
Two-time defending champion Lehigh set to host 116th EIWA Championships at Stabler Arena
3/3/2020 3:14:00 PM | Men's Wrestling
BETHLEHEM, Pa. – Lehigh welcomes the other 16 EIWA member institutions to Stabler Arena for the 116th EIWA Championships as Lehigh hosts for the 25th time. The EIWA is the nation's oldest wrestling conference, with Lehigh being the historically dominant team. The Mountain Hawks enter as the two-time defending champions after winning at Hofstra in 2018 and at Binghamton last year. Lehigh now owns 36 team championships and a league-best 217 individual titles. The Mountain Hawks won their last 11 duals to finish the dual season 10th in the NWCA Top 25 with a 12-3 record. Lehigh's lineup features three returning champions and seven wrestlers with previous EIWA Tournament experience. Also at stake are 44 automatic berths to the NCAA Championships in Minneapolis.
Five Mountain Hawks appear in the latest InterMat rankings, led by senior Jordan Kutler, who is ranked third at 174. Lehigh also has six wrestlers ranked by FloWrestling and Amateur Wrestling News and eight by The Open Mat. In addition to Kutler, Brandon Paetzell (125), Josh Humphreys (157), Chris Weiler (184) and Jordan Wood (285) are ranked across the board by all four outlets. Sophomore Jimmy Hoffman (149) and junior Jake Jakobsen (197) are ranked by two outlets, while junior Nick Farro is ranked only by The Open Mat. Four of Lehigh's ranked wrestlers are rated in the top 10 in their respective weight classes.
The NCAA released the third Coaches' Panel rankings and second RPI for the 2019-20 season along with the qualifier allocations for the NCAA Championships on February 27. Lehigh has eight wrestlers in the Coaches' Panel rankings and 10 in the RPI. Seven of the 10 Lehigh EIWA Tournament entrants qualified a spot for their weight class for the NCAA Championships. Senior Jordan Kutler is the highest ranked Mountain Hawk, coming in at No. 3 in the Coaches' Panel Rankins, while owning the top RPI at 174. Junior Brandon Paetzell is also in the top five in both the Coaches' ranking and the RPI.
The Mountain Hawks closed out the dual season with a pair of victories as Lehigh routed Penn 35-9 Feb. 20 at the Palestra and then topped No. 5 Arizona State 19-14 on Senior Night in the dual season finale Feb. 21 at Leeman-Turner Arena at Grace Hall. Lehigh won six of eight contested bouts against Penn with four bonus wins. The Mountain Hawks won the first four bouts against the Sun Devils and won six total as Lehigh ended the dual season with 11 consecutive victories. Junior Chris Weiler posted key bonus point wins in both duals with senior Jordan Kutler, junior Brandon Paetzell and sophomore Jimmy Hoffman also going 2-0 over the final weekend. The 11 dual winning streak is the longest for Lehigh since the Mountain Hawks won 16 straight, starting with the final dual of the 2007-08 season and going through the first 15 of the 2008-09 season. Lehigh moved up to No. 10 in the final NWCA Dual Meet poll, marking the second time in three years that the Mountain Hawks finished the dual season as a top 10 team.
Senior Jordan Kutler has led the way for the Mountain Hawks throughout the regular season. Kutler posted a 17-1 record that included nine bonus wins and a career-high three falls. The two-time All-American and two-time EIWA champion is ranked third nationally across the board at 174. He recently posted back-to-back falls in wins over Army's Ben Harvey and Bucknell's Mitch Hartman. His lone loss this season is a 7-2 setback against second-ranked Mark Hall of Penn State. Kutler scored his first takedown against Hall in four college meetings.
Seven of the ten Mountain Hawks expected to compete in the EIWA Tournament have competed in the tournament before. Senior Jordan Kutler and junior Jordan Wood will compete in their third tournaments after winning titles in their first two appearances. Josh Humphreys won a title as a true freshman last year. Chris Weiler competed at 197 in 2018, while Brandon Paetzell, Ryan Pomrinca and Jake Jakobsen debuted for the Mountain Hawks last year. Paetzell went 0-2 at 125 competing for Rutgers at the 2017 Big Ten Tournament.
