Thursday, March 21
Kansas City, Mo.
12:00 PM
Lehigh University
at
NCAA Championships
Photo by: Hannahally Photography
Eight Mountain Hawks Ready For NCAA Championships In Kansas City
3/19/2024 9:16:00 AM | Men's Wrestling
BETHLEHEM, Pa.  – Lehigh has qualified eight wrestlers for the 93rd NCAA Championships, Mar. 21-23 at T-Mobile Center in Kansas City. The Mountain Hawks are coming off of a second-place team finish at the EIWA Championships in Lewisburg, Pa., where Lehigh crowned four individual champions in first-years Luke Stanich and Ryan Crookham, junior Michael Beard and sophomore Nathan Taylor. All four EIWA Champions earned top-five NCAA seeds, led by Stanich and Crookham, who are seeded second at 125 and 133, respectively, when seeds and brackets were unveiled last week.
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Lehigh has had at least one All-American in 13 of the last 14 years. The Mountain Hawks will be looking to get back into the top 10 for the first time since 2012 after finishing in the teens six times between 2014-2019.
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Five of Lehigh's eight NCAA qualifiers have previous NCAA Tournament experience. Junior Malyke Hines will wrestle in his fourth straight tournament. He reached the round of 12 last year. Junior Michael Beard is wrestling in his third. Beard earned All-America honors for Penn State in 2021 with a seventh place finish and reached the round of 12 in 2023. Juniors Max Brignola (157), Jake Logan (165) and Nathan Taylor (285) are competing in their second tournaments, with Brignola qualifying in 2022, Logan competing in 2021 and Taylor going 1-2 in last year's tournament. Luke Stanich, Ryan Crookham and Kelvin Griffin (149) will compete at NCAAs for the first time.
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Four Lehigh wrestlers won individual EIWA titles and eight Mountain Hawks qualified for the NCAA Championships following the EIWA Championships, March 8-9 at Bucknell's Sojka Pavilion. The Mountain Hawks have first-time conference champions at the first two weights and the last two weights. Ultimately, Lehigh finished five points shy of Cornell as the Big Red won their third straight team title by a 164.5-159.5 margin. Lehigh's individual champions were first-years Luke Stanich (125) and Ryan Crookham (133), junior Michael Beard (197) and sophomore Nathan Taylor (285). Junior Max Brignola (157) was Lehigh's fifth finalist and finished second. The Mountain Hawks also had one third place finisher (Kelvin Griffin - 149), a fourth place finisher (Malyke Hines - 141) and a fifth place finisher (Jake Logan - 165); all of who qualified for NCAAs.
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In addition to its four individual champions and second place team finish, Lehigh picked up a pair of major individual awards at the EIWA Championships. Sophomore Nathan Taylor won the Sheridan Award for the most falls in the championship bracket with two in 3:55, which came in the semifinals and finals. First-year Ryan Crookham received the Coaches' Trophy, voted on by the league's head coaches, as the tournament's Outstanding Wrestler, after winning at 133 and posting his second win this season over Cornell's reigning NCAA and World Champion Vito Arujau. Taylor is the 15th Lehigh wrestler to win the Sheridan Award and the first since Jake Jakobsen in 2021. Crookham is the 21st to win the Coaches' Trophy and the first since Josh Humphreys in 2020.
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Two of Lehigh's NCAA Tournament entrants rank among the best in the country in producing bonus point victories. Junior Michael Beard is tied with Lock Haven's Wyatt Henson for the Division I lead with 16 technical fall victories, and first-year Kelvin Griffin is tied for the NCAA lead with Air Force's Wyatt Hendrickson with 15 falls this season. Twenty-four of Beard's 26 victories this season have produced bonus points, an 88.9 bonus rate. Beard also ranks sixth in the NCAA most dominant standings, averaging 4.52 team points per win. Griffin's 15 falls are the most for any first-year (eligibility) wrestler in program history and is second only to Mark Lieberman (16 in 1979) for the Lehigh single-season record.
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Lehigh's contingent of NCAA qualifiers features a fifth-year senior, two fifth-year juniors, a true junior, a third-year sophomore, two deferred first-years and one true first-year. Ryan Crookham (133) and Kelvin Griffin (149) both deferred eligibility during the 2022-23 season. Luke Stanich (125) became the 10th true first-year in Pat Santoro's 16 seasons to qualify for the NCAA Championships. Over the last 45 years, nine Lehigh wrestlers have earned All-America honors in their first season of eligibility, most recently Darian Cruz (true) and Mitch Minotti (deferred) in 2014. The full list of Lehigh first-year All-Americans can be found on page 10. Prior to Stanich, Lehigh's last true first-year NCAA qualifier was Max Brignola, who went 0-2 at 149 in 2022.
