Friday, January 19
Bethlehem, Pa.
7:00 PM
Lehigh University
vs
Penn
Photo by: Hannah Ally
No. 17 Lehigh To Host Penn, No. 18 Navy To Conclude EIWA Homestand
1/17/2024 4:12:00 PM | Men's Wrestling
BETHLEHEM, Pa. - After picking a pair of big home dual wins last weekend, No. 17 Lehigh closes out its four-dual homestand by welcoming EIWA foes Penn and Navy to Leeman-Turner Arena at Grace Hall. Friday's Penn match is Take Down Cancer, presented by Red Robin in Partnership with the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Saturday's Navy dual is Salute to Service, presented by Weis Markets.
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Last weekend, Lehigh defeated Binghamton 29-12 and then won the final three bouts to erase a 16-8 deficit in a 17-16 win over No. 9 Cornell. Junior Michael Beard defeated a pair of former All-Americans at 197 while true first-year Luke Stanich won a 3-0 decision over No. 14 Brett Ungar in the winner-take-all final bout against Cornell. Beard, sophomore heavyweight Nathan Taylor and first-year Ryan Crookham (133) all went 2-0 in last week's action. With the two victories, Lehigh moved up six spots in the NWCA Top 25 and the Mountain Hawks were recognized as the NCAA Wrestling Team of the Week.
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Lehigh Probable Starters (Rankings FloWrestling/InterMat 1/16/24)
125 Sheldon Seymour (So., Troy, Pa.)Â Â
      No. 2/3 Luke Stanich (Fy., Roxbury, N.J.)  Â
133 No. 1/1 Ryan Crookham (Fy., Hellertown, Pa.)Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â
141 No. 13/18 Malyke Hines (Jr., Kissimmee, Fla.)Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â
149 Kelvin Griffin (Fy., Berwick, Maine)
      Drew Munch (Jr., East Stroudsburg, Pa.)   Â
157 No. 25/23 Max Brignola (Jr., Fair Haven, N.J.)Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â
165 No. 27/NR Jake Logan (Jr., New Rochelle, N.Y.)Â Â Â Â Â
174 Connor Herceg (So., Nazareth, Pa.)
184 Jack Wilt (So., Madison, N.J.)
197 No. 7/7 Michael Beard (Jr., Reading, Pa.)Â Â Â
285 No. 8/8 Nathan Taylor (So., Brookville, Pa.)
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Trailing by eight with three bouts remaining, No. 23 Lehigh reeled off three consecutive wins by decision to knock off No. 9 Cornell 17-16 Jan. 13 in front of a sellout crowd of 1,944 at Leeman-Turner Arena at Grace Hall. Wins by junior Michael Beard (197) and sophomore Nathan Taylor (285) meant the match came down to the lightweights at 125. True first-year Luke Stanich won a 3-0 decision over 14th-ranked Brett Ungar to send the Lehigh faithful into celebration and give the Mountain Hawks their fourth win in their last five duals against the Big Red. The teams split the 10 bouts with Lehigh having a 2-1 edge in bonus points, by way of first-year Ryan Crookham's match-opening technical fall victory over Ethan Qureshi at 133. Trailing 13-5 at intermission, sophomore Connor Herceg bumped up to 174 to defeat Benny Baker 10-4 and Lehigh won the final three bouts with Beard, Taylor and Stanich all defeating ranked opponents.
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Lehigh opened the 2024 portion of its dual schedule with a 29-12 win over Binghamton on Jan. 12, the Mountain Hawks' first dual win of the season. The Mountain Hawks won six of 10 bouts, recording bonus points in all six victories. Lehigh built a 19-3 lead halfway behind three technical falls and a major decision. After the Bearcats closed within 19-12 after eight bouts, junior Michael Beard won a major decision over nationally-ranked Lou DePrez at 197 to clinch the dual and sophomore Nathan Taylor pinned Cory Day at 285 to close the match.
