Friday, March 8
Lewisburg, Pa.
10:30 AM
Lehigh University
at
EIWA Championships
Photo by: Hannahally Photography
Lehigh Prepped For EIWA Championships Beginning Friday At Bucknell
3/5/2024 4:58:00 PM | Men's Wrestling
BETHLEHEM, Pa. – Lehigh joins the other 16 EIWA member institutions at Sojka Pavilion in Lewisburg, Pa., for the 120th EIWA Championships, hosted by Bucknell, Friday and Saturday at Sojka Pavilion. The EIWA is the nation's oldest wrestling conference, with Lehigh being the historically dominant team. The Mountain Hawks have won four of the last six team titles and a league-best 38 overall. Lehigh also has a league-leading 227 individual titles. The Mountain Hawks finished the dual meet season at 7-4 with all seven wins coming against conference opponents. Lehigh's lineup features six wrestlers with previous EIWA Tournament experience, including 2021 champion Malyke Hines (141) and 2023 finalists Michael Beard (197) and Nathan Taylor (285). Also at stake are 53 automatic berths to the NCAA Championships in Kansas City.
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Lehigh Probable EIWA Tournament Entrants (Rankings are NCAA coaches from Feb. 29)
125 No. 3 Luke Stanich (Fy., Roxbury, N.J.)
133 No. 1 Ryan Crookham (Fy., Hellertown, Pa.)
141 No. 17 Malyke Hines (So., Kissimmee, Fla.)
149 Kelvin Griffin (Fy., Berwick, Maine)
157 No. 20 Max Brignola (Jr., Fair Haven, N.J.)
165 No. 31 Jake Logan (Jr., New Rochelle, N.Y.)
174 Connor Herceg (So., Nazareth, Pa.)Â Â Â Â Â Â
184 Jack Wilt (So., Madison, N.J.)
197 No. 3 Michael Beard (Jr., Reading, Pa.)
285 No. 7 Nathan Taylor (So., Brookville, Pa.)
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Seven Lehigh wrestlers appear in the latest rankings from FloWrestling and WrestleStat, while six are ranked by InterMat and five appear in the Amateur Wrestling News rankings. Five Mountain Hawks are ranked across the board with four ranked in the top 10 across the board. First-year Ryan Crookham is ranked No. 1 in three polls, while junior Michael Beard is ranked third in three polls and first-year Luke Stanich is ranked third in two.
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The NCAA also announced its third Coaches ranking and second RPI on Feb. 29. Seven Mountain Hawks appear in the coaches' top 33, led by Crookham, who is No. 1 at 133, while eight have a top 33 RPI, led by sophomore Nathan Taylor, who is No. 2 at 285. 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. Wrestlers must have eight Division I matches in the weight class to be considered with at least one within the last 30 days. Fifteen Division I matches are required for an RPI.
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The EIWA received 53 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 12.
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In the final meet of the dual season, No. 15 Lehigh saw its seven-match winning streak come to an end as No. 19 Arizona State won several key bouts early to claim a 24-14 win over the Mountain Hawks Feb. 24 at Mullett Arena. The Sun Devils won the first seven bouts early on, including matchups of ranked wrestlers at 125, 141 and 157. The Mountain Hawks got some late life from a third-period comeback from sophomore Jack Wilt at 184 and junior Michael Beard's NCAA-leading 15th technical fall of the season, but it was too little, too late as Lehigh ends the dual season at 7-4.
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Two of Lehigh's EIWA Tournament entrants rank among the best in the country in producing bonus point victories. Junior Michael Beard leads all of Division I with 15 technical fall victories, while first-year Kelvin Griffin is tied for second with 12 falls this season. Twenty-one of Beard's 22 victories this season have produced bonus points, a 91.3 percent bonus rate. Beard also ranks fifth in the most dominant standings, averaging 4.43 team points per win. Griffin's 12 falls are the most for any first-year (eligibility) wrestler in program history.
