Thursday, March 21
Pittsburgh, Pa.
12:00 PM
Lehigh University
at
NCAA Championships
Lehigh seeks strong finish at NCAA Championships in Pittsburgh
3/19/2019 12:32:00 PM | Men's Wrestling
BETHLEHEM, Pa. – The Lehigh wrestling team battled through a tight team race to capture its second straight EIWA championship. Now, Lehigh's eight NCAA qualifiers head to Pittsburgh for the 89th NCAA Championships at PPG Paints Arena.
The Mountain Hawks overcame a 20-point deficit early in the semifinal round to outscore Cornell 153-139 for their league-best 36th EIWA title. Three wrestlers earned individual EIWA titles with junior Jordan Kutler and sophomore Jordan Wood winning their second and freshman Josh Humphreys capturing his first.
Five of Lehigh's eight qualifiers have previous NCAA experience, led by Kutler who earned All-America honors with a sixth place finish last season. New this year, the NCAA seeded every wrestler 1-33 in a given weight class. Four Mountain Hawks earned top eight seeds, led by Wood, who is No. 4 at 285. Kutler is seeded fifth at 174, while Humphreys (157) and senior Ryan Preisch (184) are seeded eighth in their respective weight classes. The Mountain Hawks finished 15th last year in Cleveland and have crowned 14 All-Americans over the last five seasons. Lehigh will also be seeking its first top 10 team finish since 2012.
In the last eight seasons, Lehigh has produced two NCAA champions, seven NCAA finalists and 22 All-Americans. The Mountain Hawks have had three or more All-Americans in six of the last eight NCAA Championships, with a high of four in 2012.
Powered by a total team effort, Lehigh battled through a competitive team race to claim its second straight EIWA championship Binghamton's Events Center. The Mountain Hawks totaled 153 points, erasing a 20 point deficit Saturday morning to beat Cornell by 14. Junior Jordan Kutler and sophomore Jordan Wood won their second career individual titles, with Kutler topping Cornell's Brandon Womack 3-1 in the finals at 174 and Wood winning by medical forfeit at 285. Freshman Josh Humphreys avenged a loss to Bucknell's Zach Hartman earlier this season to claim the title at 157.
Nine Mountain Hawks placed in the two-day tournament, with all nine finishing in the top six. The Mountain Hawks went 6-3 in Saturday's final session and locked up the title when Cornell failed to get a fall in the 184 finals. In all, eight wrestlers qualified for the NCAA Championships. Senior Ryan Preisch (184) reached the finals for the third straight year. Other place-winners included sophomore Brandon Paetzell (third at 133), senior Gordon Wolf (third at 165), senior Cortlandt Schuyler (fourth at 149), sophomore Jake Jakobsen (fifth at 197) and junior Ryan Pomrinca (sixth at 141). Lehigh has now won an EIWA-best 36 team championships.
Lehigh was not known for its ability to generate bonus points during the dual season, but the Mountain Hawks turned the bonus machine on at the EIWA Championships, which helped them claim a second straight EIWA title. The Mountain Hawks won 93 of 180 bouts during the dual meet season (52%) and scored bonus points in 38 of those wins (41%). Lehigh had 11 falls during the dual season, with three apiece in EIWA wins over Bucknell and Penn. At the EIWA Championships, Lehigh went 35-12 in bouts (74%) with eight falls and 16 bonus wins (46%). The Mountain Hawks scored 25 bonus points at EIWAs on the way to their 14 point victory over Cornell.
Not only did Lehigh claim its second consecutive EIWA team title, but Mountain Hawk wrestlers claimed two of the three post-tournament awards. Senior Ryan Preisch claimed the John Fletcher Award for most career team points earned at the EIWA Tournament, with 74.5 over four tournaments, becoming just the sixth wrestler to claim all three major tournament awards. Preisch captured the Coaches' Trophy as the tournament's outstanding wrestler and also won the Billy Sheridan Award for the most falls in the shortest time in the championship bracket, at last year's tournament. He is the second Lehigh wrestler to accomplish the feat, joining Mark Lieberman, who swept all three awards in 1979. Also accomplishing the feat from the EIWA were Gene Mills (Syracuse '81), Jesse Jantzen (Harvard '04), Kyle Dake (Cornell '13) and Gabe Dean (Cornell '17). Preisch became the 20th different Lehigh wrestler to claim the Fletcher Award (Terry DeStito won it in 1974 and 1975). Darian Cruz won it last year. Prior to 2018, the last Lehigh wrestler to win the Fletcher Award was Troy Letters in 2006.
