first true freshman All-American since 1980. Cruz went 22-3 in his deferred year with four open tournament titles. In the last two seasons, Mason Beckman and Nathaniel Brown earned All-America honors in the season immediately following their deferred year. Randy Cruz sandwiched EIWA titles around his deferred year as well.
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With Mitch Minotti's injury leaving the two-time All-American unable to compete in the postseason, freshman Ian Brown will step in at 157. Brown enjoyed a solid regular season, going 23-8 overall. He began the year at 157 before dropping down to 149 for several February competitions, but will be back up at 157 for the EIWA Championships. Brown placed at three open tournaments, and also took third at the prestigious Southern Scuffle, one three Mountain Hawks to place at 157 at the event. His five wins by fall are the most among Lehigh's EIWA entrants. The Hanover, Pa. product was a four-time Pennsylvania place winner and won a state championship as a high school senior.
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Seven of the ten Mountain Hawks expected to compete in the EIWA Tournament have competed in the tournament before. Seniors Mason Beckman (4, 1, 2) and Nathaniel Brown (4, 1, 2) are both three-time place winners, while Randy Cruz has won titles in each of his first two EIWA Championships appearances. Six of Lehigh's seven entrants with previous experience have placed in the top eight. Freshmen Ian Brown, Ryan Preisch and Gordon Wolf are new to the EIWA Tournament for Lehigh.
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The EIWA received 51 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. Wrestlers who fail to qualify this weekend will be eligible for one of 46 at-large berths which will be announced on Wednesday, March 9.
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This year the nation's oldest college wrestling conference holds its 112th championships. Lehigh has historically dominated the EIWA's, having won 34 team titles including five straight from 2002-2006. Cornell is bidding for its 10th straight team title. The Mountain Hawks have won at least one individual title in each of the last 16 EIWA tournaments. Three of Lehigh's EIWA Tournament entrants have won EIWA titles (Mason Beckman (2014), Randy Cruz (2013 and 2015), Nathaniel Brown (2013).
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Lehigh qualified seven wrestlers for the NCAA Championships last year, and has qualified at least five wrestlers in each of the last 16 EIWA tournaments.
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Tournament seeds and brackets will be announced Friday evening following the seeding meeting.
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The 112th EIWA Championships get underway Saturday at 9 a.m. from Princeton's Jadwin Gym. Saturday's opening session will feature championship bracket matches completed through the quarterfinals plus two rounds of consolations. Session two, featuring the championship semifinals plus consolation third round, consolation semifinals and seventh place matches, will begin at 10 a.m. Sunday. The final session, featuring matches for first, third and fifth place, will begin at 3:30 p.m. Saturday and will be preceded by the EIWA Hall of Fame induction ceremony at 3 p.m.
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The EIWA has partnered with Flowrestling to provide streaming video coverage of the entire tournament via its subscription-based Flo Pro service.
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Lehigh will provide audio coverage of Sunday's final session on either ESPN Radio of the Lehigh Valley (1230/1320/1160-AM) or WLVR-FM (91.3) depending on a potential Lehigh men's basketball Patriot League semifinal.
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Like Lehigh Wrestling on Facebook and follow on Twitter for exclusive updates throughout the season.
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BETHLEHEM, Pa. – Lehigh joins the other 15 EIWA member institutions in Princeton, N.J. for the 112th EIWA Championships Saturday and Sunday at Jadwin Gym. The EIWA is the nation's oldest wrestling conference, with Lehigh being the historically dominant team, having won 205 individual titles and 34 team championships. The Mountain Hawks went 13-3 in the dual season and were the EIWA's top dual meet team with a 7-0 mark against conference foes. Lehigh finished second to Cornell in each of the last two EIWA tournaments and will try to deny the Big Red a tenth straight team title. Also at stake are 51 automatic berths to the NCAA Championships at New York's Madison Square Garden.
Â
The Mountain Hawks have wrestlers ranked in seven of ten weight classes in the latest rankings by InterMat, FloWrestling and Amateur Wrestling News. Eight Mountain Hawks appear in rankings by The Open Mat. Senior Nathaniel Brown is the top ranked Mountain Hawk across the board as he is ranked no lower than third. Seven Mountain Hawks are ranked in all four polls: Brown, seniors John Bolich and Max Wessell, juniors Randy Cruz and Mitch Minotti, sophomore Darian Cruz and freshman Ryan Preisch. Junior Laike Gardner is ranked only by The Open Mat at 149.
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By way of its 7-0 dual record against EIWA foes, Lehigh represented the conference at the NWCA National Duals Championship Series. The Mountain Hawks dropped a tightly-contested 18-15 decision to No. 13 Rutgers at the RAC on February 20. Billy Smith's 3-2 tiebreaker win over senior Max Wessell broke a 15-15 tie and gave Rutgers a 6-4 edge in match victories. The Mountain Hawks got major decision wins from Darian Cruz, Mason Beckman and John Bolich, as well as a win by decision from Nathaniel Brown.
