Saturday, March 4
Lewisburg, Pa.
10:00 AM
Lehigh University
at
EIWA Championships
Darian Cruz, Scott Parker win individual titles as Lehigh second again at EIWAs
3/4/2017 7:38:00 PM | Men's Wrestling
Final results/brackets | Friday recap
LEWISBURG, Pa. – Junior Darian Cruz and sophomore Scott Parker won individual titles but Lehigh's bid to end Cornell's streak of team titles fell short as the 113th EIWA Championships wrapped up Saturday at Bucknell's Sojka Pavilion. The Mountain Hawks placed four wrestlers in the finals, splitting those finals bouts and finished with 117.5 points to finish in second place for the fourth straight year.
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Saturday's finals session began with Lehigh titles at the first two weight classes as Cruz won his second straight crown at 125 and Parker his first at 133.
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"They were a great spark," Lehigh head coach Pat Santoro said of his lightweights. "They've been doing that all year. They set us up to do some great things, we just didn't have enough horsepower."
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Cornell used a barrage of bonus points to pull away on day two to win its 11th straight team title. The Big Red crowned four champions and scored 163 points. Lehigh placed seven wrestlers in the tournament and qualified six for the NCAA Championships. The Mountain Hawks held off an upstart Princeton team by 4.5 points for second place.
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"We came here with really high expectations," Santoro said. "We thought we'd get everyone to place. We're disappointed and I think our fans are disappointed. We have a lot of work to do and we have to get ready for St. Louis. We have to go there and put a lot of guys on that podium."
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(3/4/2017) Wrestling at EIWA Championships, 3/4/17
After pinning Cornell's Noah Baughman in the first period of his semifinal match, Cruz faced Josh Terao of American in the finals. Terao opened the scoring with a takedown, but Cruz reversed to end the first period at 2-2. Trailing 3-2 heading into the third, Cruz reversed Terao to open the period and built up a 1:57 riding time advantage to win 5-4.
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"He's done a great job," Santoro said of Cruz. "He's really matured. He gave up the first takedown but that doesn't rattle him. He just keeps wrestling and knows that he has the ability to score a lot of points."
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Parker's day began with a dominant 10-2 major decision over Cornell's Mark Grey in the semifinals. In the finals, Parker faced No. 7 seed Jeffrey Ott of Harvard and used takedowns in the first and second periods, plus a dominating ride that produced 3:36 of riding time to win 6-2.
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"He just wrestles really hard and that's what's getting him these 'W's' right now," Santoro said of Parker. "He's excited to go back to the national tournament."
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Senior Randy Cruz made it three finalists in the first three weights for Lehigh, besting Bucknell's Tyler Smith in the semifinals at 141 to reach the finals. That win made Cruz the 15th Lehigh wrestler to reach the 100-win mark for his career. The finals saw Cruz face top seed Matt Kolodzik of Princeton. Leading 1-0 in the third Kolodzik converted a takedown and rode Cruz long enough to gain riding time advantage, which proved to be the difference in a 3-2 victory.
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Sophomore Ryan Preisch was Lehigh's fourth finalist. He punched his ticket to the finals at 174 with a 7-3 decision over Penn's Casey Kent in the semifinals, using a strong leg ride to ride out the second period while turning Kent for four near fall points. Preisch met Cornell's Brian Realbuto in the finals, with Realbuto converting a single leg takedown in the third period for the only takedown in a 3-2 decision.
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Lehigh went 4-2 in Saturday morning's semifinal session, with its two semifinal losers fighting back to take third place. At 149, senior Laike Gardner rallied from an early 4-1 deficit to face overtime, but gave up a takedown and two near fall points in a scramble as he fell to Harvard's Hunter Ladnier 11-7. After a hard-fought 3-2 win over Cornell's Jonathan Furnas in the consolations, Gardner cemented his NCAA qualification with a four-point move in sudden victory to knock off Drexel's Matt Cimato 5-1.
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Senior heavyweight Doug Vollaro bounced back from a semifinal loss to eventual champion Garrett Ryan of Columbia, to blank Bucknell's Tyler Greene 4-0 and then scored four takedowns in a 9-5 win over Princeton's Ray O'Donnell.
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Lehigh's six top-three finishers all qualified for the NCAA Championships in their respective weight classes.
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Freshman Cole Walter was the lone Lehigh wrestler not to pick up a win on day two. Walter was beaten by Army's Andrew Mendel 10-8 in his first match of the day and had to settle for eighth place after dropping the seventh place bout 3-2 to Drexel's Austin Rose. He will need an at-large berth at 165 to qualify for his first NCAA Tournament.
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"Six guys in the top three isn't bad at the EIWA Tournament but we need 10 guys and maybe a couple more champions," Santoro said. "The guys that wrestled, wrestled really well but we have some guys that came up short and they were disappointed. We learned that you have to show up all the time and be ready."
