Finals set for 2014 EIWA Championships, Cornell leads team race

PHILADELPHIA, Penn. - The Cornell Big Red are running away with the team championship at the 2014 EIWA Championships held at The Palestra on the campus of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, Penn.

Cornell leads second place Lehigh by 53 points after the semi-final round that saw five Big Red wrestlers advance to the finals of the 2014 EIWA Championships Sunday afternoon.

Representing Cornell in the finals will be Nahshon Garrett at 125 lbs., Christopher Villalonga at 149 lbs., Dylan Palacio at 165 lbs., Gabriel Dean at 184 lbs. and Jace Bennett at 197 lbs.

Lehigh earned two spots in the Championship finals with Mason Beckman and Mitchell Minotti both winning their semi-final bouts.

133-pounder Mason Beckman scored an overtime win over Vincent Dellefave of Rutgers in the semis, riding out Dellefave in the second tiebreaker period. Beckman will face No. 6 seed Kevin Devoy of Drexel in the finals who knocked off No. 2 seed Mark Grey of Cornell in the semi-finals, also in overtime.

Minotti breezed through to the 149-pound finals with a 13-5 win over Hofstra’s Cody Ruggirello. Minotti will face Villalonga in the only finals bout that pits the top two teams against each other.

The 157-pound finals bout will feature No. 1 seed from Boston University Nestor Taffur against No. 7 seed Markus Scheidel of Columbia. Scheidel will look to continue his hot streak as he has already upset the No. 2 seed Brian Realbuto of Cornell and No. 3 seed Joseph Napoli of Lehigh thus far.

Tournament host University of Pennsylvania also has two finalists in Bradley Wukie at 174 lbs. and Lawrence Thomas at 184 lbs.

The 2014 EIWA Championship finals will be broadcast live on Flowrestling.org at 4:00 p.m. EST.

For compete brackets and results please visit trackwrestling.com.

Team Standings after Semi-Finals
Cornell 132.5, Lehigh 79.5, Rutgers 72.5, Hofstra 66.0, Columbia 58.0, Navy 55.0, Binghamton 54.0, Harvard 50.5, American 49.5, Penn 49.5, Princeton 45.5, Boston 43.0, Drexel 40.5, Army 40.0, Bucknell 38.5, Brown 16.5, Franklin & Marshall 13.5, Sacred Heart 0.0
Finals Matchups
125 lbs.
No. 1 Nahshon Garrett (Cornell) vs. No. 2 David Terao
133 lbs.
No. 1 Mason Beckman (Lehigh) vs. No. 6 Kevin Devoy (Drexel)
141 lbs.
No. 4 Todd Preston (Harvard) vs. No. 3 Luke Vaith (Hofstra)
149 lbs.
No. 1 Chris Villalonga (Cornell) vs. No. 2 Mitchell Minotti (Lehigh)
157 lbs.
No. 1 Nestor Taffur (Boston) vs. No. 7 Markus Scheidel (Columbia)
165 lbs.
No. 1 Dylan Palacio (Cornell) vs. No. 2 Joseph Booth (Hofstra)
174 lbs.
No. 8 Bradley Wukie (Penn) vs. No. 3 Mathew Miller (Navy)
184 lbs.
No. 1 Gabriel Dean (Cornell) vs. No. 2 Lawrence Thomas (Penn)
197 lbs.
No. 5 Cody Reed (Binghamton) vs. No. 2 Jace Bennett (Cornell)
285 lbs.
No. 1 William Smith (Rutgers) vs. No. 2 Joe Stolfi (Bucknell)
Semi-Final Results
125 lbs.
Nahshon Garrett (Cornell) medical forfeit Paul Petrov (Bucknell)
David Terao (American) fall Jamie Franco (Hofstra) 2:00
133 lbs.
Mason Beckman (Lehigh) dec Vincent Dellefave (Rutgers) 2-1 TB2
Kevin Devoy (Drexel) dec Mark Grey (Cornell) 5-1 SV1
141 lbs.
Todd Preston (Harvard) dec Tyler Scotton (Boston) 5-0
Luke Vaith (Hofstra) dec Michael Nevinger (Cornell) 3-0
149 lbs.
Chris Villalonga (Cornell) dec Ken Theobold (Rutgers) 3-1
Mitchell Minotti (Lehigh) maj dec Cody Ruggirello (Hofstra) 13-5
157 lbs.
Nestor Taffur (Boston) dec Austin Sommer (Drexel) 6-4
Markus Scheidel (Columbia) dec Joseph Napoli (Lehigh) 3-1
165 lbs.
Dylan Palacio (Cornell) dec Josh Houldsworth (Columbia) 5-3
Joseph Booth (Hofstra) dec Casey Kent (Penn) 3-2
174 lbs.
Bradley Wukie (Penn) dec Brian Harvey (Army) 6-3
Mathew Miller (Navy) fall Shane Hughes (Columbia) 4:11
184 lbs.
Gabriel Dean (Cornell) fall Cameron Croy (Harvard) 4:00
Lawrence Thomas (Penn) dec Ophir Bernstein (Brown) 6-2
197 lbs.
Cody Reed (Binghamton) dec Bryce Barnes (Army) 5-2
Jace Bennett (Cornell) fall Abram Ayala (Princeton) 2:08
285 lbs.
William Smith (Rutgers) dec Blake Herrin (American) 2-1
Joe Stolfi (Bucknell) dec Max Wessell (Lehigh) 7-2