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Lehigh's victory over Princeton on Feb. 17 was its seventh consecutive dual win and completed a 7-0 showing against EIWA foes in dual meet competition. The Mountain Hawks posted dual wins over longtime rivals Cornell, Penn, Navy, Army West Point and Princeton plus relative EIWA newcomers Binghamton and Bucknell. The 7-0 EIWA record marks the fourth time under Pat Santoro that Lehigh was unbeaten in EIWA duals. The Mountain Hawks went 7-0 in 2015-16, 5-0-1 in 2009-10 and 9-0 in Santoro's first season at Lehigh, 2008-09.
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A league-leading 227 individual EIWA titles have been won by 139 Lehigh wrestlers. Last year, Josh Humphreys won his third career title at 157, while graduate student Tate Samuelson won at 184 in his lone season in the Brown and White.
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Six of the ten Mountain Hawks expected to compete in the EIWA Tournament have competed in the tournament before. Malyke Hines won an EIWA title as a first-year in 2021. Junior Michael Beard and sophomore Nathan Taylor were finalists last year. Junior Max Brignola and senior Jake Logan are previous EIWA placewinners, Beard placed sixth in his only Big Ten Tournament appearance in 2021.
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This year the nation's oldest college wrestling conference holds its 120th championships. Lehigh has historically dominated the EIWA's, having won 38 team titles including four of the last six. Cornell had won 11 straight team titles before Lehigh's last four victories and the Big Red have won the last two.
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Lehigh has been well represented among the three major EIWA Tournament individual awards in recent years. Six 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). Five years ago, Preisch won the Fletcher Trophy, while freshman Josh Humphreys won the Sheridan Award. In 2020, Humphreys picked up another major award, capturing the Coaches' Trophy after winning a stacked bracket at 157. The 2021 season saw, Jake Jakobsen (Sheridan) and Jordan Wood (Fletcher) took home major awards, with Wood repeating as the Fletcher Trophy winner in 2022. Lehigh wrestlers top the lists in terms of all three major awards. Fourteen Lehigh wrestlers have won the Sheridan Award since 1964, including 10 of the last 21. Twenty-one Lehigh wrestlers have won the Fletcher Award since 1955 including four of the last six. Twenty have won the Coaches' Trophy, dating back to 1936, with Preisch and Humphreys the first Lehigh winners since John Van Doren in 1998.
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Tournament pre-seeds were announced Tuesday afternoon with Stanich, Crookham, Beard and Taylor all seeded No. 1 at their respective weight classes. Seeds will be reviewed Thursday following a meeting of the league's head coaches and will be locked in at weigh-ins Friday morning.
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The 120th EIWA Championships will feature two sessions Friday and two sessions Saturday from Sojka Pavilion in Lewisburg, Pa. Friday's first session begins at 10:30 a.m. while the second session, featuring quarterfinals and two rounds of consolations, begins at 4:30 p.m. Wrestling on Saturday begins at 10:30 a.m. with the championship semifinals, consolation quarterfinals and semifinals and seventh place matches. The finals session, featuring placement matches for first, third, fifth, will begin at 4:45 p.m., following the EIWA Hall of Fame induction ceremony.
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The EIWA has once again partnered with FloWrestling to provide streaming video coverage of the entire tournament at FloWrestling.org (subscription required). Lehigh will offer radio coverage of Sunday's finals session on Fox Sports Radio 94.7 FM and 1230 AM and LVFoxSports.com, beginning at 4:30 p.m.
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Lehigh's NCAA tournament qualifiers will move on to the NCAA Championships, March 21-23 at T-Mobile Center in Kansas City. The NCAA will announce the at-large qualifiers and complete field of 330 on Tuesday, March 12 and will then unveil the seeds and brackets the following day.
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The 2023-24 Lehigh wrestling season is presented by the Historic Hotel Bethlehem.
