Cornell puts eight into semifinals to lead EIWA Championships
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by Gary Abbott USA Wrestling
Duke Pickett of Cornell controls Jason Grimes of American at 174 pounds at the EIWA Championships. Pickett was among eight Cornell wrestlers to reach the semifinals. Justin Lafleur photo courtesy of Lehigh University.
BETHLEHEM, Pa. - The first day of the EIWA Championships at Lehigh this year runs through the preliminaries and quarterfinals with a few rounds of consolations. It is an important day for setting the stage in the team race, and keeping championship dreams alive for individuals.
In short, it’s all about upsets, advancement and, most importantly for the team race, bonus points.
Rob Koll’s Cornell Big Red, in pursuit of its ninth straight title, did a great job in all three areas, scoring tons of bonus points, advancing eight wrestlers to the semifinals, and avoiding any upsets at all. Cornell led Lehigh by five points, 93 to 88, after the first day of action.
Cornell had five No. 1 seeds, all who cruised to the semifinals: Nahshon Garrett at 125, Christopher Villalonga at 149, Brian Realbuto at 157, Duke Pickett at 174 and Gabe Dean at 184. Dean is ranked No. 1 in the nation.
“We are doing good. We are rolling. We have been picking it up here. Tomorrow will be fun. It is all practice until the nationals, really. It is good to come here and wrestle tough competition and work on the stuff you have been working on all year,” said Dean.
Also advancing to the semifinals were No. 4 seed Mark Grey at 133, No. 2 seed Dylan Palacio at 165 and No. 2 seed Jace Bennett at 197.
“Eight guys in the semis are about as well as can be expected, to be honest with you. We had two kids lose. We had a freshman, Realbuto, who had a No. 2 seed and we lost at heavyweight to a really good kid. Other than that, we had all the other eight weights win, we wrestled pretty hard and we got a lot of pins as well, which is a focus of ours. We have been focusing over the last month on bonus points, because this is the qualifier for the nationals. Don’t get me wrong, we want to win the EIWA, but at the end of the day, we want 10 guys at the national championships. You can’t score points if you sit at home, so we have to get everybody to St. Louis,” said Koll.
Lehigh put seven athletes into the semifinals, its most semifinalists since 2012. Its only No. 1 seed, Mason Beckman, scored a pair of pins in his two bouts.
“(Bonus points) are huge, both individually and as a team. We came here trying to win an EIWA title as a team in our own building. We have to get bonus points to keep pace and do the things we know how to do. Personally, I have to focus on scoring the next point,” said Beckman.
Joining Beckman in the semifinals are No. 4 seed Scott Parker at 125, No. 3 seed Randy Cruz at 141, No. 3 Santiago Martinez at 174, No. 2 Nathaniel Brown of Lehigh at 184, No. 3 Elliot Riddick at 197 and No. 3 Doug Vollaro at 285. The entire team had seven pins, and nine of the athletes had at least one match in which they scored bonus points.
“Like any tournament, you have your ups and downs. But tomorrow is the money day. We have 10 guys who placed now, but we have to get those guys back to third and put a bunch in the finals. We want to win this. Most of our guys were sharp. Some had that first-round jitters early,” said Lehigh Head Coach Pat Santoro.
Cornell and Lehigh met very recently, in the third-place match at the National Duals two weeks ago, where Cornell won by 22-15. Lehigh’s strong effort during the National Duals gave the team an additional boost coming into the conference meet.
“It was good to see that kind of competition. We had an opportunity to see three really good schools. We feel it was a good thing before the post season,” said Santoro.
Right from the opening whistle, the top two teams in the rankings started getting bonus points. No. 1 seed Nahshon Garrett of Cornell and No. 4 seed Scott Parker of Lehigh got quick pins at 125. The No. 1 seed Mason Beckman of Lehigh got a 14-second pin over Joe Nelson of Binghamton at 133. No. 3 seed Mark Grey of Cornell answered with a pin of his own. It was that kind of fast and intense right off the bat.