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Cornell's Gabe Dean captured two major awards, the Fletcher Trophy for career points scored, and the Coaches' Trophy as the tournament's Outstanding Wrestler.
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Former Lehigh head coach Greg Strobel and two-time EIWA Champion and All-American Dick Santoro '59 were among the members of the EIWA Hall of Fame Class inducted prior to the start of the finals session.
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Lehigh's six automatic qualifiers will now move on to the NCAA Championships, March 16-18 at Scottrade Center in St. Louis. Walter will learn his NCAA fate when at-large selections and brackets for the NCAA Championships are announced Wednesday.
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Top five team scores
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125 – No. 1 (seed) Darian Cruz – 1st place
Semifinals: Fall No. 4 Noah Baughman (Cornell) 1:34
Finals: dec. No. 2 Josh Terao (American) 5-4
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133 – No. 1 Scott Parker – 1st place
Semifinals: major dec. No. 4 Mark Grey (Cornell) 10-2
Finals: dec. No. 7 Jeffrey Ott (Harvard) 6-2
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141 – No. 2 Randy Cruz – 2nd place
Semifinals: dec. No. 3 Tyler Smith (Bucknell) 3-2
Finals: L by dec. No. 1 Matt Kolodzik (Princeton) 3-2
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149 – No. 1 Laike Gardner 3rd place
Semifinals: L by dec. No. 5 Hunter Ladnier (Harvard) 11-7, sv
Consolation semifinals: dec. No. 4 Jonathan Furnas (Cornell) 3-2
Third place match: dec. No. 3 Matt Cimato (Drexel) 5-1, sv
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165 – No. 2 Cole Walter – 8th place
Consolation quarterfinals: L by dec. No. 6 Andrew Mendel (Army) 10-8
Seventh place match: L by dec. No. 5 Austin Rose (Drexel) 3-2
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174 – No. 2 Ryan Preisch – 2nd place
Semifinals: dec. No. 3 Casey Kent (Penn) 7-3
Finals: L by dec. No. 1 Brian Realbuto (Cornell) 3-2
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285 – No. 2 Doug Vollaro – 3rd place
Semifinals: L by dec. No. 3 Garrett Ryan (Columbia) 6-2
Consolation semifinals: dec. No. 5 Tyler Greene (Bucknell) 4-0
Third place match: dec. No. 4 Ray O'Donnell (Princeton) 9-5
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LEWISBURG, Pa. – Junior Darian Cruz and sophomore Scott Parker won individual titles but Lehigh's bid to end Cornell's streak of team titles fell short as the 113th EIWA Championships wrapped up Saturday at Bucknell's Sojka Pavilion. The Mountain Hawks placed four wrestlers in the finals, splitting those finals bouts and finished with 117.5 points to finish in second place for the fourth straight year.
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Saturday's finals session began with Lehigh titles at the first two weight classes as Cruz won his second straight crown at 125 and Parker his first at 133.
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"They were a great spark," Lehigh head coach Pat Santoro said of his lightweights. "They've been doing that all year. They set us up to do some great things, we just didn't have enough horsepower."
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Cornell used a barrage of bonus points to pull away on day two to win its 11th straight team title. The Big Red crowned four champions and scored 163 points. Lehigh placed seven wrestlers in the tournament and qualified six for the NCAA Championships. The Mountain Hawks held off an upstart Princeton team by 4.5 points for second place.
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"We came here with really high expectations," Santoro said. "We thought we'd get everyone to place. We're disappointed and I think our fans are disappointed. We have a lot of work to do and we have to get ready for St. Louis. We have to go there and put a lot of guys on that podium."
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After pinning Cornell's Noah Baughman in the first period of his semifinal match, Cruz faced Josh Terao of American in the finals. Terao opened the scoring with a takedown, but Cruz reversed to end the first period at 2-2. Trailing 3-2 heading into the third, Cruz reversed Terao to open the period and built up a 1:57 riding time advantage to win 5-4.
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"He's done a great job," Santoro said of Cruz. "He's really matured. He gave up the first takedown but that doesn't rattle him. He just keeps wrestling and knows that he has the ability to score a lot of points."
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Parker's day began with a dominant 10-2 major decision over Cornell's Mark Grey in the semifinals. In the finals, Parker faced No. 7 seed Jeffrey Ott of Harvard and used takedowns in the first and second periods, plus a dominating ride that produced 3:36 of riding time to win 6-2.
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"He just wrestles really hard and that's what's getting him these 'W's' right now," Santoro said of Parker. "He's excited to go back to the national tournament."
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Senior Randy Cruz made it three finalists in the first three weights for Lehigh, besting Bucknell's Tyler Smith in the semifinals at 141 to reach the finals. That win made Cruz the 15th Lehigh wrestler to reach the 100-win mark for his career. The finals saw Cruz face top seed Matt Kolodzik of Princeton. Leading 1-0 in the third Kolodzik converted a takedown and rode Cruz long enough to gain riding time advantage, which proved to be the difference in a 3-2 victory.