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Lehigh Probable EIWA Tournament Entrants (Rankings are NCAA coaches from Feb. 29)
125 No. 3 Luke Stanich (Fy., Roxbury, N.J.)
133 No. 1 Ryan Crookham (Fy., Hellertown, Pa.)
141 No. 17 Malyke Hines (So., Kissimmee, Fla.)
149 Kelvin Griffin (Fy., Berwick, Maine)
157 No. 20 Max Brignola (Jr., Fair Haven, N.J.)
165 No. 31 Jake Logan (Jr., New Rochelle, N.Y.)
174 Connor Herceg (So., Nazareth, Pa.)Â Â Â Â Â Â
184 Jack Wilt (So., Madison, N.J.)
197 No. 3 Michael Beard (Jr., Reading, Pa.)
285 No. 7 Nathan Taylor (So., Brookville, Pa.)
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Seven Lehigh wrestlers appear in the latest rankings from FloWrestling and WrestleStat, while six are ranked by InterMat and five appear in the Amateur Wrestling News rankings. Five Mountain Hawks are ranked across the board with four ranked in the top 10 across the board. First-year Ryan Crookham is ranked No. 1 in three polls, while junior Michael Beard is ranked third in three polls and first-year Luke Stanich is ranked third in two.
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The NCAA also announced its third Coaches ranking and second RPI on Feb. 29. Seven Mountain Hawks appear in the coaches' top 33, led by Crookham, who is No. 1 at 133, while eight have a top 33 RPI, led by sophomore Nathan Taylor, who is No. 2 at 285. 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. Wrestlers must have eight Division I matches in the weight class to be considered with at least one within the last 30 days. Fifteen Division I matches are required for an RPI.
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The EIWA received 53 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 12.
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In the final meet of the dual season, No. 15 Lehigh saw its seven-match winning streak come to an end as No. 19 Arizona State won several key bouts early to claim a 24-14 win over the Mountain Hawks Feb. 24 at Mullett Arena. The Sun Devils won the first seven bouts early on, including matchups of ranked wrestlers at 125, 141 and 157. The Mountain Hawks got some late life from a third-period comeback from sophomore Jack Wilt at 184 and junior Michael Beard's NCAA-leading 15th technical fall of the season, but it was too little, too late as Lehigh ends the dual season at 7-4.
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Two of Lehigh's EIWA Tournament entrants rank among the best in the country in producing bonus point victories. Junior Michael Beard leads all of Division I with 15 technical fall victories, while first-year Kelvin Griffin is tied for second with 12 falls this season. Twenty-one of Beard's 22 victories this season have produced bonus points, a 91.3 percent bonus rate. Beard also ranks fifth in the most dominant standings, averaging 4.43 team points per win. Griffin's 12 falls are the most for any first-year (eligibility) wrestler in program history.
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Lehigh's victory over Princeton on Feb. 17 was its seventh consecutive dual win and completed a 7-0 showing against EIWA foes in dual meet competition. The Mountain Hawks posted dual wins over longtime rivals Cornell, Penn, Navy, Army West Point and Princeton plus relative EIWA newcomers Binghamton and Bucknell. The 7-0 EIWA record marks the fourth time under Pat Santoro that Lehigh was unbeaten in EIWA duals. The Mountain Hawks went 7-0 in 2015-16, 5-0-1 in 2009-10 and 9-0 in Santoro's first season at Lehigh, 2008-09.
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A league-leading 227 individual EIWA titles have been won by 139 Lehigh wrestlers. Last year, Josh Humphreys won his third career title at 157, while graduate student Tate Samuelson won at 184 in his lone season in the Brown and White.
Â
Six of the ten Mountain Hawks expected to compete in the EIWA Tournament have competed in the tournament before. Malyke Hines won an EIWA title as a first-year in 2021. Junior Michael Beard and sophomore Nathan Taylor were finalists last year. Junior Max Brignola and senior Jake Logan are previous EIWA placewinners, Beard placed sixth in his only Big Ten Tournament appearance in 2021.
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This year the nation's oldest college wrestling conference holds its 120th championships. Lehigh has historically dominated the EIWA's, having won 38 team titles including four of the last six. Cornell had won 11 straight team titles before Lehigh's last four victories and the Big Red have won the last two.