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It has been a wild season at 125, with results showing that anyone at the lightest weight class can beat just about anyone else on a given day. True first-year Luke Stanich has successfully navigated the field thus far, winning 11 of his first 12 matches in the Brown and White. Stanich won the Princeton Open in early November and capped 2023 with a title competing unattached at the Midlands Championships in late December. Stanich defeated the next four place winners below him on the way to becoming Lehigh's first-ever true first-year Midlands champ. He is 2-1 in duals, highlighted by the 3-0 match-clinching victory over Cornell's Brett Ungar to secure Lehigh's 17-16 win over the Big Red. With his 11-1 mark, Stanich has moved into the top three of both InterMat's and FloWrestling's rankings.
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Lehigh enjoyed a strong fall semester in the classroom. The Mountain Hawks posted a 3.04 team grade point average and had 27 wrestlers attain a GPA of 3.0 or better in the fall, led by junior Caden Wright, who posted a 3.92 in computer science. Twenty-three Mountain Hawks own cumulative GPAs over 3.0. First-year Luke Stanich posted a 3.7 in business in his first semester on campus while second-year wrestlers Dontae Hoose and Ryan Crookham lead among undergraduates with more than one semester under their belts. Hoose holds a 3.69 in in mechanical engineering, while Crookham carries a 3.67 in financial engineering. Fifth year juniors Jake Logan and Luca Frinzi both graduated last May with degrees in finance and both are over a 3.60 in their respective graduate programs. Logan is in graduate school studying data science, while Frinzi is pursuing his master's in technical entrepreneurship. Eight of Lehigh's 12 listed projected starters were over a 3.0 in the 2023 fall semester.
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Seven Lehigh wrestlers appear in the latest rankings from FloWrestling, while six are ranked by InterMat. Lehigh has five wrestlers ranked by both WrestleStat and The Open Mat and four ranked by Amateur Wrestling News. First-year Luke Stanich joined the InterMat rankings at No. 3 this week after entering the FloWrestling rankings last week. Ryan Crookham continues to lead the way with the No. 1 ranking at 133 in three of the five polls. Crookham owns a pair of top-five wins this season. He joins juniors Malyke Hines (141) and Michael Beard (197) and sophomore Nathan Taylor (285) are Lehigh wrestlers ranked across all five outlets. Stanich and junior Max Brignola (157) are ranked by three outlets, while junior Jake Logan remains in the Flo Wrestling rankings at 165. With three wrestlers in the top eight, according to InterMat, Lehigh has moved up to No. 10 in InterMat's Tournament Strength rankings.
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Penn will be wrestling just its fourth dual of the season and its first against EIWA opponents. The Quakers wrestled in five tournaments, including the Journeymen Collegiate Classic with Lehigh and the Midlands Championships, where Penn won the team title. Last weekend Penn won its first dual, downing North Carolina 26-10 in Chapel Hill, N.C. The Quakers' dual losses were at home at the hands of Iowa and Rutgers. Six Quakers appear in the latest InterMat ranking, led by No. 7 Nick Incontrera (174), No. 10 Michael Colaiocco (133) and No. 13 CJ Composto (141). Roger Reina is in his 25th season leading the Quakers overall and the sixth season of this, his second stint.
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Lehigh and Penn will meet for the 62nd time and the 27th time in 28 seasons after not having wrestled during the dual season between 1956 and 1996. Penn has won the last two duals in the series after Lehigh won the previous seven. The only break in the series over the last 27 seasons was 2021 when the Ivy League did not participate in intercollegiate athletics. Pat Santoro is 11-3 against the Quakers as Lehigh's head coach.
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Navy visits on Saturday with a 6-2 dual record. The Midshipmen picked up big first semester wins over ranked foes Illinois and Pittsburgh. Last weekend, Navy dropped a pair of duals to ranked opponents at the Virginia Duals, falling 24-11 to Oklahoma and 30-13 to South Dakota State. Navy shut out American on Dec. 21 in its lone EIWA dual. Five Midshipmen appear in the InterMat rankings, led by heavyweight Grady Greiss (No. 18), the returning EIWA champion. Josh Koderhandt (141) and Andrew Cerniglia (165) are also in the top 20. Cary Kolat is in his fourth season as Navy's head coach.
