Saturday, March 3
Hempstead, N.Y.
11:00 AM
Lehigh University
at
EIWA Championships
Lehigh ready for 114th EIWA Championships beginning Saturday at Hofstra
2/28/2018 4:46:00 PM | Men's Wrestling
Lehigh Tournament Notes | EIWA Championships Home | Video
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BETHLEHEM, Pa. – Lehigh joins the other 15 EIWA member institutions in Hempstead, N.Y. for the 114th EIWA Championships, hosted by Hofstra for the first time. The EIWA is the nation's oldest wrestling conference, with Lehigh being the historically dominant team, having won 209 individual titles and 34 team championships. The Mountain Hawks went 12-3 in the dual season and were 7-1 against conference foes. Lehigh capped the dual season with home wins over Oklahoma and Pitt two weekends ago. The Mountain Hawks were ranked eighth in the final NWCA/USA Today Top 25. Lehigh has finished second to Cornell in each of the last four EIWA tournaments and will try to deny the Big Red a 12th straight team title, while trying to win its first EIWA crown since 2006. Also at stake are 47 automatic berths to the NCAA Championships in Cleveland.
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Eight Mountain Hawks appear in the latest InterMat rankings while seven are ranked Amateur Wrestling News and The Open Mat 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 second in any of the four polls. Freshman Jordan Wood is also ranked across the board. Junior Cortlandt Schuyler and freshman Luke Karam both appear in three of the four polls, while junior Gordon Wolf is ranked by InterMat only, and freshman Chris Weiler recently entered the Amateur Wrestling News rankings at 197.
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The NCAA released the third Coaches' Panel rankings and second RPI for the 2017-18 season along with the qualifier allocations for the NCAA Championships on February 22. Lehigh has 10 wrestlers in the Coaches' Panel rankings and nine in the RPI. Only junior Ryan Preisch (12) fell short of the 17 matches required to appear in the RPI. All 10 Lehigh EIWA Tournament entrants qualified a spot for their weight class for the NCAA Championships. Darian Cruz is the highest ranked Mountain Hawk, coming in at No. 1 at 125, while sophomore Jordan Kutler owns the top RPI.
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While the strength of Lehigh's team usually lies in its lightweights, where NCAA Champion Darian Cruz and All-American Scott Parker reside, it was the back half of the Mountain Hawks' lineup that helped cement home wins over Oklahoma and Pitt to close out the dual season. Lehigh won four close decisions in the first half against Oklahoma before turning things on in the second half. The Mountain Hawks trailed Pitt 10-6 at intermission before Gordon Wolf started a run of three consecutive bonus wins with a technical fall at 165 to give Lehigh the lead for good. In all, seven Mountain Hawks went 2-0 on the season's final weekend including all five wrestlers from 165 through heavyweight. Junior Ryan Preisch recorded his first fall of the season versus Oklahoma and added a major decision against Pitt.
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Darian Cruz won Lehigh wrestling's 28th individual national championship last March, capping a 31-2 junior campaign with his title at 125. Cruz won his second straight EIWA title and avenged his most recent loss to Minnesota's Ethan Lizak with a 6-3 win in the NCAA finals to win Lehigh's first national title since heavyweight Zach Rey in 2011. He was also named EIWA Wrestler of the Year. A two-time EIWA Champion and two-time All-American, Cruz went 5-0 to win the 125-pound title at the Southern Scuffle, picking up his 100th career victory in the process. He now owns a 112-18 career record and is riding a 43 bout winning streak. Cruz will bid to become Lehigh's 17th three-time All-American and its first two-time national champion since Darryl Burley (1979, 1983). The last Lehigh wrestler to win NCAA titles in consecutive seasons was Mark Lieberman, who did so in 1978 and 1979. Cruz will also attempt to become Lehigh's 14th three-time EIWA Champion and its first since Cory Cooperman in 2006.
