Friday, January 12
Bethlehem, Pa.
7:00 PM

Lehigh University

vs

American

Gordon Wolf 4794

Mountain Hawks return home for weekend EIWA duals versus American, Navy

1/10/2018 1:59:00 PM | Men's Wrestling

Match Notes | Tickets | Video | Audio (American only)
 
BETHLEHEM, Pa. – In its first dual action of 2018, No. 6 Lehigh returns to Leeman-Turner Arena at Grace Hall for the first time since mid-November for duals against EIWA rivals American (Friday) and Navy (Sunday). Sunday's Navy match serves as the annual Billy Sheridan Memorial Dual. The Mountain Hawks are coming off a third place finish at the Southern Scuffle, where eight wrestlers placed in the top eight, led by senior Darian Cruz who claimed the 125 pound title and picked up his 100th career victory. In its last dual action, Lehigh went 2-0 against EIWA foes with wins over Penn and Drexel, Dec. 10 in Philadelphia.
 
Senior Darian Cruz won the 125-pound title to lead the Mountain Hawks at the Southern Scuffle, Jan. 1-2 in Chattanooga, Tenn. Cruz went 5-0 across the two-day tournament, picking up his 100th career win with a second period pin in his opening round match and scoring bonus points in his first four victories. As a team, Lehigh scored 102 points to finish third for the third straight year. Eight of Lehigh's 16 entrants placed in the top eight, with three others finishing just one victory shy of placement. Sophomore Jordan Kutler joined Cruz as a finalist but dropped a 4-0 decision to Penn State's Mark Hall in the finals at 174. The Mountain Hawks had two place winners at 165 with junior Gordon Wolf placing fifth and senior Drew Longo claiming eighth. Other place winners included freshman Luke Karam (sixth at 141), junior Ian Brown (seventh at 157) and freshmen Jake Jakobsen (eighth at 197) and Jordan Wood (eighth at 285). Fourteen of Lehigh's 16 entrants won at least one match at the Southern Scuffle.
 
While Lehigh sent 16 wrestlers to the Southern Scuffle, 10 Mountain Hawks competed at the 55th Ken Kraft Midlands Championship, Dec. 29-30 near Chicago. Deferred freshman Dylan Ammerman led the way for the Mountain Hawks, pinning his first two seeded opponents to reach the quarterfinals at 184 and eventually falling one win shy of placement. Ammerman was one of five Lehigh attached Midlands entrants, along with juniors Camden Fischer (149) and Thomas Murray (197), and sophomores Ryan Pomrinca (141) and Paul Dunn (184). Five Mountain Hawks: Matt Parker (125), Dan Moran (133), Joe Lobeck (133), Jimmy Hoffman (141) and Kyle Gentile (197), competed unattached.
 
Seven Mountain Hawks appear in the latest rankings by both InterMat and The Open Mat, while nine are ranked by Amateur Wrestling News and six are ranked by FloWrestling. Four Mountain Hawks: senior Darian Cruz, juniors Scott Parker and Ryan Preisch and sophomore Jordan Kutler, are all ranked in the top 10 by all four outlets, with Cruz ranked no lower than third in any of the four polls. Freshmen Jordan Wood and Luke Karam are also ranked across the board. Junior Gordon Wolf appears in three polls, while junior Ian Brown and freshman Jake Jakobsen are only ranked by AWN.
 
Lehigh wrestlers enjoyed a strong fall semester in the classroom, with 17 Mountain Hawks posting a grade point average of 3.20 or better last semester. Sophomore David Pipa led the Mountain Hawks with a perfect 4.0 semester in behavioral neuroscience. Sophomore Chase Gallik (3.94 in civil engineering) and junior Scott Parker (3.93 in finance) were not far behind, giving Lehigh three wrestlers over 3.9 in the fall. Gallik leads Lehigh with a 3.91 cumulative GPA. Eight of the 17 wrestlers with a 3.20 or better in the fall have wrestled in a dual meet already this season: Paul Dunn, Jordan Kutler, Jon Mele, Scott Parker, Ryan Preisch, Andrew Price, Cortlandt Schuyler and Gordon Wolf.
 
American owns a 3-2 dual meet record and will wrestle their first EIWA dual of the season on Friday. The Eagles went 2-1 last Friday at the UNC Duals in Chapel Hill, N.C., knocking off North Carolina and Duke before dropping their final dual of the day against Wyoming. The Eagles have also been busy on the tournament circuit this season, sending wrestlers to the Navy Classic in November and the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational and the Wilkes Open last month. Three American wrestlers appear in the latest InterMat rankings, led by Josh Terao, who is ranked eighth at 133. The other ranked Eagles are Michael Sprague (149) and Jeric Kasunic (197). Teague Moore is in his seventh season as American's head coach. The Eagles will head to Brown following Friday's dual with Lehigh.
 