Lehigh has been well represented among the three major EIWA Tournament individual awards in recent years. Two years ago, Lehigh swept the major awards with Ryan Preisch winning the Coaches' Trophy (Outstanding Wrestler) and the Sheridan Award (Most Falls in the Championship Bracket) and Darian Cruz capturing the Fletcher Trophy (EIWA Tournament Career Team Points Scored). Last year, Preisch won the Fletcher Trophy, while freshman Josh Humphreys won the Sheridan Award. Lehigh wrestlers top the lists in terms of all three major awards. Thirteen Lehigh wrestlers have won the Sheridan Award since 1964, including nine of the last 17. The last three times Lehigh has hosted the EIWA Tournament, a Mountain Hawk has won the Sheridan Award, with Troy Letters winning in 2006, Matt Fisk in 2010 and Mason Beckman in 2015. Twenty Lehigh wrestlers have won the Fletcher Award since 1955 including the last two. Nineteen have won the Coaches' Trophy, dating back to 1936, but Preisch was the first Lehigh winner since John Van Doren in 1998.
The EIWA received 44 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 Tuesday, March 10.
This year the nation's oldest college wrestling conference holds its 116th championships. Lehigh has historically dominated the EIWA's, having won 36 team titles including the last two. Cornell had won 11 straight team titles before Lehigh's last two victories.
Lehigh is hosting the EIWA tournament for the 25th time. The Brown and White have won the team title on its home mats seven times: 1929, 1948, 1961, 1980, 1983, 2002 and 2006.
Preliminary tournament seeds will be agreed upon at Thursday's coaches meeting. Seeds will be finalized and brackets will be unveiled following Friday morning weigh-ins.
Lehigh's tournament entrants received the following pre-seeds:
125 – Brandon Paetzell – 3
133 – Nick Farro – 3
141 – Ryan Pomrinca – 7
149 – Jimmy Hoffman – 2
157 – Josh Humphreys – 3
165 – Brian Meyer – 8
174 – Jordan Kutler – 1
184 – Chris Weiler – 2
197 – Jake Jakobsen – 3
285 – Jordan Wood – 2
The 116th EIWA Championships get underway Friday at 11 a.m. from Stabler Arena. Friday's opening session will feature the pigtail round and 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.
Saturday's session three will begin at 10 a.m. with the championship semifinals and consolation third round. Consolation semifinals and seventh place matches will begin at approximately 11:50 a.m. The finals, featuring matches for first, third and fifth place, will begin at 2:30 p.m. Saturday and will be preceded by the EIWA Hall of Fame induction ceremony.
All-session and single session tickets for the 116th EIWA Championships are still available and can be purchased at LehighTickets.com or by calling 610-7LU-GAME during business hours.
The EIWA has partnered with FloWrestling to provide streaming video coverage of the entire tournament via its subscription-based FloPro service. Lehigh will broadcast Saturday's finals session on Fox Sports Radio 1230/1320 AM and 94.7 FM Allentown and LVFoxSports.com beginning at 2:15 p.m.
Lehigh's NCAA tournament qualifiers will move on to the 90th NCAA Championships, March 19-21 at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis. The Mountain Hawks tied for 13th place last year with Jordan Kutler, Ryan Preisch and Jordan Wood earning All-America honors. Lehigh has had two national champions, seven finalists and 25 All-Americans in the last eight years, including 17 All-Americans over the last six seasons. The NCAA will announce the at-large qualifiers and complete field of 330 on Tuesday March 10 and will then unveil the seeds and brackets the following day at 6 p.m.
Like Lehigh Wrestling on Facebook and follow on Twitter and Instagram for exclusive updates throughout the season.