Â
Lehigh has been well represented among the three major EIWA Tournament individual awards in recent years. Six 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). Five years ago, Preisch won the Fletcher Trophy, while freshman Josh Humphreys won the Sheridan Award. In 2020, Humphreys picked up another major award, capturing the Coaches' Trophy after winning a stacked bracket at 157. The 2021 season saw, Jake Jakobsen (Sheridan) and Jordan Wood (Fletcher) took home major awards, with Wood repeating as the Fletcher Trophy winner in 2022. Lehigh wrestlers top the lists in terms of all three major awards. Fourteen Lehigh wrestlers have won the Sheridan Award since 1964, including 10 of the last 21. Twenty-one Lehigh wrestlers have won the Fletcher Award since 1955 including four of the last six. Twenty have won the Coaches' Trophy, dating back to 1936, with Preisch and Humphreys the first Lehigh winners since John Van Doren in 1998.
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Tournament pre-seeds were announced Tuesday afternoon with Stanich, Crookham, Beard and Taylor all seeded No. 1 at their respective weight classes. Seeds will be reviewed Thursday following a meeting of the league's head coaches and will be locked in at weigh-ins Friday morning.
Â
The 120th EIWA Championships will feature two sessions Friday and two sessions Saturday from Sojka Pavilion in Lewisburg, Pa. Friday's first session begins at 10:30 a.m. while the second session, featuring quarterfinals and two rounds of consolations, begins at 4:30 p.m. Wrestling on Saturday begins at 10:30 a.m. with the championship semifinals, consolation quarterfinals and semifinals and seventh place matches. The finals session, featuring placement matches for first, third, fifth, will begin at 4:45 p.m., following the EIWA Hall of Fame induction ceremony.
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The EIWA has once again partnered with FloWrestling to provide streaming video coverage of the entire tournament at FloWrestling.org (subscription required). Lehigh will offer radio coverage of Sunday's finals session on Fox Sports Radio 94.7 FM and 1230 AM and LVFoxSports.com, beginning at 4:30 p.m.
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Lehigh's NCAA tournament qualifiers will move on to the NCAA Championships, March 21-23 at T-Mobile Center in Kansas City. The NCAA will announce the at-large qualifiers and complete field of 330 on Tuesday, March 12 and will then unveil the seeds and brackets the following day.
Â
The 2023-24 Lehigh wrestling season is presented by the Historic Hotel Bethlehem.
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| Event: | 120th EIWA Championships |
| Dates: | March 8-9, 2024 |
| Schedule | Friday, March 8 10:30 a.m. – Preliminaries, round of 16, first round consolations 4:30 p.m. – Quarterfinals, second and third round consolations Saturday, March 9 10:30 a.m. – Semifinals, consolation quarterfinals, consolation semifinals, seventh place matches 4:45 p.m. – Finals and placement matches (1st, 3rd, 5th) |
| Arena: | Sojka Pavilion |
| Location: | Lewisburg, Pa. |
| Lehigh's dual record: | 7-4 overall, 7-0 EIWA |
| History | Lehigh has won 38 team championships, most of any EIWA school, and have won four of the last six (Cornell won in 2022 and 2023). |
| Television: | None |
| Radio: | Finals session only on Fox Sports Radio 94.7 FM and 1230 AM beginning at 4:30 p.m. |
| Internet broadcast: | The EIWA has once again partnered with FloWrestling to provide streaming video of the entire tournament at FloWrestling.org (subscription required). Audio broadcast of Finals session on LVFoxSports.com  |
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Players Mentioned
197
/ Men's Wrestling
157
/ Men's Wrestling
133
/ Men's Wrestling
141/149
/ Men's Wrestling
165
/ Men's Wrestling
141
/ Men's Wrestling
157
/ Men's Wrestling
165
/ Men's Wrestling
184
/ Men's Wrestling
125/133
/ Men's Wrestling
285
/ Men's Wrestling
184
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