Navy brings an undefeated dual mark into this weekend's action. The Midshipmen will host Maryland on Friday night before visiting Lehigh on Sunday. Navy is coming off a 26-10 win over Bucknell last weekend, which improved the Mids to 2-0 against EIWA foes. The Midshipmen also own a 22-13 win at Drexel on Dec. 8. Navy won the 17-team Navy Classic, which it hosted on Nov. 17 and has also competed at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational and the Southern Scuffle.  The Mids finished fourth at the Southern Scuffle, with 87 points, 15 behind third place Lehigh. Five Mids appear in the latest InterMat rankings, led by Jadaen Bernstein who is ranked eighth at 174. Nicholas Gil (141), Jared Prince (149), Drew Daniels (165) and Michael Coleman (184) are all ranked between 18-20. Joel Sharratt is in his fourth season as Navy's head coach.
 
Sunday's match with Navy marks the 14th consecutive season that Lehigh's legendary former coach, Billy Sheridan, is honored with a single dual meet against a high profile opponent. This year marks the eighth year in a row that the single Sheridan Dual pits Lehigh against an EIWA rival and the third time that rival is Navy. It also marks the sixth straight year that the Sheridan Dual will be hosted inside Leeman-Turner Arena at Grace Hall. Five of the first eight Sheridan Duals under the current format were hosted at Stabler Arena. From 2000-2003 Lehigh hosted the Sheridan Duals, a series of duals in which the Mountain Hawks faced three opponents on the first or second Saturday in December at Stabler Arena. Before that, Lehigh hosted the Sheridan Tournament, which began in 1979.
 
The Mountain Hawks have won all seven previous duals with American by an average score of 29.4-11.9. Lehigh hosts American for the fourth time (Dec. '03, Feb. '11 and Feb. '16). Navy is Lehigh's second-most wrestled opponent behind Penn State. These teams will meet for the 98th time with Lehigh having won the last six duals to take the lead in the all-time series for the first time.
 
Friday's match with American gets underway at 7 p.m. from Leeman-Turner Arena at Grace Hall, while Sunday's Navy dual is slated for a 2 p.m. start.  Tickets for both duals are still available and can be purchased at LehighTickets.com or by calling 610-7LU-GAME during normal business hours.
 
Lehigh will be back on the road for its next four duals, beginning with a trip to New York next weekend. The Mountain Hawks will first head to Ithaca to face 11-time EIWA Champions Cornell, Friday Jan. 19 at 6:30. Two days later, Lehigh will visit West Point, N.Y. for the first time since 2008 to face Army at 2 p.m.
 
Date: January 12, 2018
Opponent: American Eagles
First match: 7:05 p.m.
Arena: Leeman-Turner Arena at Grace Hall
Location: Bethlehem, Pa.
Lehigh's record: 6-1 overall, 4-0 EIWA
American's record: 3-2 overall, 0-0 EIWA
Series: Lehigh leads 7-0
Streak: Lehigh has won all seven duals
Television: None
Radio: ESPN Radio of the Lehigh Valley (1230/1320/1160-AM) with Steve Lomangino and Gary Brownell beginning at 6:45 p.m.
Internet broadcast: Video at PatriotLeague.tv
Audio at ESPNLV.com
Behind enemy lines: http://www.aueagles.com
 
 
Date: January 14, 2018
Opponent: Navy Midshipmen
First match: 2:05 p.m.
Arena: Leeman-Turner Arena at Grace Hall
Location: Bethlehem, Pa.
Lehigh's record: 6-1 overall, 4-0 EIWA
Navy's record: 4-0 overall, 2-0 EIWA
Series: Lehigh leads 50-47
Streak: Lehigh has won the last six duals
Television: Service Electric DP 50/550 live
Radio: None
Internet broadcast: Video at PatriotLeague.tv
Behind enemy lines: http://www.navysports.com

Players Mentioned

184
/ Men's Wrestling
157
/ Men's Wrestling
125
/ Men's Wrestling
184
/ Men's Wrestling
149
/ Men's Wrestling
165
/ Men's Wrestling
184/197
/ Men's Wrestling
141
/ Men's Wrestling
197
/ Men's Wrestling
141
/ Men's Wrestling
174
/ Men's Wrestling
133
/ Men's Wrestling
157/165
/ Men's Wrestling
141
/ Men's Wrestling
197
/ Men's Wrestling
125
/ Men's Wrestling
133
/ Men's Wrestling
149
/ Men's Wrestling
141
/ Men's Wrestling
184
/ Men's Wrestling
184
/ Men's Wrestling
149
/ Men's Wrestling
165/174
/ Men's Wrestling
285
/ Men's Wrestling
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