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Coming off a deferred year in 2015-16, Scott Parker enjoyed a breakout campaign in 2016-17, posting a 20-5 record and winning an EIWA title at 133 before joining Darian Cruz in earning All-America honors with an eighth place finish. Parker had an impressive 16-2 mark in the regular season and came back strong after missing time with an injury suffered in the finals of the Southern Scuffle. He is now a two-time NCAA qualifier with a 53-19 career record. Parker also won the Scholar-Athlete Award for Lehigh at last year's Lewis Wrestling Dinner and was a member of the NWCA All-Academic Team. He posted three wins over ranked opponents at the Journeymen Collegiate Classic, a showing which earned him the Hammer Award as the event's outstanding wrestler. Parker opened this season with eight wins in eight bouts and went 2-1 over Lehigh's final three duals after returning to the lineup after missing time with an injury.
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Five of the ten Mountain Hawks expected to compete in the EIWA Tournament have competed in the tournament before. Senior Darian Cruz (3, 1, 1) is a three-time place-winner and two-time defending champion. Juniors Scott Parker and Ryan Preisch are two-time place winners, with Parker winning his first title last year. Juniors Ian Brown and Gordon Wolf return after competing two seasons ago at Princeton. In addition to the three freshmen making their EIWA debuts, junior Cortlandt Schuyler will compete for the first time and sophomore Jordan Kutler will also debut after being a late scratch at last year's tournament.
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Lehigh's EIWA lineup features three deferred freshmen with Luke Karam competing at 141, Chris Weiler at 197 and Jordan Wood at 285. Seven freshmen saw action in duals for the Mountain Hawks with Karam and Wood debuting in the opener at Bucknell and earning national rankings throughout most of the season. Weiler made his dual debut at Princeton before picking up his first dual win over No. 20 Stephen Loiseau of Drexel. Eleven Lehigh wrestlers have won EIWA titles as freshmen, most recently Randy Cruz as a true freshman in 2013. Prior to that, Cory Cooperman, Derek Zinck and Troy Letters won titles as freshmen in 2003.
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The EIWA received 47 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 47 at-large berths which will be announced on Wednesday, March 7.
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This year the nation's oldest college wrestling conference holds its 114th championships. Lehigh has historically dominated the EIWA's, having won 34 team titles including five straight from 2002-2006. Cornell is bidding for its 12th straight team title.
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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 18 EIWA tournaments.
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Tournament seeds and brackets will be announced following Friday afternoon's seeding meeting.
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The 114th EIWA Championships get underway Saturday at 11 a.m. from Hofstra's David S. Mack Sports and Exhibition Complex. Saturday's opening session will feature the first round in both the championship bracket and consolations. Session two, set for 6 p.m. Friday will feature the championship quarterfinals and a round of consolations. Session three, 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 p.m. Sunday and will be preceded by the EIWA Hall of Fame induction ceremony.
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The EIWA has partnered with FloWrestling to provide streaming video coverage of the entire tournament via its subscription-based FloPro service.
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Lehigh is currently scheduled to broadcast Sunday's finals session on ESPN Radio of the Lehigh Valley (1230/1320/1160-AM) and ESPNLV.com. In the event of a scheduling conflict with a potential Lehigh men's basketball Patriot League semifinal, the audio broadcast will move to Lehighsports.com/watch.
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Lehigh's NCAA tournament qualifiers will move on to the 88th NCAA Championships, March 15-17 at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland. The Mountain Hawks finished 12th last year, with Darian Cruz winning a national title at 125 and Scott Parker finishing eighth at 133. Lehigh has two national champions, seven finalists and 19 All-Americans in the last seven years, including 11 All-Americans over the last four seasons.
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BETHLEHEM, Pa. – Lehigh joins the other 15 EIWA member institutions in Hempstead, N.Y. for the 114th EIWA Championships, hosted by Hofstra for the first time. The EIWA is the nation's oldest wrestling conference, with Lehigh being the historically dominant team, having won 209 individual titles and 34 team championships. The Mountain Hawks went 12-3 in the dual season and were 7-1 against conference foes. Lehigh capped the dual season with home wins over Oklahoma and Pitt two weekends ago. The Mountain Hawks were ranked eighth in the final NWCA/USA Today Top 25. Lehigh has finished second to Cornell in each of the last four EIWA tournaments and will try to deny the Big Red a 12th straight team title, while trying to win its first EIWA crown since 2006. Also at stake are 47 automatic berths to the NCAA Championships in Cleveland.