In the quarterfinals, Lehigh took a hit at 157, when No. 2 seed Mitch Minotti was beaten by No. 7 Noel Blanco of Drexel. Over on another mat, Cornell got a boost when No. 2 Dylan Palacio fell behind Devin Gobbo of Harvard in a wild 10-9 first period at 165, but finished the match with a pin. If that had gone differently, the lead might have been even smaller.
Sitting in third after the first day is Columbia, with 55 points, followed by Penn with 54 points and Bucknell with 52 points. Columbia put only two in the semifinals, No. 6 Angelo Amenta at 133 and No. 4 Garrett Ryan at heavyweight, but have eight athletes still in the tournament after an impressive consolation run.
In the quarterfinals at 141, No. 1 seed Todd Preston of Harvard injured his arm in his match against No. 8 seed David Pearce of Drexel, and was unable to continue, losing by injury default. He was unable to compete in the consolation round and was eliminated.
The Easterns are the oldest Div. I college wrestling conference, in its 111th year, as well as the largest Div. I qualifier with 16 teams. The EIWA received 43 qualifiers for the NCAA Championships, which is the second most behind only the Big 10.
The event is being webcast live on Flowrestling.org. Semifinals begin Saturday at 10:00 a.m.
EIWA SEMIFINAL PAIRINGS
125 pounds
No. 1 Nahshon Garrett (Cornell) vs. No. 4 Scott Parker (Lehigh)
No. 2. David Terao (American) vs. No. 3 Paul Petrov (Bucknell)
133 pounds
No. 1 Mason Beckman (Lehigh) vs. No. 4 Mark Grey (Cornell)
No. 2 Kevin Devoy (Drexel) vs. No. 6 Angelo Amenta (Columbia)
141 pounds
No. 4 Jordan Laster (Princeton) vs. No. 8 David Pearce (Drexel)
No. 2. Jamel Hudson (Hofstra) vs. No. 3 Randy Cruz (Lehigh)
149 pounds
No. 1 Christopher Villalonga (Cornell) vs. No. 4 Matthew Cimato (Drexel)
No. 2 C.J. Cobb (Pennsylvania) vs. No. 6 Chris Perez (Princeton)
157 pounds
No. 1 Brian Realbuto (Cornell) vs. No. 4 Russell Parsons (Army)
No. 6 John Boyle (American) vs. No. 7 Noel Blanco (Drexel)
165 pounds
No. 1 Peyton Walsh (Navy) vs. No. 5 Jonathan Schleifer (Princeton)
No. 2 Dylan Palacio (Cornell) vs. No. 3 Coleman Graciey (Army)
174 pounds
No. 1 Duke Pickett (Cornell) vs. No. 4 Jadaen Bernstein (Navy)
No. 2 Brian Harvey (Army) vs. No. 3 Santiago Martinez (Lehigh)
184 pounds
No. 1 Gabe Dean (Cornell) vs. No. 4 Lorenzo Thomas (Pennsylvania)
No. 2 Nathaniel Brown (Lehigh) vs. No. 6 Thomas Sleigh (Bucknell)
197 pounds
No. 1 Abram Ayala (Princeton) vs. No. 4 Canaan Bethea (Pennsylvania)
No. 2 Jace Bennett (Cornell) vs. No. 3 Elliot Riddick (Lehigh)
285 pounds
No. 1 Tyler Deuel (Binghamton) vs. No. 4 Garrett Ryan (Columbia)
No. 2. Joe Stolfi (Bucknell) vs. No. 3 Doug Vollaro (Lehigh)
Team Standings
1. Cornell, 93
2. Lehigh, 88
3. Columbia, 55
4. Pennsylvania, 54
5. Bucknell, 52
6. Princeton, 48.5
7. Binghamton University, 41.5
8. Army, 40.5
9. Drexel, 36
10. Navy, 34
11. Brown, 28
12. Hofstra, 26
13. American, 19
14. Harvard, 17.5
15. Sacred Heart, 6
16. Franklin & Marshall, 4
BETHLEHEM, Pa. - The first day of the EIWA Championships at Lehigh this year runs through the preliminaries and quarterfinals with a few rounds of consolations. It is an important day for setting the stage in the team race, and keeping championship dreams alive for individuals.
