Cornell leads EIWA Championships after day one with seven semifinalists

NCAA champion Gabe Dean (Cornell) among seven Cornell semifinalists at EIWA Championships. Photo: Tony Rotundo, WrestlersAreWarriors.com.

PRINCETON, N.J. – This was the year that Cornell would be deposed as the team champion at the EIWA tournament, but someone forgot to tell head coach Rob Koll’s crew.

The Big Red placed all five No. 1 seeds into the 10 a.m. Sunday semifinals, seven overall, to take command of the team race. A total of 51 automatic qualifying spots for the 2016 NCAA Division I Championships in New York City are on the line Sunday, the second highest allocation behind the 71 for the Big Ten.

Lehigh, currently sitting in second place in the team race, pushed six into the semis. Both Lehigh and Cornell advanced all 10 of their wrestlers into Sunday’s rounds, guaranteeing at least eighth place finishes.

“Honestly, I felt like we’d score a lot of bonus points and felt that would be one way we’d separate ourselves,” said Koll, whose team seeks to cement its 10th straight EIWA title on Sunday. “Lehigh could make the argument they could have more guys in the finals, but in a tournament this tough, you’re going to have upsets, and I felt our high end guys were better than anybody in the tournament. I felt we’d be more consistent, and it panned out.”

All five of Cornell’s No. 1 seeds advanced to the semifinals. Lehigh had no No. 1 seeds, but six No. 2 seeds, and five of those advanced in the championship bracket.

Gabe Dean, Cornell’s returning NCAA champion at 184 and ranked No. 1 in the country, picked up a pair of pins to lead the Big Red team’s run as he seeks a third straight EIWA title.

“We’re just looking forward to scoring as many points as possible and wrestling for the full seven minutes and the rest will take care of itself,” said Dean. “There are a lot of things you can’t control, so we’re just focusing on what we can control.”

Teammate Nahshon Garrett, the top seed at 133 and also No. 1 in the country, picked up a pin and a major decision and is gunning for his fourth EIWA individual title, something even four-time NCAA champion Kyle Dake couldn’t accomplish.

“Honestly, this is the one tournament I care the least about,” Garrett said. “It doesn’t really matter what happens here. What matters is at the end.”

Dean understands Garrett’s mindset.

“It’s awesome to do well at the conference and come away with a championship, it’s an amazing accomplishment,” Dean said, “but what really matters is New York City in two weeks. Ask anyone here and they’ll tell you they’d take a loss here to not have a loss in New York City.”

Garrett, who finished a disappointing fifth at NCAAs last year after earning second in 2014 and third in 2013, does have his eyes on the team battle here, however.

“We’ve won it every time,” he said. “I think this year’s a little bit different. We’ve got a younger team, other teams are pretty good, like Lehigh. That’s who we’re really competing against. It’s important. I try my best to do what I need to do to score points for my team. Everyone has to play their part and do what we need to do.”

Lehigh is chasing Cornell for the third straight season and the sixth time in the last nine years after winning six consecutive conference crowns. The Mountain Hawks also won a dual meet at Cornell this season, but Cornell is ranked ahead of Lehigh in tournament strength.

“There’s a lot of wrestling left,” said Lehigh coach Pat Santoro. “We have a lot of work to do tomorrow. It’s going to be a big day. We’ve got 10 still alive. We have to come back and get a lot of thirds, we’ve got to punch a lot into the finals. We’ve got to wrestle more intensely tomorrow than we did today.”

“Cornell has won the past nine years, so I think it’s time to bring the trophy back to Lehigh,” said Darien Cruz, Lehigh’s sophomore All-American from 2014 who won by technical fall and pin on Saturday to make the semifinals. “I think we have the team to do it, We’re solid through the lineup. I’m excited about our chances.”

Cruz is equally as excited to be joining his older brother, 141-pounder Randy Cruz, in the semifinals.

Randy Cruz is the No. 3 seed at 141 and won the 133-pound title as a true freshman I 2013, but red-shirted when Darien was a freshman, and Darien red-shirted last season when Randy won the EIWA title at 141.

“Oh my gosh it’s so exciting just to be able to share something like this with my brother at the college level just like we did in elementary, middle school and high school,” Darien Cruz said. “It’s an honor.”

2016 EIWA CHAMPIONSHIPS
March 5-6 at Princeton, N.J.

Team scoring
1. Cornell 91.5
2. Lehigh 82.5
3. Bucknell 55
4. American 47.5
5. Navy 47
6. Penn 43
7. Army 42.5
8. Drexel 41
9. Princeton 40.5
10. Harvard 33.5
11. Columbia 26.5
12. Sacred Heart 23
13. F&M 21
14. Brown 20
15. Hofstra 16.5
16. Binghamton 15

Semifinal Match-Ups
125 pounds
No. 1 Paul Petrov (Bucknell) vs. No. Zach Fuentes (Drexel)
No. 3 David Terao (American) vs. No. 2 Darien Cruz (Lehigh)

133 pounds
No. 1 Nahshon Garrett (Cornell) vs. No. 5 Caleb Richardson (Penn)
No. 6. Zack Davis (Navy) vs. No. 2 Mason Beckman (Lehigh)

141 pounds
No. 1 Rick Durso (F&M) vs. No. 5 Jordan Laster (Princeton)
No. 3 Randy Cruz (Lehigh) vs. No. 2 Todd Preston (Harvard)

149 pounds
Unseeded Tom Page (American) vs. No. 5 Joe Glasso (Cornell)
No. 6 Victor Lopez (Bucknell) vs. No. 2 Matt Cimato (Drexel)

157 pounds
No. 1 Dylan Palacio (Cornell) vs. No. 5 May Bethea (Penn)
No. 3 Justin Staudenmayer (Brown) vs. No. 2 John Boyle (American)

165 pounds
No. 1 George “Duke” Pickett (Cornell) vs. No. 4 Tyrel White (Columbia)
No. 3 Devon Gobbo (Harvard) vs. No. 2 Ryan Preisch (Lehigh)

174 pounds
No. 1 Brian Realbuto (Cornell) vs. No. 5 Jasden Bernstein (Navy)
No. 3 Brian Harvey (Army) vs. No. 7 Rustin Barrick (Bucknell)

184 pounds
No. 1 Gabe Dean (Cornell) vs. No. 4 Lorenzo Thomas (Penn)
No. 3 Mat Miller (Navy) vs. No. 2 Nathaniel Brown (Lehigh)

197 pounds
No. 1 Brett Harner (Princeton) vs. Frank Mattiavr (Penn)
No. 6 Bryce Barnes (Army) vs. No. 7 Jeric Kasunic (American)

285 pounds
No. 1. Joe Stolfi (Bucknell) vs. No. 4 Jeramy Sweaney (Cornell)
No. 3 Mike Hughes (Hofstra) vs. No. 2. Max Wessell (Lehigh)