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Navy is Lehigh's second most often-wrestled rival trailing only Penn State. Lehigh has won 11 of the last 12 duals with Navy's victory in 2021 in Annapolis snapping a nine dual winning streak in the series for the Mountain Hawks. Navy was Lehigh's second-ever opponent in Lehigh's inaugural 1910 season. Lehigh now leads the all-time series 55-48. Pat Santoro is 13-2 versus the Midshipmen.
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Friday's Penn dual begins at 7 p.m. while Saturday's match with Navy is slated for a 2 p.m. start. Tickets for both duals can be purchased at LehighTickets.com or by calling 610-758-4263 during business hours.
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Prior to Friday's match, a local high school girls wrestling match will be held at 4 p.m. inside Grace Hall. Admission to the high school match is included in your ticket to the Lehigh match.
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Lehigh will be off from competition next weekend and will return to the mats on Sunday, Feb. 4 when the Mountain Hawks visit EIWA rival Army West Point at 2 p.m. The Mountain Hawks' next home dual will be against Bucknell, Friday, Feb. 9 at 7 p.m.
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The 2023-24 Lehigh wrestling season is presented by the Historic Hotel Bethlehem.
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Like Lehigh Wrestling on Facebook and follow on X/Twitter and Instagram for exclusive updates throughout the season.
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Last weekend, Lehigh defeated Binghamton 29-12 and then won the final three bouts to erase a 16-8 deficit in a 17-16 win over No. 9 Cornell. Junior Michael Beard defeated a pair of former All-Americans at 197 while true first-year Luke Stanich won a 3-0 decision over No. 14 Brett Ungar in the winner-take-all final bout against Cornell. Beard, sophomore heavyweight Nathan Taylor and first-year Ryan Crookham (133) all went 2-0 in last week's action. With the two victories, Lehigh moved up six spots in the NWCA Top 25 and the Mountain Hawks were recognized as the NCAA Wrestling Team of the Week.
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Lehigh Probable Starters (Rankings FloWrestling/InterMat 1/16/24)
125 Sheldon Seymour (So., Troy, Pa.)Â Â
      No. 2/3 Luke Stanich (Fy., Roxbury, N.J.)  Â
133 No. 1/1 Ryan Crookham (Fy., Hellertown, Pa.)Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â
141 No. 13/18 Malyke Hines (Jr., Kissimmee, Fla.)Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â
149 Kelvin Griffin (Fy., Berwick, Maine)
      Drew Munch (Jr., East Stroudsburg, Pa.)   Â
157 No. 25/23 Max Brignola (Jr., Fair Haven, N.J.)Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â
165 No. 27/NR Jake Logan (Jr., New Rochelle, N.Y.)Â Â Â Â Â
174 Connor Herceg (So., Nazareth, Pa.)
184 Jack Wilt (So., Madison, N.J.)
197 No. 7/7 Michael Beard (Jr., Reading, Pa.)Â Â Â
285 No. 8/8 Nathan Taylor (So., Brookville, Pa.)
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Trailing by eight with three bouts remaining, No. 23 Lehigh reeled off three consecutive wins by decision to knock off No. 9 Cornell 17-16 Jan. 13 in front of a sellout crowd of 1,944 at Leeman-Turner Arena at Grace Hall. Wins by junior Michael Beard (197) and sophomore Nathan Taylor (285) meant the match came down to the lightweights at 125. True first-year Luke Stanich won a 3-0 decision over 14th-ranked Brett Ungar to send the Lehigh faithful into celebration and give the Mountain Hawks their fourth win in their last five duals against the Big Red. The teams split the 10 bouts with Lehigh having a 2-1 edge in bonus points, by way of first-year Ryan Crookham's match-opening technical fall victory over Ethan Qureshi at 133. Trailing 13-5 at intermission, sophomore Connor Herceg bumped up to 174 to defeat Benny Baker 10-4 and Lehigh won the final three bouts with Beard, Taylor and Stanich all defeating ranked opponents.