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Sophomore Ryan Preisch was Lehigh's fourth finalist. He punched his ticket to the finals at 174 with a 7-3 decision over Penn's Casey Kent in the semifinals, using a strong leg ride to ride out the second period while turning Kent for four near fall points. Preisch met Cornell's Brian Realbuto in the finals, with Realbuto converting a single leg takedown in the third period for the only takedown in a 3-2 decision.
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Lehigh went 4-2 in Saturday morning's semifinal session, with its two semifinal losers fighting back to take third place. At 149, senior Laike Gardner rallied from an early 4-1 deficit to face overtime, but gave up a takedown and two near fall points in a scramble as he fell to Harvard's Hunter Ladnier 11-7. After a hard-fought 3-2 win over Cornell's Jonathan Furnas in the consolations, Gardner cemented his NCAA qualification with a four-point move in sudden victory to knock off Drexel's Matt Cimato 5-1.
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Senior heavyweight Doug Vollaro bounced back from a semifinal loss to eventual champion Garrett Ryan of Columbia, to blank Bucknell's Tyler Greene 4-0 and then scored four takedowns in a 9-5 win over Princeton's Ray O'Donnell.
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Lehigh's six top-three finishers all qualified for the NCAA Championships in their respective weight classes.
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Freshman Cole Walter was the lone Lehigh wrestler not to pick up a win on day two. Walter was beaten by Army's Andrew Mendel 10-8 in his first match of the day and had to settle for eighth place after dropping the seventh place bout 3-2 to Drexel's Austin Rose. He will need an at-large berth at 165 to qualify for his first NCAA Tournament.
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"Six guys in the top three isn't bad at the EIWA Tournament but we need 10 guys and maybe a couple more champions," Santoro said. "The guys that wrestled, wrestled really well but we have some guys that came up short and they were disappointed. We learned that you have to show up all the time and be ready."
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Cornell's Gabe Dean captured two major awards, the Fletcher Trophy for career points scored, and the Coaches' Trophy as the tournament's Outstanding Wrestler.
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Former Lehigh head coach Greg Strobel and two-time EIWA Champion and All-American Dick Santoro '59 were among the members of the EIWA Hall of Fame Class inducted prior to the start of the finals session.
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Lehigh's six automatic qualifiers will now move on to the NCAA Championships, March 16-18 at Scottrade Center in St. Louis. Walter will learn his NCAA fate when at-large selections and brackets for the NCAA Championships are announced Wednesday.
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Top five team scores
| 1. Cornell | 163 |
| 2. LEHIGH | 117.5 |
| 3. Princeton | 113 |
| 4. Army | 82.5 |
| 5. Navy | 75.5 |
125 – No. 1 (seed) Darian Cruz – 1st place
Semifinals: Fall No. 4 Noah Baughman (Cornell) 1:34
Finals: dec. No. 2 Josh Terao (American) 5-4
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133 – No. 1 Scott Parker – 1st place
Semifinals: major dec. No. 4 Mark Grey (Cornell) 10-2
Finals: dec. No. 7 Jeffrey Ott (Harvard) 6-2
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141 – No. 2 Randy Cruz – 2nd place
Semifinals: dec. No. 3 Tyler Smith (Bucknell) 3-2
Finals: L by dec. No. 1 Matt Kolodzik (Princeton) 3-2
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149 – No. 1 Laike Gardner 3rd place
Semifinals: L by dec. No. 5 Hunter Ladnier (Harvard) 11-7, sv
Consolation semifinals: dec. No. 4 Jonathan Furnas (Cornell) 3-2
Third place match: dec. No. 3 Matt Cimato (Drexel) 5-1, sv
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165 – No. 2 Cole Walter – 8th place
Consolation quarterfinals: L by dec. No. 6 Andrew Mendel (Army) 10-8
Seventh place match: L by dec. No. 5 Austin Rose (Drexel) 3-2
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174 – No. 2 Ryan Preisch – 2nd place
Semifinals: dec. No. 3 Casey Kent (Penn) 7-3
Finals: L by dec. No. 1 Brian Realbuto (Cornell) 3-2
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285 – No. 2 Doug Vollaro – 3rd place
Semifinals: L by dec. No. 3 Garrett Ryan (Columbia) 6-2
Consolation semifinals: dec. No. 5 Tyler Greene (Bucknell) 4-0
Third place match: dec. No. 4 Ray O'Donnell (Princeton) 9-5
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Players Mentioned
125
/ Men's Wrestling
141
/ Men's Wrestling
149
/ Men's Wrestling
133
/ Men's Wrestling
165/174
/ Men's Wrestling
285
/ Men's Wrestling
157/165
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