Humphreys won the Sheridan Award to become Lehigh's other major award winner.
Sophomore Brandon Paetzell will be the first Mountain Hawk on the mats Thursday as he will face No. 13 seed Austin Gomez of Iowa State in first round bout at 133.
Lehigh has the sixth most NCAA Champions (28) and the eighth most All-Americans (150) 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 15th last year and will be looking to return to the top ten for the first time since finishing eighth in both 2011 and 2012. Penn State has won the last three team titles and seven of the last eight overall.
The 89th NCAA Championships get underway Thursday at 12 p.m. from PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh. The opening round will feature pigtail rounds and preliminaries. The three-day tournament concludes Saturday with the national finals set for 7 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 TV/video streaming coverage is listed below.
The 2018-19 Lehigh wrestling season is presented by the Historic Hotel Bethlehem.
Like Lehigh Wrestling on Facebook and follow on Twitter and Instagram for exclusive updates throughout the season.
The Mountain Hawks overcame a 20-point deficit early in the semifinal round to outscore Cornell 153-139 for their league-best 36th EIWA title. Three wrestlers earned individual EIWA titles with junior Jordan Kutler and sophomore Jordan Wood winning their second and freshman Josh Humphreys capturing his first.
Five of Lehigh's eight qualifiers have previous NCAA experience, led by Kutler who earned All-America honors with a sixth place finish last season. New this year, the NCAA seeded every wrestler 1-33 in a given weight class. Four Mountain Hawks earned top eight seeds, led by Wood, who is No. 4 at 285. Kutler is seeded fifth at 174, while Humphreys (157) and senior Ryan Preisch (184) are seeded eighth in their respective weight classes. The Mountain Hawks finished 15th last year in Cleveland and have crowned 14 All-Americans over the last five seasons. Lehigh will also be seeking its first top 10 team finish since 2012.
In the last eight seasons, Lehigh has produced two NCAA champions, seven NCAA finalists and 22 All-Americans. The Mountain Hawks have had three or more All-Americans in six of the last eight NCAA Championships, with a high of four in 2012.
Powered by a total team effort, Lehigh battled through a competitive team race to claim its second straight EIWA championship Binghamton's Events Center. The Mountain Hawks totaled 153 points, erasing a 20 point deficit Saturday morning to beat Cornell by 14. Junior Jordan Kutler and sophomore Jordan Wood won their second career individual titles, with Kutler topping Cornell's Brandon Womack 3-1 in the finals at 174 and Wood winning by medical forfeit at 285. Freshman Josh Humphreys avenged a loss to Bucknell's Zach Hartman earlier this season to claim the title at 157.
Nine Mountain Hawks placed in the two-day tournament, with all nine finishing in the top six. The Mountain Hawks went 6-3 in Saturday's final session and locked up the title when Cornell failed to get a fall in the 184 finals. In all, eight wrestlers qualified for the NCAA Championships. Senior Ryan Preisch (184) reached the finals for the third straight year. Other place-winners included sophomore Brandon Paetzell (third at 133), senior Gordon Wolf (third at 165), senior Cortlandt Schuyler (fourth at 149), sophomore Jake Jakobsen (fifth at 197) and junior Ryan Pomrinca (sixth at 141). Lehigh has now won an EIWA-best 36 team championships.