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Lehigh opened the 2024 portion of its dual schedule with a 29-12 win over Binghamton on Jan. 12, the Mountain Hawks' first dual win of the season. The Mountain Hawks won six of 10 bouts, recording bonus points in all six victories. Lehigh built a 19-3 lead halfway behind three technical falls and a major decision. After the Bearcats closed within 19-12 after eight bouts, junior Michael Beard won a major decision over nationally-ranked Lou DePrez at 197 to clinch the dual and sophomore Nathan Taylor pinned Cory Day at 285 to close the match.
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It has been a wild season at 125, with results showing that anyone at the lightest weight class can beat just about anyone else on a given day. True first-year Luke Stanich has successfully navigated the field thus far, winning 11 of his first 12 matches in the Brown and White. Stanich won the Princeton Open in early November and capped 2023 with a title competing unattached at the Midlands Championships in late December. Stanich defeated the next four place winners below him on the way to becoming Lehigh's first-ever true first-year Midlands champ. He is 2-1 in duals, highlighted by the 3-0 match-clinching victory over Cornell's Brett Ungar to secure Lehigh's 17-16 win over the Big Red. With his 11-1 mark, Stanich has moved into the top three of both InterMat's and FloWrestling's rankings.
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Lehigh enjoyed a strong fall semester in the classroom. The Mountain Hawks posted a 3.04 team grade point average and had 27 wrestlers attain a GPA of 3.0 or better in the fall, led by junior Caden Wright, who posted a 3.92 in computer science. Twenty-three Mountain Hawks own cumulative GPAs over 3.0. First-year Luke Stanich posted a 3.7 in business in his first semester on campus while second-year wrestlers Dontae Hoose and Ryan Crookham lead among undergraduates with more than one semester under their belts. Hoose holds a 3.69 in in mechanical engineering, while Crookham carries a 3.67 in financial engineering. Fifth year juniors Jake Logan and Luca Frinzi both graduated last May with degrees in finance and both are over a 3.60 in their respective graduate programs. Logan is in graduate school studying data science, while Frinzi is pursuing his master's in technical entrepreneurship. Eight of Lehigh's 12 listed projected starters were over a 3.0 in the 2023 fall semester.
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Seven Lehigh wrestlers appear in the latest rankings from FloWrestling, while six are ranked by InterMat. Lehigh has five wrestlers ranked by both WrestleStat and The Open Mat and four ranked by Amateur Wrestling News. First-year Luke Stanich joined the InterMat rankings at No. 3 this week after entering the FloWrestling rankings last week. Ryan Crookham continues to lead the way with the No. 1 ranking at 133 in three of the five polls. Crookham owns a pair of top-five wins this season. He joins juniors Malyke Hines (141) and Michael Beard (197) and sophomore Nathan Taylor (285) are Lehigh wrestlers ranked across all five outlets. Stanich and junior Max Brignola (157) are ranked by three outlets, while junior Jake Logan remains in the Flo Wrestling rankings at 165. With three wrestlers in the top eight, according to InterMat, Lehigh has moved up to No. 10 in InterMat's Tournament Strength rankings.
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Penn will be wrestling just its fourth dual of the season and its first against EIWA opponents. The Quakers wrestled in five tournaments, including the Journeymen Collegiate Classic with Lehigh and the Midlands Championships, where Penn won the team title. Last weekend Penn won its first dual, downing North Carolina 26-10 in Chapel Hill, N.C. The Quakers' dual losses were at home at the hands of Iowa and Rutgers. Six Quakers appear in the latest InterMat ranking, led by No. 7 Nick Incontrera (174), No. 10 Michael Colaiocco (133) and No. 13 CJ Composto (141). Roger Reina is in his 25th season leading the Quakers overall and the sixth season of this, his second stint.
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Lehigh and Penn will meet for the 62nd time and the 27th time in 28 seasons after not having wrestled during the dual season between 1956 and 1996. Penn has won the last two duals in the series after Lehigh won the previous seven. The only break in the series over the last 27 seasons was 2021 when the Ivy League did not participate in intercollegiate athletics. Pat Santoro is 11-3 against the Quakers as Lehigh's head coach.