Deferred first-year Ryan Crookham has enjoyed an outstanding debut season for the Mountain Hawks. Crookham made national headlines in November when he defeated Cornell's then top-ranked Vito Arujau, the defending NCAA champion and a recently-crowned world champion, in the finals of the Journeymen Collegiate Classic. The win was the first ever for a Lehigh wrestler over a reigning world or Olympic champion. He was recognized as the EIWA Wrestler of the Week and the NCAA Wrestler of the Week. Crookham became the second Lehigh wrestler in as many seasons to knock off a top-ranked wrestler. Michael Beard defeated then-No. 1 Max Dean of Penn State in December 2022. Crookham picked up a second top-five win when he defeated Penn State's Aaron Nagao 6-4 on Dec. 3. Those first semester wins moved Crookham into the No. 1 spot in rankings by both InterMat and FloWrestling, where he currently remains. Crookham returned to the mat Feb. 24 at the F&M Scramble to conclude a 14-0 regular season and then captured the EIWA title two weeks ago, defeating Arujau 10-6 in the finals for his second win this season over the Big Red wrestler. The No. 2 seed at 133, Crookham was Lehigh's Deferred Eligibility Wrestler of the Year following a 4-1 season in 2022-23 and was the first Lehigh wrestler to be ranked No 1 since Darian Cruz in the 2017-18 season.
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Jake Logan will be the first Mountain Hawk on the mats Thursday as he will face No. 33 Jack Thomsen of Northern Iowa in a pigtail match at 165.
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Lehigh has the sixth most NCAA Champions (28) and the eighth most All-Americans (160) 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. Lehigh last finished in the top 10 at the NCAA Championships in 2012 and last finished in the top five in 2004.
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The 93rd NCAA Championships get underway Thursday at 11 a.m. CT from T-Mobile Center in Kansas City. The opening round will feature pigtail rounds and preliminaries. The three-day tournament concludes Saturday with the national finals set for 6 p.m. CT. Information on ESPN's expansive TV/video streaming coverage is listed below. Every match on every mat will be available on ESPN+ in addition to television coverage of Sessions 1, 3 and 5 on ESPNU and Sessions 2, 4 and 6 on ESPN.
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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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Lehigh has had at least one All-American in 13 of the last 14 years. The Mountain Hawks will be looking to get back into the top 10 for the first time since 2012 after finishing in the teens six times between 2014-2019.
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Five of Lehigh's eight NCAA qualifiers have previous NCAA Tournament experience. Junior Malyke Hines will wrestle in his fourth straight tournament. He reached the round of 12 last year. Junior Michael Beard is wrestling in his third. Beard earned All-America honors for Penn State in 2021 with a seventh place finish and reached the round of 12 in 2023. Juniors Max Brignola (157), Jake Logan (165) and Nathan Taylor (285) are competing in their second tournaments, with Brignola qualifying in 2022, Logan competing in 2021 and Taylor going 1-2 in last year's tournament. Luke Stanich, Ryan Crookham and Kelvin Griffin (149) will compete at NCAAs for the first time.
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Four Lehigh wrestlers won individual EIWA titles and eight Mountain Hawks qualified for the NCAA Championships following the EIWA Championships, March 8-9 at Bucknell's Sojka Pavilion. The Mountain Hawks have first-time conference champions at the first two weights and the last two weights. Ultimately, Lehigh finished five points shy of Cornell as the Big Red won their third straight team title by a 164.5-159.5 margin. Lehigh's individual champions were first-years Luke Stanich (125) and Ryan Crookham (133), junior Michael Beard (197) and sophomore Nathan Taylor (285). Junior Max Brignola (157) was Lehigh's fifth finalist and finished second. The Mountain Hawks also had one third place finisher (Kelvin Griffin - 149), a fourth place finisher (Malyke Hines - 141) and a fifth place finisher (Jake Logan - 165); all of who qualified for NCAAs.
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In addition to its four individual champions and second place team finish, Lehigh picked up a pair of major individual awards at the EIWA Championships. Sophomore Nathan Taylor won the Sheridan Award for the most falls in the championship bracket with two in 3:55, which came in the semifinals and finals. First-year Ryan Crookham received the Coaches' Trophy, voted on by the league's head coaches, as the tournament's Outstanding Wrestler, after winning at 133 and posting his second win this season over Cornell's reigning NCAA and World Champion Vito Arujau. Taylor is the 15th Lehigh wrestler to win the Sheridan Award and the first since Jake Jakobsen in 2021. Crookham is the 21st to win the Coaches' Trophy and the first since Josh Humphreys in 2020.
