Three individual champions propel Lehigh to another EIWA team title

Champion interviews

BINGHAMTON, N.Y. – With three individual champions, Lehigh won its second-consecutive and 36th-overall EIWA team title, scoring 153 team points over the weekend in Binghamton, N.Y.

“I’m really proud of this group. We went through a lot together this year and got better each week,” Lehigh head coach Pat Santoro said. “Three months ago, we did think this was going to happen, but they just put their noses to the grind and slowly got better, and we’re grateful to win today.”

Winning titles for the Mountain Hawks were two-time conference champions Jordan Kutler and Jordan Wood as well as true freshman Josh Humphries.

At 174 pounds, 2018 All-American Kutler successfully defended his title with a tight win over 2017 EIWA champion Brandon Womack of Cornell. Kutler earned an escape to start the second period and tacked on a takedown for an eventual 3-1 victory.

Wood won the crown at heavyweight. Although he won the finals by medical forfeit, the Mountain Hawk put together a solid tournament, tallying a fall, major decision and 6-2 decision.

In a battle of true freshmen, Humphreys took out Zach Hartman of Bucknell in the 157-pound title bout. Humphreys avenged a regular-season loss to the Bison, where Hartman registered a fall over Humphreys. This time, it was Humphreys winning with a convincing 12-6 victory.

“I went out there very relaxed this time and ready to go, and I didn’t really put any pressure on myself whatsoever. I got to my shots and didn’t let him get to his offense, and I really think that was the difference in the match,” Humphreys said.

Also producing multiple champions was second-place team Cornell, which picked up champions at 133 pounds, 141 pounds and 184 pounds en route to 139 point-performance.

Chas Tucker went from runner-up a year ago to champion, defeating Josh Terao of American with a 9-4 win to take the gold at 133 pounds.

Returning NCAA champion Yianni Diakomihalis picked up his second-straight conference title at 141 pounds. The Big Red wrestler scored three takedowns en route to an 8-2 decision over Navy’s Nick Gil. After an impressive tournament, Diakomihalis was named the tournament’s Outstanding Wrestler.

In two weeks, Diakomihalis looks to defend his 2018 NCAA title in Pittsburgh.

“The biggest thing going into NCAAs for me is keeping guys off my legs. I know that people know me as the guy that can scramble out of positions, but it’s a lot easier to win matches when guys can’t score on you,” Diakomihalis said. “I also have to make sure that I get to my offense clean and get those quick takedowns. I just have to make sure that I’m really sharp and executing everything perfectly.”

At 184 pounds, Max Dean avenged a 2018 EIWA finals lost to defending EIWA champion Ryan Preisch, shutting out the Mountain Hawk with a 3-0 effort.

Princeton, the third-place team, claimed two individual crowns, with Pat Glory taking out top-seeded Vito Arujau of Cornell at 125 pounds and Patrick Brucki defeating Ben Honis of Cornell at 197 pounds.

Both Tigers avenged losses from the dual earlier this season.

Penn and Navy picked up the other two EIWA champions tonight.

No. 1-seed Anthony Artalona from Penn survived Jared Prince of Navy, scoring a takedown in sudden victory for a 3-1 win in the 149 pounds finals, and Tanner Skidgel for Navy put up a 4-0 decision against Cael McCormick of Army for the title at 165 pounds.

Rounding out the top-five teams this weekend was Army with 106.5 points and Navy with 92.5 points. Army head coach Kevin Ward was named EIWA Coach of the Year at the conclusion of the event.

There were 47 NCAA automatic qualifier bids up for grabs this weekend, and 13 schools in the EIWA picked up at least one. Leading the way was Lehigh with eight, followed by Cornell with six and Army and Navy, which each have five.

Below is breakdown of the EIWA’s NCAA automatic qualifiers by weight and by school.

2019 EIWA CHAMPIONSHIPS
at Binghamton, N.Y., March 8-9

Team standings (top 10)
1. Lehigh – 153
2. Cornell – 139
3. Princeton – 122.5
4. Army – 106.5
5. Navy – 92.5
6. Binghamton – 73.5
7. American – 75.5
8. Brown – 54
9. Drexel – 49
10. Penn – 44.5

Finals results
125 pounds
1st – Patrick Glory (Princeton) dec. Vitali Arujau (Cornell), 10-8
3rd – Gage Curry (American) dec. Carmen Ferrante (Penn), 2-1 TB2
5th – Joe Manchio (Columbia) dec. Trey Chalifoux (Army), 9-6
7th – Audey Ashkar (Binghamton) dec. Antonio Mininno (Drexel), 3-2

133 pounds
1st – Chas Tucker (Cornell) dec. Josh Terao (American), 9-4
3rd – Brandon Paetzell (Lehigh) dec. Zack Trampe (Binghamton), 7-1
5th – Lane Peters (Army) dec. Doug Zapf (Penn), 7-5 SV1
7th – Casey Cobb (Navy) dec. Hunter Kosco (Brown), 8-5

141 pounds
1st – Yianni Diakomihalis (Cornell) dec. Nicholas Gil (Navy), 8-2
3rd – Anthony Sparacio (Binghamton) dec. Corey Shie (Army), 8-4
5th – Wil Gil (Franklin & Marshall) dec. Ryan Pomrinca (Lehigh), 9-8 TB2
7th – Jack Mutchnik (American) dec. Marshall Keller (Princeton), 6-3