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Eight Mountain Hawks appear in the latest InterMat rankings while seven are ranked Amateur Wrestling News and The Open Mat 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 second in any of the four polls. Freshman Jordan Wood is also ranked across the board. Junior Cortlandt Schuyler and freshman Luke Karam both appear in three of the four polls, while junior Gordon Wolf is ranked by InterMat only, and freshman Chris Weiler recently entered the Amateur Wrestling News rankings at 197.
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The NCAA released the third Coaches' Panel rankings and second RPI for the 2017-18 season along with the qualifier allocations for the NCAA Championships on February 22. Lehigh has 10 wrestlers in the Coaches' Panel rankings and nine in the RPI. Only junior Ryan Preisch (12) fell short of the 17 matches required to appear in the RPI. All 10 Lehigh EIWA Tournament entrants qualified a spot for their weight class for the NCAA Championships. Darian Cruz is the highest ranked Mountain Hawk, coming in at No. 1 at 125, while sophomore Jordan Kutler owns the top RPI.
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While the strength of Lehigh's team usually lies in its lightweights, where NCAA Champion Darian Cruz and All-American Scott Parker reside, it was the back half of the Mountain Hawks' lineup that helped cement home wins over Oklahoma and Pitt to close out the dual season. Lehigh won four close decisions in the first half against Oklahoma before turning things on in the second half. The Mountain Hawks trailed Pitt 10-6 at intermission before Gordon Wolf started a run of three consecutive bonus wins with a technical fall at 165 to give Lehigh the lead for good. In all, seven Mountain Hawks went 2-0 on the season's final weekend including all five wrestlers from 165 through heavyweight. Junior Ryan Preisch recorded his first fall of the season versus Oklahoma and added a major decision against Pitt.
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Darian Cruz won Lehigh wrestling's 28th individual national championship last March, capping a 31-2 junior campaign with his title at 125. Cruz won his second straight EIWA title and avenged his most recent loss to Minnesota's Ethan Lizak with a 6-3 win in the NCAA finals to win Lehigh's first national title since heavyweight Zach Rey in 2011. He was also named EIWA Wrestler of the Year. A two-time EIWA Champion and two-time All-American, Cruz went 5-0 to win the 125-pound title at the Southern Scuffle, picking up his 100th career victory in the process. He now owns a 112-18 career record and is riding a 43 bout winning streak. Cruz will bid to become Lehigh's 17th three-time All-American and its first two-time national champion since Darryl Burley (1979, 1983). The last Lehigh wrestler to win NCAA titles in consecutive seasons was Mark Lieberman, who did so in 1978 and 1979. Cruz will also attempt to become Lehigh's 14th three-time EIWA Champion and its first since Cory Cooperman in 2006.
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Coming off a deferred year in 2015-16, Scott Parker enjoyed a breakout campaign in 2016-17, posting a 20-5 record and winning an EIWA title at 133 before joining Darian Cruz in earning All-America honors with an eighth place finish. Parker had an impressive 16-2 mark in the regular season and came back strong after missing time with an injury suffered in the finals of the Southern Scuffle. He is now a two-time NCAA qualifier with a 53-19 career record. Parker also won the Scholar-Athlete Award for Lehigh at last year's Lewis Wrestling Dinner and was a member of the NWCA All-Academic Team. He posted three wins over ranked opponents at the Journeymen Collegiate Classic, a showing which earned him the Hammer Award as the event's outstanding wrestler. Parker opened this season with eight wins in eight bouts and went 2-1 over Lehigh's final three duals after returning to the lineup after missing time with an injury.
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Five of the ten Mountain Hawks expected to compete in the EIWA Tournament have competed in the tournament before. Senior Darian Cruz (3, 1, 1) is a three-time place-winner and two-time defending champion. Juniors Scott Parker and Ryan Preisch are two-time place winners, with Parker winning his first title last year. Juniors Ian Brown and Gordon Wolf return after competing two seasons ago at Princeton. In addition to the three freshmen making their EIWA debuts, junior Cortlandt Schuyler will compete for the first time and sophomore Jordan Kutler will also debut after being a late scratch at last year's tournament.