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Navy visits on Saturday with a 6-2 dual record. The Midshipmen picked up big first semester wins over ranked foes Illinois and Pittsburgh. Last weekend, Navy dropped a pair of duals to ranked opponents at the Virginia Duals, falling 24-11 to Oklahoma and 30-13 to South Dakota State. Navy shut out American on Dec. 21 in its lone EIWA dual. Five Midshipmen appear in the InterMat rankings, led by heavyweight Grady Greiss (No. 18), the returning EIWA champion. Josh Koderhandt (141) and Andrew Cerniglia (165) are also in the top 20. Cary Kolat is in his fourth season as Navy's head coach.
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Navy is Lehigh's second most often-wrestled rival trailing only Penn State. Lehigh has won 11 of the last 12 duals with Navy's victory in 2021 in Annapolis snapping a nine dual winning streak in the series for the Mountain Hawks. Navy was Lehigh's second-ever opponent in Lehigh's inaugural 1910 season. Lehigh now leads the all-time series 55-48. Pat Santoro is 13-2 versus the Midshipmen.
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Friday's Penn dual begins at 7 p.m. while Saturday's match with Navy is slated for a 2 p.m. start. Tickets for both duals can be purchased at LehighTickets.com or by calling 610-758-4263 during business hours.
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Prior to Friday's match, a local high school girls wrestling match will be held at 4 p.m. inside Grace Hall. Admission to the high school match is included in your ticket to the Lehigh match.
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Lehigh will be off from competition next weekend and will return to the mats on Sunday, Feb. 4 when the Mountain Hawks visit EIWA rival Army West Point at 2 p.m. The Mountain Hawks' next home dual will be against Bucknell, Friday, Feb. 9 at 7 p.m.
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The 2023-24 Lehigh wrestling season is presented by the Historic Hotel Bethlehem.
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| Date: | January 19, 2024 |
| Opponent: | Penn Quakers |
| First match: | 7:05 p.m. |
| Arena: | Leeman-Turner Arena at Grace Hall |
| Location: | Bethlehem, Pa. |
| Lehigh's record: | 2-3 overall, 2-0 EIWA |
| Penn's record: | 1-2 overall, 0-0 EIWA |
| Series: | Lehigh leads 48-12-1 |
| Television: | Service Electric Network 50/550 |
| Radio: | Fox Sports Radio 94.7 FM and 1230 AM in Easton beginning at 6:45 p.m. |
| Internet broadcast: | Video at FloWrestling.org Audio at LVFoxSports.com |
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| Date: | January 20, 2022 |
| Opponent: | No. 18 Navy Midshipmen |
| First match: | 2:05 p.m. |
| Arena: | Leeman-Turner Arena at Grace Hall |
| Location: | Bethlehem, Pa. |
| Lehigh's record: | 2-3 overall, 2-0 EIWA |
| Navy's record: | 6-2 overall, 1-0 EIWA |
| Series: | Lehigh leads 55-48 |
| Television: | Service Electric Network 2/502 |
| Radio: | Fox Sports Radio 94.7 FM and 1230 AM in Easton, beginning at 1:45 p.m. |
| Internet broadcast: | Video at FloWrestling.org Audio at LVFoxSports.com |
Like Lehigh Wrestling on Facebook and follow on X/Twitter and Instagram for exclusive updates throughout the season.
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Players Mentioned
197
/ Men's Wrestling
157
/ Men's Wrestling
133
/ Men's Wrestling
157
/ Men's Wrestling
141/149
/ Men's Wrestling
165
/ Men's Wrestling
141
/ Men's Wrestling
197
/ Men's Wrestling
165
/ Men's Wrestling
149
/ Men's Wrestling
125
/ Men's Wrestling
125/133
/ Men's Wrestling
285
/ Men's Wrestling
184
/ Men's Wrestling
197
/ Men's WrestlingLehigh Sports Central: Wrestling
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