Five Mountain Hawks appear in the latest InterMat rankings, led by senior Jordan Kutler, who is ranked third at 174. Lehigh also has six wrestlers ranked by FloWrestling and Amateur Wrestling News and eight by The Open Mat. In addition to Kutler, Brandon Paetzell (125), Josh Humphreys (157), Chris Weiler (184) and Jordan Wood (285) are ranked across the board by all four outlets. Sophomore Jimmy Hoffman (149) and junior Jake Jakobsen (197) are ranked by two outlets, while junior Nick Farro is ranked only by The Open Mat. Four of Lehigh's ranked wrestlers are rated in the top 10 in their respective weight classes.
The NCAA released the third Coaches' Panel rankings and second RPI for the 2019-20 season along with the qualifier allocations for the NCAA Championships on February 27. Lehigh has eight wrestlers in the Coaches' Panel rankings and 10 in the RPI. Seven of the 10 Lehigh EIWA Tournament entrants qualified a spot for their weight class for the NCAA Championships. Senior Jordan Kutler is the highest ranked Mountain Hawk, coming in at No. 3 in the Coaches' Panel Rankins, while owning the top RPI at 174. Junior Brandon Paetzell is also in the top five in both the Coaches' ranking and the RPI.
The Mountain Hawks closed out the dual season with a pair of victories as Lehigh routed Penn 35-9 Feb. 20 at the Palestra and then topped No. 5 Arizona State 19-14 on Senior Night in the dual season finale Feb. 21 at Leeman-Turner Arena at Grace Hall. Lehigh won six of eight contested bouts against Penn with four bonus wins. The Mountain Hawks won the first four bouts against the Sun Devils and won six total as Lehigh ended the dual season with 11 consecutive victories. Junior Chris Weiler posted key bonus point wins in both duals with senior Jordan Kutler, junior Brandon Paetzell and sophomore Jimmy Hoffman also going 2-0 over the final weekend. The 11 dual winning streak is the longest for Lehigh since the Mountain Hawks won 16 straight, starting with the final dual of the 2007-08 season and going through the first 15 of the 2008-09 season. Lehigh moved up to No. 10 in the final NWCA Dual Meet poll, marking the second time in three years that the Mountain Hawks finished the dual season as a top 10 team.
Senior Jordan Kutler has led the way for the Mountain Hawks throughout the regular season. Kutler posted a 17-1 record that included nine bonus wins and a career-high three falls. The two-time All-American and two-time EIWA champion is ranked third nationally across the board at 174. He recently posted back-to-back falls in wins over Army's Ben Harvey and Bucknell's Mitch Hartman. His lone loss this season is a 7-2 setback against second-ranked Mark Hall of Penn State. Kutler scored his first takedown against Hall in four college meetings.
Seven of the ten Mountain Hawks expected to compete in the EIWA Tournament have competed in the tournament before. Senior Jordan Kutler and junior Jordan Wood will compete in their third tournaments after winning titles in their first two appearances. Josh Humphreys won a title as a true freshman last year. Chris Weiler competed at 197 in 2018, while Brandon Paetzell, Ryan Pomrinca and Jake Jakobsen debuted for the Mountain Hawks last year. Paetzell went 0-2 at 125 competing for Rutgers at the 2017 Big Ten Tournament.
Lehigh has been well represented among the three major EIWA Tournament individual awards in recent years. Two years ago, Lehigh swept the major awards with Ryan Preisch winning the Coaches' Trophy (Outstanding Wrestler) and the Sheridan Award (Most Falls in the Championship Bracket) and Darian Cruz capturing the Fletcher Trophy (EIWA Tournament Career Team Points Scored). Last year, Preisch won the Fletcher Trophy, while freshman Josh Humphreys won the Sheridan Award. Lehigh wrestlers top the lists in terms of all three major awards. Thirteen Lehigh wrestlers have won the Sheridan Award since 1964, including nine of the last 17. The last three times Lehigh has hosted the EIWA Tournament, a Mountain Hawk has won the Sheridan Award, with Troy Letters winning in 2006, Matt Fisk in 2010 and Mason Beckman in 2015. Twenty Lehigh wrestlers have won the Fletcher Award since 1955 including the last two. Nineteen have won the Coaches' Trophy, dating back to 1936, but Preisch was the first Lehigh winner since John Van Doren in 1998.