Lehigh was not known for its ability to generate bonus points during the dual season, but the Mountain Hawks turned the bonus machine on at the EIWA Championships, which helped them claim a second straight EIWA title. The Mountain Hawks won 93 of 180 bouts during the dual meet season (52%) and scored bonus points in 38 of those wins (41%). Lehigh had 11 falls during the dual season, with three apiece in EIWA wins over Bucknell and Penn. At the EIWA Championships, Lehigh went 35-12 in bouts (74%) with eight falls and 16 bonus wins (46%). The Mountain Hawks scored 25 bonus points at EIWAs on the way to their 14 point victory over Cornell.
Not only did Lehigh claim its second consecutive EIWA team title, but Mountain Hawk wrestlers claimed two of the three post-tournament awards. Senior Ryan Preisch claimed the John Fletcher Award for most career team points earned at the EIWA Tournament, with 74.5 over four tournaments, becoming just the sixth wrestler to claim all three major tournament awards. Preisch captured the Coaches' Trophy as the tournament's outstanding wrestler and also won the Billy Sheridan Award for the most falls in the shortest time in the championship bracket, at last year's tournament. He is the second Lehigh wrestler to accomplish the feat, joining Mark Lieberman, who swept all three awards in 1979. Also accomplishing the feat from the EIWA were Gene Mills (Syracuse '81), Jesse Jantzen (Harvard '04), Kyle Dake (Cornell '13) and Gabe Dean (Cornell '17). Preisch became the 20th different Lehigh wrestler to claim the Fletcher Award (Terry DeStito won it in 1974 and 1975). Darian Cruz won it last year. Prior to 2018, the last Lehigh wrestler to win the Fletcher Award was Troy Letters in 2006.
Humphreys won the Sheridan Award to become Lehigh's other major award winner.
Sophomore Brandon Paetzell will be the first Mountain Hawk on the mats Thursday as he will face No. 13 seed Austin Gomez of Iowa State in first round bout at 133.
Lehigh has the sixth most NCAA Champions (28) and the eighth most All-Americans (150) 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 15th last year and will be looking to return to the top ten for the first time since finishing eighth in both 2011 and 2012. Penn State has won the last three team titles and seven of the last eight overall.
The 89th NCAA Championships get underway Thursday at 12 p.m. from PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh. The opening round will feature pigtail rounds and preliminaries. The three-day tournament concludes Saturday with the national finals set for 7 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 TV/video streaming coverage is listed below.
The 2018-19 Lehigh wrestling season is presented by the Historic Hotel Bethlehem.
| Event: | 89th NCAA Championships |
| Dates: | March 21-23, 2019 |
| Session 1: | Thursday, March 21, 12 p.m. (pigtail round, round of 32) |
| Session 2: | Thursday, March 21, 7 p.m. (round of 16 and wrestleback prelims) |
| Session 3: | Friday, March 22, 11 a.m. (quarterfinals and wrestlebacks) |
| Session 4: | Friday, March 22, 8 p.m. (semifinals and wrestlebacks) |
| Session 5: | Saturday, March 23, 11 a.m. (consolation semifinals and medal rounds – 3rd-8th) |
| Session 6: | Saturday, March 23, 7 p.m. (national finals) All session times listed are Eastern Daylight |
| Location | Pittsburgh, Pa. |
| Arena | PPG Paints Arena (19,758) |
| History: | Lehigh's best finish was second in 1939. The Mountain Hawks finished 15th last year with three All-Americans. Penn State is the three-time defending team champion. |
| Television: | Sessions 1, 3 and 5 live on ESPNU. Sessions 2, 4 and 6 live on ESPN. |
| Radio: | None |
| Internet: | FREE live audio of all Lehigh matches at Lehighsports.com/watch Streaming video of entire tournament on ESPN3/ESPN App. |
Like Lehigh Wrestling on Facebook and follow on Twitter and Instagram for exclusive updates throughout the season.
Players Mentioned
125
/ Men's Wrestling
157
/ Men's Wrestling
197
/ Men's Wrestling
174
/ Men's Wrestling
133
/ Men's Wrestling
141
/ Men's Wrestling
184
/ Men's Wrestling
149
/ Men's Wrestling
157/165
/ Men's Wrestling
285
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