In short, it’s all about upsets, advancement and, most importantly for the team race, bonus points.
Rob Koll’s Cornell Big Red, in pursuit of its ninth straight title, did a great job in all three areas, scoring tons of bonus points, advancing eight wrestlers to the semifinals, and avoiding any upsets at all. Cornell led Lehigh by five points, 93 to 88, after the first day of action.
Cornell had five No. 1 seeds, all who cruised to the semifinals: Nahshon Garrett at 125, Christopher Villalonga at 149, Brian Realbuto at 157, Duke Pickett at 174 and Gabe Dean at 184. Dean is ranked No. 1 in the nation.
“We are doing good. We are rolling. We have been picking it up here. Tomorrow will be fun. It is all practice until the nationals, really. It is good to come here and wrestle tough competition and work on the stuff you have been working on all year,” said Dean.
Also advancing to the semifinals were No. 4 seed Mark Grey at 133, No. 2 seed Dylan Palacio at 165 and No. 2 seed Jace Bennett at 197.
“Eight guys in the semis are about as well as can be expected, to be honest with you. We had two kids lose. We had a freshman, Realbuto, who had a No. 2 seed and we lost at heavyweight to a really good kid. Other than that, we had all the other eight weights win, we wrestled pretty hard and we got a lot of pins as well, which is a focus of ours. We have been focusing over the last month on bonus points, because this is the qualifier for the nationals. Don’t get me wrong, we want to win the EIWA, but at the end of the day, we want 10 guys at the national championships. You can’t score points if you sit at home, so we have to get everybody to St. Louis,” said Koll.
Lehigh put seven athletes into the semifinals, its most semifinalists since 2012. Its only No. 1 seed, Mason Beckman, scored a pair of pins in his two bouts.
“(Bonus points) are huge, both individually and as a team. We came here trying to win an EIWA title as a team in our own building. We have to get bonus points to keep pace and do the things we know how to do. Personally, I have to focus on scoring the next point,” said Beckman.
Joining Beckman in the semifinals are No. 4 seed Scott Parker at 125, No. 3 seed Randy Cruz at 141, No. 3 Santiago Martinez at 174, No. 2 Nathaniel Brown of Lehigh at 184, No. 3 Elliot Riddick at 197 and No. 3 Doug Vollaro at 285. The entire team had seven pins, and nine of the athletes had at least one match in which they scored bonus points.
“Like any tournament, you have your ups and downs. But tomorrow is the money day. We have 10 guys who placed now, but we have to get those guys back to third and put a bunch in the finals. We want to win this. Most of our guys were sharp. Some had that first-round jitters early,” said Lehigh Head Coach Pat Santoro.
Cornell and Lehigh met very recently, in the third-place match at the National Duals two weeks ago, where Cornell won by 22-15. Lehigh’s strong effort during the National Duals gave the team an additional boost coming into the conference meet.
“It was good to see that kind of competition. We had an opportunity to see three really good schools. We feel it was a good thing before the post season,” said Santoro.
Right from the opening whistle, the top two teams in the rankings started getting bonus points. No. 1 seed Nahshon Garrett of Cornell and No. 4 seed Scott Parker of Lehigh got quick pins at 125. The No. 1 seed Mason Beckman of Lehigh got a 14-second pin over Joe Nelson of Binghamton at 133. No. 3 seed Mark Grey of Cornell answered with a pin of his own. It was that kind of fast and intense right off the bat.