Â
Randy Cruz deferred his eligibility in 2013-14 while moving up from 133 to 141, a move that paid off when he won his second career EIWA championship last March. In 2013, Cruz became Lehigh's first true freshman EIWA champion since 1980. Cruz has now won titles in his first two years of eligibility and last season fell one win short of earning All-America honors. Cruz owns a 71-27 career record that includes 16 wins by fall. With Cruz's triumph at 141 last year, Lehigh wrestlers have won at least one individual EIWA title in 16 consecutive tournaments.
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Lehigh welcomes All-American Darian Cruz back into the lineup after Cruz deferred his eligibility last season. Cruz finished seventh at 125 as a true freshman in 2014, becoming Lehigh's first true freshman All-American since 1980. Cruz went 22-3 in his deferred year with four open tournament titles. In the last two seasons, Mason Beckman and Nathaniel Brown earned All-America honors in the season immediately following their deferred year. Randy Cruz sandwiched EIWA titles around his deferred year as well.
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With Mitch Minotti's injury leaving the two-time All-American unable to compete in the postseason, freshman Ian Brown will step in at 157. Brown enjoyed a solid regular season, going 23-8 overall. He began the year at 157 before dropping down to 149 for several February competitions, but will be back up at 157 for the EIWA Championships. Brown placed at three open tournaments, and also took third at the prestigious Southern Scuffle, one three Mountain Hawks to place at 157 at the event. His five wins by fall are the most among Lehigh's EIWA entrants. The Hanover, Pa. product was a four-time Pennsylvania place winner and won a state championship as a high school senior.
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Seven of the ten Mountain Hawks expected to compete in the EIWA Tournament have competed in the tournament before. Seniors Mason Beckman (4, 1, 2) and Nathaniel Brown (4, 1, 2) are both three-time place winners, while Randy Cruz has won titles in each of his first two EIWA Championships appearances. Six of Lehigh's seven entrants with previous experience have placed in the top eight. Freshmen Ian Brown, Ryan Preisch and Gordon Wolf are new to the EIWA Tournament for Lehigh.
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The EIWA received 51 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. Wrestlers who fail to qualify this weekend will be eligible for one of 46 at-large berths which will be announced on Wednesday, March 9.
Â
This year the nation's oldest college wrestling conference holds its 112th championships. Lehigh has historically dominated the EIWA's, having won 34 team titles including five straight from 2002-2006. Cornell is bidding for its 10th straight team title. The Mountain Hawks have won at least one individual title in each of the last 16 EIWA tournaments. Three of Lehigh's EIWA Tournament entrants have won EIWA titles (Mason Beckman (2014), Randy Cruz (2013 and 2015), Nathaniel Brown (2013).
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Lehigh qualified seven wrestlers for the NCAA Championships last year, and has qualified at least five wrestlers in each of the last 16 EIWA tournaments.
Â
Tournament seeds and brackets will be announced Friday evening following the seeding meeting.
Â
The 112th EIWA Championships get underway Saturday at 9 a.m. from Princeton's Jadwin Gym. Saturday's opening session will feature championship bracket matches completed through the quarterfinals plus two rounds of consolations. Session two, featuring the championship semifinals plus consolation third round, consolation semifinals and seventh place matches, will begin at 10 a.m. Sunday. The final session, featuring matches for first, third and fifth place, will begin at 3:30 p.m. Saturday and will be preceded by the EIWA Hall of Fame induction ceremony at 3 p.m.
Â
The EIWA has partnered with Flowrestling to provide streaming video coverage of the entire tournament via its subscription-based Flo Pro service.
Â
Lehigh will provide audio coverage of Sunday's final session on either ESPN Radio of the Lehigh Valley (1230/1320/1160-AM) or WLVR-FM (91.3) depending on a potential Lehigh men's basketball Patriot League semifinal.
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| Event: | 112th EIWA Championships |
| Dates: | March 5-6, 2016 |
| March 5 Schedule: | Session 1: Championship first round and quarterfinals plus first two consolation rounds: 9 a.m. |
| March 6 Schedule: | Session 2: Championship semifinals, consolation third round, semifinals and 7th place matches: 10 a.m. |
| Â | Session 3: Championship finals (1st, 3rd, 5th): 3:30 p.m. |
| Location: | Princeton, N.J. |
| Arena: | Jadwin Gym (6,854) |
| Lehigh's dual record: | 13-3, 7-0 EIWA |
| History: | Lehigh has won 34 team championships, most of any EIWA school |
| TV: | None |
| Radio: | The final session will air on either ESPN Radio of the Lehigh Valley (1230/1320/1160) or WLVR-FM (91.3) depending on potential Lehigh men's basketball Patriot League semifinal. Coverage will begin at 3:15 p.m. with Steve Lomangino and Gary Brownell |
| Internet Broadcast: | The EIWA has partnered with Flowrestling to provide streaming video of the entire tournament via Flowrestling's FloPro subscription-based service. Audio of Sunday's finals will be streamed on ESPNLV.com or WLVR.org (whichever entity hosts radio coverage). |
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Like Lehigh Wrestling on Facebook and follow on Twitter for exclusive updates throughout the season.
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Players Mentioned
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/ Men's Wrestling
149
/ Men's Wrestling
157
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165
/ Men's Wrestling
285
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