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Two of Lehigh's NCAA Tournament entrants rank among the best in the country in producing bonus point victories. Junior Michael Beard is tied with Lock Haven's Wyatt Henson for the Division I lead with 16 technical fall victories, and first-year Kelvin Griffin is tied for the NCAA lead with Air Force's Wyatt Hendrickson with 15 falls this season. Twenty-four of Beard's 26 victories this season have produced bonus points, an 88.9 bonus rate. Beard also ranks sixth in the NCAA most dominant standings, averaging 4.52 team points per win. Griffin's 15 falls are the most for any first-year (eligibility) wrestler in program history and is second only to Mark Lieberman (16 in 1979) for the Lehigh single-season record.
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Lehigh's contingent of NCAA qualifiers features a fifth-year senior, two fifth-year juniors, a true junior, a third-year sophomore, two deferred first-years and one true first-year. Ryan Crookham (133) and Kelvin Griffin (149) both deferred eligibility during the 2022-23 season. Luke Stanich (125) became the 10th true first-year in Pat Santoro's 16 seasons to qualify for the NCAA Championships. Over the last 45 years, nine Lehigh wrestlers have earned All-America honors in their first season of eligibility, most recently Darian Cruz (true) and Mitch Minotti (deferred) in 2014. The full list of Lehigh first-year All-Americans can be found on page 10. Prior to Stanich, Lehigh's last true first-year NCAA qualifier was Max Brignola, who went 0-2 at 149 in 2022.
Deferred first-year Ryan Crookham has enjoyed an outstanding debut season for the Mountain Hawks. Crookham made national headlines in November when he defeated Cornell's then top-ranked Vito Arujau, the defending NCAA champion and a recently-crowned world champion, in the finals of the Journeymen Collegiate Classic. The win was the first ever for a Lehigh wrestler over a reigning world or Olympic champion. He was recognized as the EIWA Wrestler of the Week and the NCAA Wrestler of the Week. Crookham became the second Lehigh wrestler in as many seasons to knock off a top-ranked wrestler. Michael Beard defeated then-No. 1 Max Dean of Penn State in December 2022. Crookham picked up a second top-five win when he defeated Penn State's Aaron Nagao 6-4 on Dec. 3. Those first semester wins moved Crookham into the No. 1 spot in rankings by both InterMat and FloWrestling, where he currently remains. Crookham returned to the mat Feb. 24 at the F&M Scramble to conclude a 14-0 regular season and then captured the EIWA title two weeks ago, defeating Arujau 10-6 in the finals for his second win this season over the Big Red wrestler. The No. 2 seed at 133, Crookham was Lehigh's Deferred Eligibility Wrestler of the Year following a 4-1 season in 2022-23 and was the first Lehigh wrestler to be ranked No 1 since Darian Cruz in the 2017-18 season.
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Jake Logan will be the first Mountain Hawk on the mats Thursday as he will face No. 33 Jack Thomsen of Northern Iowa in a pigtail match at 165.
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Lehigh has the sixth most NCAA Champions (28) and the eighth most All-Americans (160) 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. Lehigh last finished in the top 10 at the NCAA Championships in 2012 and last finished in the top five in 2004.
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The 93rd NCAA Championships get underway Thursday at 11 a.m. CT from T-Mobile Center in Kansas City. The opening round will feature pigtail rounds and preliminaries. The three-day tournament concludes Saturday with the national finals set for 6 p.m. CT. Information on ESPN's expansive TV/video streaming coverage is listed below. Every match on every mat will be available on ESPN+ in addition to television coverage of Sessions 1, 3 and 5 on ESPNU and Sessions 2, 4 and 6 on ESPN.
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The 2023-24 Lehigh wrestling season is presented by the Historic Hotel Bethlehem.
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| Event: | 93rd NCAA Championships |
| Dates: | March 21-23, 2024 |
| Session 1: | Thursday, March 21, 11 a.m. (pigtail round, round of 32) |
| Session 2: | Thursday, March 21, 6 p.m. (round of 16 and wrestleback prelims) |
| Session 3: | Friday, March 22, 11 a.m. (quarterfinals and wrestlebacks) |
| Session 4: | Friday, March 22, 7 p.m. (semifinals and wrestlebacks) |
| Session 5: | Saturday, March 23, 10 a.m. (consolation semifinals and medal rounds – 3rd-8th) |
| Session 6: | Saturday, March 23, 6 p.m. (national finals) All session times listed are Central Daylight |
| Location | Kansas City, Mo. |
| Arena | T-Mobile Center (18,000) |
| History: | Lehigh's best finish was second in 1939. The Mountain Hawks tied for 20th last year. Penn State is the defending team champion. |
| Television: | Sessions 1, 3 and 5 live on ESPNU. Sessions 2, 4 and 6 live on ESPN. |
| Radio: | None |
| Internet: | Streaming video of entire tournament on ESPN+. |
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
141/149
/ Men's Wrestling
141
/ Men's Wrestling
157
/ Men's Wrestling
165
/ Men's Wrestling
125/133
/ Men's Wrestling
285
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