The EIWA received 44 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 Tuesday, March 10.
This year the nation's oldest college wrestling conference holds its 116th championships. Lehigh has historically dominated the EIWA's, having won 36 team titles including the last two. Cornell had won 11 straight team titles before Lehigh's last two victories.
Lehigh is hosting the EIWA tournament for the 25th time. The Brown and White have won the team title on its home mats seven times: 1929, 1948, 1961, 1980, 1983, 2002 and 2006.
Preliminary tournament seeds will be agreed upon at Thursday's coaches meeting. Seeds will be finalized and brackets will be unveiled following Friday morning weigh-ins.
Lehigh's tournament entrants received the following pre-seeds:
125 – Brandon Paetzell – 3
133 – Nick Farro – 3
141 – Ryan Pomrinca – 7
149 – Jimmy Hoffman – 2
157 – Josh Humphreys – 3
165 – Brian Meyer – 8
174 – Jordan Kutler – 1
184 – Chris Weiler – 2
197 – Jake Jakobsen – 3
285 – Jordan Wood – 2
The 116th EIWA Championships get underway Friday at 11 a.m. from Stabler Arena. Friday's opening session will feature the pigtail round and 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.
Saturday's session three will begin at 10 a.m. with the championship semifinals and consolation third round. Consolation semifinals and seventh place matches will begin at approximately 11:50 a.m. The finals, featuring matches for first, third and fifth place, will begin at 2:30 p.m. Saturday and will be preceded by the EIWA Hall of Fame induction ceremony.
All-session and single session tickets for the 116th EIWA Championships are still available and can be purchased at LehighTickets.com or by calling 610-7LU-GAME during business hours.
The EIWA has partnered with FloWrestling to provide streaming video coverage of the entire tournament via its subscription-based FloPro service. Lehigh will broadcast Saturday's finals session on Fox Sports Radio 1230/1320 AM and 94.7 FM Allentown and LVFoxSports.com beginning at 2:15 p.m.
Lehigh's NCAA tournament qualifiers will move on to the 90th NCAA Championships, March 19-21 at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis. The Mountain Hawks tied for 13th place last year with Jordan Kutler, Ryan Preisch and Jordan Wood earning All-America honors. Lehigh has had two national champions, seven finalists and 25 All-Americans in the last eight years, including 17 All-Americans over the last six seasons. The NCAA will announce the at-large qualifiers and complete field of 330 on Tuesday March 10 and will then unveil the seeds and brackets the following day at 6 p.m.
Event: | 116th EIWA Championships |
Dates: | March 6-7, 2020 |
March 6 Schedule: | Session 1: Championship first round and consolations, 11 a.m. Session 2: Championship quarterfinals and consolations, 6 p.m. |
March 7 Schedule | Session 3: Semifinals, consolation semifinals and 7th place matches, 10 a.m. Finals (1st, 3rd, 5th) will begin at 2:30 p.m. |
Arena: | Stabler Arena |
Location: | Bethlehem, Pa. |
Lehigh's dual record: | 12-3 overall, 7-1 EIWA |
History | Lehigh has won 36 team championships, most of any EIWA school, and are the two-time defending champions |
Television: | None |
Radio: | Saturday's finals session will air on Fox Sports Radio 1230/1320 AM and 94.7 FM Allentown and LVFoxSports.com beginning at 2:15 p.m. |
Internet broadcast: | The EIWA has partnered with FloWrestling to provide streaming video of the entire tournament via its FloPro subscription-based service. |
Like Lehigh Wrestling on Facebook and follow on Twitter and Instagram for exclusive updates throughout the season.
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