In the quarterfinals, Lehigh took a hit at 157, when No. 2 seed Mitch Minotti was beaten by No. 7 Noel Blanco of Drexel. Over on another mat, Cornell got a boost when No. 2 Dylan Palacio fell behind Devin Gobbo of Harvard in a wild 10-9 first period at 165, but finished the match with a pin. If that had gone differently, the lead might have been even smaller.
Sitting in third after the first day is Columbia, with 55 points, followed by Penn with 54 points and Bucknell with 52 points. Columbia put only two in the semifinals, No. 6 Angelo Amenta at 133 and No. 4 Garrett Ryan at heavyweight, but have eight athletes still in the tournament after an impressive consolation run.
In the quarterfinals at 141, No. 1 seed Todd Preston of Harvard injured his arm in his match against No. 8 seed David Pearce of Drexel, and was unable to continue, losing by injury default. He was unable to compete in the consolation round and was eliminated.
The Easterns are the oldest Div. I college wrestling conference, in its 111th year, as well as the largest Div. I qualifier with 16 teams. The EIWA received 43 qualifiers for the NCAA Championships, which is the second most behind only the Big 10.
The event is being webcast live on Flowrestling.org. Semifinals begin Saturday at 10:00 a.m.
EIWA SEMIFINAL PAIRINGS
125 pounds
No. 1 Nahshon Garrett (Cornell) vs. No. 4 Scott Parker (Lehigh)
No. 2. David Terao (American) vs. No. 3 Paul Petrov (Bucknell)
133 pounds
No. 1 Mason Beckman (Lehigh) vs. No. 4 Mark Grey (Cornell)
No. 2 Kevin Devoy (Drexel) vs. No. 6 Angelo Amenta (Columbia)
141 pounds
No. 4 Jordan Laster (Princeton) vs. No. 8 David Pearce (Drexel)
No. 2. Jamel Hudson (Hofstra) vs. No. 3 Randy Cruz (Lehigh)
149 pounds
No. 1 Christopher Villalonga (Cornell) vs. No. 4 Matthew Cimato (Drexel)
No. 2 C.J. Cobb (Pennsylvania) vs. No. 6 Chris Perez (Princeton)
157 pounds
No. 1 Brian Realbuto (Cornell) vs. No. 4 Russell Parsons (Army)
No. 6 John Boyle (American) vs. No. 7 Noel Blanco (Drexel)
165 pounds
No. 1 Peyton Walsh (Navy) vs. No. 5 Jonathan Schleifer (Princeton)
No. 2 Dylan Palacio (Cornell) vs. No. 3 Coleman Graciey (Army)
174 pounds
No. 1 Duke Pickett (Cornell) vs. No. 4 Jadaen Bernstein (Navy)
No. 2 Brian Harvey (Army) vs. No. 3 Santiago Martinez (Lehigh)
184 pounds
No. 1 Gabe Dean (Cornell) vs. No. 4 Lorenzo Thomas (Pennsylvania)
No. 2 Nathaniel Brown (Lehigh) vs. No. 6 Thomas Sleigh (Bucknell)
197 pounds
No. 1 Abram Ayala (Princeton) vs. No. 4 Canaan Bethea (Pennsylvania)
No. 2 Jace Bennett (Cornell) vs. No. 3 Elliot Riddick (Lehigh)
285 pounds
No. 1 Tyler Deuel (Binghamton) vs. No. 4 Garrett Ryan (Columbia)
No. 2. Joe Stolfi (Bucknell) vs. No. 3 Doug Vollaro (Lehigh)
Team Standings
1. Cornell, 93
2. Lehigh, 88
3. Columbia, 55
4. Pennsylvania, 54
5. Bucknell, 52
6. Princeton, 48.5
7. Binghamton University, 41.5
8. Army, 40.5
9. Drexel, 36
10. Navy, 34
11. Brown, 28
12. Hofstra, 26
13. American, 19
14. Harvard, 17.5
15. Sacred Heart, 6
16. Franklin & Marshall, 4
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