Lehigh To Recognize Senior Class, Alumni Saturday Versus Princeton

Saturday, February 17

Bethlehem, Pa.

7:00 PM

Lehigh University

Princeton

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Photo by: Hannahally Photography

Lehigh To Recognize Senior Class, Alumni Saturday Versus Princeton

2/15/2024 11:39:00 AM | Men's Wrestling

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BETHLEHEM, Pa. - No. 15 Lehigh will close out its home schedule Saturday night when the Mountain Hawks welcome Princeton to Leeman-Turner Arena at Grace Hall. Saturday's dual will be both Alumni Night and Senior Night as Lehigh will welcome back its wrestling alumni while also recognizing 11 graduating members of the program. The Mountain Hawks defeated Bucknell 31-11 last Friday for their sixth consecutive dual victory. Lehigh captured seven bouts from the Bison including five victories by technical fall. Michael Beard picked up his NCAA-leading 13th technical fall victory while Jake Logan picked up a top-15 win over Bucknell's Noah Mulvaney. Princeton will head to Penn Saturday before trekking up to Lehigh. The Tigers are 5-5 in duals after falling at home to Cornell and Binghamton last weekend.

Lehigh Probable Starters (Rankings FloWrestling/InterMat 2/13/24)
125 Sheldon Seymour (So., Troy, Pa.)
       No. 2/2 Luke Stanich (Fy., Roxbury, N.J.)
133 No. 1/1 Ryan Crookham (Fy., Hellertown, Pa.)
141 No. 15/16 Malyke Hines (Jr., Kissimmee, Fla.)
149 Kelvin Griffin (Fy., Berwick, Maine)
       Owen Reinsel (Fy., Summerville, Pa.)
157 No. 25/24 Max Brignola (Jr., Fair Haven, N.J.)
165 No. 25/33 Jake Logan (Jr., New Rochelle, N.Y.)
174 Connor Herceg (So., Nazareth, Pa.)
184 Jack Wilt (So., Madison, N.J.)
197 No. 6/3 Michael Beard (Jr., Reading, Pa.)
285 No. 7/8 Nathan Taylor (So., Brookville, Pa.)

Lehigh is welcoming back wrestling alumni Saturday night and the program will be recognizing legendary former head coach Thad Turner '61, who led the Brown and White from 1971-88. Turner amassed a 171-104-5 dual meet record during his tenure. He guided Lehigh to eight EIWA team titles, coached six wrestlers to nine NCAA individual championships and mentored 23 men to 43 All-America honors.

Powered by five wins via technical fall, No. 15 Lehigh rolled to a 31-11 win over Bucknell Feb. 9 inside Leeman-Turner Arena at Grace Hall. The Mountain Hawks won seven bouts overall including five of the six bouts. Lehigh has now won six straight duals, all against EIWA opponents. First-year Luke Stanich returned to the Lehigh lineup at 125 with the first of five technical falls on the night. Juniors Malyke Hines (141), Max Brignola (157) and Michael Beard (197) and sophomore Nathan Taylor (285) all added technical fall victories, with Beard netting his NCAA Division I-leading 13th of the season. Lehigh's other two winners were first-year Kelvin Griffin (149) and junior Jake Logan, who defeated 12th-ranked Noah Mulvaney 9-8 at 165.

Lehigh will recognize its 11 member senior class prior to Saturday's dual. The Mountain Hawks' class of 2024 includes fifth-year wrestlers Luca Frinzi, Nathan Haubert, Jake Logan and Connor McGonagle, fourth-year wrestlers Karam Chakif, Connor Herceg, Sean Kilrain, Tyler Sung and Caden Wright, plus
managers Luci Farro and Giselle Kimball.

The NCAA announced the second coaches' ranking and first RPI on Feb. 15. The Mountain Hawks are well represented with seven wrestlers in the top 33 of the coaches' ranking and eight in the RPI. Lehigh has four wrestlers in the top six in the coaches' rankings at their respective weights, led by Ryan Crookham, who occupies the top spot at 133. Five Mountain Hawks are in the top seven of the RPI, led by Michael Beard, who is No. 1 at 197. The coaches' ranking and RPI are two of several criteria that will be evaluated by the NCAA Division I Wrestling Committee during the at-large selection and seeding process for the NCAA Championships. For ranking purposes, coaches may only consider a wrestler that has been designated as a starter at a respective weight class. Wrestlers must have eight Division I matches in the weight class to be considered with at least one within the last 30 days. Fifteen matches are required for an RPI. The third coaches' ranking, second RPI and conference allocations are expected to be announced on Feb. 29.

Seven Lehigh wrestlers appear in the latest rankings from InterMat and FloWrestling, while eight appear in the WrestleStat top 33. Five Mountain Hawks are ranked by both Amateur Wrestling News and The Open Mat. A top-15 win for Jake Logan moved him back into InterMat and WrestleStat's rankings. First-years Luke Stanich (125) and Ryan Crookham (133), junior Michael Beard (197) and Nathan Taylor (285) are all ranked in the top 10 by four outlets. Junior Malyke Hines joins Crookham, Beard and Taylor in being ranked by all five outlets. The strong individual rankings have helped move Lehigh into a tie for fourth place in InterMat's tournament strength poll.

Princeton travels to Penn Saturday afternoon before visiting the Mountain Hawks at night. The Tigers are 5-5 overall and 3-3 against EIWA opponents. Princeton had won three straight duals over Ivy League opponents before dropping home matches to Cornell and Binghamton last weekend. Four Tigers appear in the latest InterMat rankings, led by top-12 Luke Stout at 197. Eligh Rivera (149), Nate Dugan (184) and Matthew Cover (285) are also nationally ranked. Longtime Princeton assistant Joe Dubuque is in his first season as the Tigers' head coach after replacing Chris Ayres, who is now at Stanford.

Princeton is Lehigh's seventh most-wrestled rival as Saturday's dual will be the 65th in a series that dates back to 1911. Lehigh's win last year stopped a three-dual Princeton winning streak in the series after the Mountain Hawks had won 14 straight from 1969-2017. The Mountain Hawks are 7-3 against Princeton under Pat Santoro.

Saturday's dual begins just after 7 p.m. from Leeman-Turner Arena at Grace Hall. Tickets can be purchased at LehighTickets.com or by calling 610-758-4263 during business hours.

Lehigh will close out the dual season next Saturday when the Mountain Hawks visit No. 20 Arizona State. The Mountain Hawks will be looking to avenge narrow losses to the Sun Devils in each of the last two seasons. Match time is set for 9 p.m. ET/7 p.m. MST from Tempe, Ariz. The 120th EIWA Championships will be held March 8-9 at Bucknell's Sojka Pavilion.

The 2023-24 Lehigh wrestling season is presented by the Historic Hotel Bethlehem.

Date:	February 17, 2024
Opponent:	Princeton Tigers
First match:	7:05 p.m.
Arena:	Leeman-Turner Arena at Grace Hall
Location:	Bethlehem, Pa.
Lehigh's record:	6-3 overall, 6-0 EIWA
Princeton's record:	5-5 overall, 3-3 EIWA
Series:	Lehigh leads 55-8-1
Streak:	Lehigh won last year's dual
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 on FloWrestling.org Audio at LVFoxSports.com