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Lehigh's EIWA lineup features three deferred freshmen with Luke Karam competing at 141, Chris Weiler at 197 and Jordan Wood at 285. Seven freshmen saw action in duals for the Mountain Hawks with Karam and Wood debuting in the opener at Bucknell and earning national rankings throughout most of the season. Weiler made his dual debut at Princeton before picking up his first dual win over No. 20 Stephen Loiseau of Drexel. Eleven Lehigh wrestlers have won EIWA titles as freshmen, most recently Randy Cruz as a true freshman in 2013. Prior to that, Cory Cooperman, Derek Zinck and Troy Letters won titles as freshmen in 2003.
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The EIWA received 47 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 47 at-large berths which will be announced on Wednesday, March 7.
Â
This year the nation's oldest college wrestling conference holds its 114th championships. Lehigh has historically dominated the EIWA's, having won 34 team titles including five straight from 2002-2006. Cornell is bidding for its 12th straight team title.
Â
Lehigh qualified seven wrestlers for the NCAA Championships last year, and has qualified at least five wrestlers in each of the last 18 EIWA tournaments.
Â
Tournament seeds and brackets will be announced following Friday afternoon's seeding meeting.
Â
The 114th EIWA Championships get underway Saturday at 11 a.m. from Hofstra's David S. Mack Sports and Exhibition Complex. Saturday's opening session will feature the first round in both the championship bracket and consolations. Session two, set for 6 p.m. Friday will feature the championship quarterfinals and a round of consolations. Session three, 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 p.m. Sunday and will be preceded by the EIWA Hall of Fame induction ceremony.
Â
The EIWA has partnered with FloWrestling to provide streaming video coverage of the entire tournament via its subscription-based FloPro service.
Â
Lehigh is currently scheduled to broadcast Sunday's finals session on ESPN Radio of the Lehigh Valley (1230/1320/1160-AM) and ESPNLV.com. In the event of a scheduling conflict with a potential Lehigh men's basketball Patriot League semifinal, the audio broadcast will move to Lehighsports.com/watch.
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Lehigh's NCAA tournament qualifiers will move on to the 88th NCAA Championships, March 15-17 at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland. The Mountain Hawks finished 12th last year, with Darian Cruz winning a national title at 125 and Scott Parker finishing eighth at 133. Lehigh has two national champions, seven finalists and 19 All-Americans in the last seven years, including 11 All-Americans over the last four seasons.
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| Event: | 114th EIWA Championships |
| Dates: | March 3-4, 2018 |
| March 3 Schedule: | Session 1: Championship first round and consolations, 11 a.m. Session 2: Championship quarterfinals and consolations, 6 p.m. |
| March 4 Schedule | Session 3: Semifinals, consolation semifinals and 7th place matches, 10 a.m, Session 4: Finals (1st, 3rd, 5th), 3 p.m. |
| Arena: | David S. Mack Sports and Exhibition Complex |
| Location: | Hempstead, N.Y. |
| Lehigh's record: | 12-3 overall, 7-1 EIWA |
| History | Lehigh has won 34 team championships, most of any EIWA school |
| Television: | None |
| Radio: | Sunday's finals session will air on ESPN Radio of the Lehigh Valley (1230/1320/1160-AM) beginning on 2:45 p.m. If there is a conflict with Lehigh men's basketball Patriot League semifinal, broadcast would move to Lehighsports.com/watch. |
| Internet broadcast: | The EIWA has partnered with FloWrestling to provide streaming video of the entire tournament via its FloPro subscription-based service. Finals audio will be available either at ESPNLV.com or Lehighsports.com/watch. |
Players Mentioned
157
/ Men's Wrestling
125
/ Men's Wrestling
141
/ Men's Wrestling
141
/ Men's Wrestling
174
/ Men's Wrestling
133
/ Men's Wrestling
184
/ Men's Wrestling
285
/ Men's Wrestling
149
/ Men's Wrestling
184/197
/ Men's Wrestling
165/174
/ Men's Wrestling
285
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