149 pounds
1st – Anthony Artalona (Penn) dec. Jared Prince (Navy), 3-1 SV1
3rd – Matt Kolodzik (Princeton) MD Cortlandt Schuyler (Lehigh), 13-3
5th – Michael Sprague (American) dec. Pj Ogunsanya (Army), 5-4 TB2
7th – Patrick Quinlan (Franklin & Marshall) dec. Brock Wilson (Harvard), 8-5

157 pounds
1st – Josh Humphreys (Lehigh) dec. Zach Hartman (Bucknell), 12-6
3rd – Quincy Monday (Princeton) dec. Lucas Weiland (Army), 6-4
5th – Christian LaBrie (Brown) win by forfeit over Dan Reed (Columbia)
7th – Kizhan Clarke (American) dec. Quentin Hovis (Navy), 5-3

165 pounds
1st – Tanner Skidgel (Navy) dec. Cael McCormick (Army), 4-0
3rd – Gordon Wolf (Lehigh) dec. Ebed Jarrell (Drexel), 13-11
5th – Leonard Merkin (Princeton) fall Jonathan Viruet (Brown), 1:30
7th – Laurence Kosoy (Columbia) MD Andrew Berreyesa (Cornell), 12-1

174 pounds
1st – Jordan Kutler (Lehigh) dec. Brandon Womack (Cornell), 3-1
3rd – Vincent DePrez (Binghamton) dec. Spencer Carey (Navy), 7-3
5th – Ben Harvey (Army) dec. Travis Stefanik (Princeton), 5-1
7th – Ricky Stamm (Hofstra) dec. Max Elling (Columbia), 6-1

184 pounds
1st – Max Dean (Cornell) dec. Ryan Preisch (Lehigh), 3-0
3rd – Lou DePrez (Binghamton) dec. Brian Harvey (Army), 6-1
5th – Christian LaFragola (Brown) dec. Noah Stewart (Army), 3-2
7th – Kevin Parker (Princeton) fall Brian Bonino (Columbia), 0:43

197 pounds
1st – Patrick Brucki (Princeton) dec. Ben Honis (Cornell), 8-6
3rd – Stephen Loiseau (Drexel) dec. Josh Roetman (Navy), 3-0
5th – John Jakobsen (Lehigh) dec. Drew Phipps (Bucknell), 4-2
7th – Rocco Caywood (Army) dec. Tucker Ziegler (Brown), 6-2 SV1

285 pounds
1st – Jordan Wood (Lehigh) win by medical forfeit Ian Butterbrodt (Brown)
3rd – Joey Goodhart (Drexel) dec. Antonio Pelusi (Franklin & Marshall), 4-2
5th – Joe Doyle (Binghamton) dec. Ben Sullivan (Army), 15-9
7th – Jeramy Sweany (Cornell) dec. Daniel Herman (Columbia), 4-0

NCAA automatic qualifiers by weight (47):
125 pounds (4)
Patrick Glory (Princeton)
Vitali Arujau (Cornell)
Gage Curry (American)
Carmen Ferrante (Penn)

133 pounds (4)
Chas Tucker (Cornell)
Josh Terao (American)
Brandon Paetzell (Lehigh)
Zack Trampe (Binghamton)

141 pounds (3)
Yianni Diakomihalis (Cornell)
Nicholas Gil (Navy)
Anthony Sparacio (Binghamton)

149 pounds (5)
Anthony Artalona (Penn)
Jared Prince (Navy)
Matt Kolodzik (Princeton)
Cortlandt Schuyler (Lehigh)
Michael Sprague (American)

157 pounds (6)
Josh Humphreys (Lehigh)
Zach Hartman (Bucknell)
Quincy Monday (Princeton)
Lucas Weiland (Army)
Christian LaBrie (Brown)
Dan Reed (Columbia)

165 pounds (4)
Tanner Skidgel (Navy)
Cael McCormick (Army)
Gordon Wolf (Lehigh)
Ebed Jarrell (Drexel)

174 pounds (5)
Jordan Kutler (Lehigh)
Brandon Womack (Cornell)
Vincent DePrez (Binghamton)
Spencer Carey (Navy)
Ben Harvey (Army)

184 pounds (6)
Max Dean (Cornell)
Ryan Preisch (Lehigh)
Lou DePrez (Binghamton)
Brian Harvey (Army)
Christian LaFragola (Brown)
Noah Stewart (Army)

197 pounds (6)
Patrick Brucki (Princeton)
Ben Honis (Cornell)
Stephen Loiseau (Drexel)
Josh Roetman (Navy)
John Jakobsen (Lehigh)
Drew Phipps (Bucknell)

285 pounds (4)
Jordan Wood (Lehigh)
Ian Butterbrodt (Brown)
Joey Goodhart (Drexel)
Antonio Pelusi (Franklin & Marshall)

Number of NCAA automatic qualifiers by school:
Lehigh – 8
Cornell – 6
Army – 5
Navy – 5
Binghamton – 4
Princeton – 4
American – 3
Brown – 3
Drexel – 3
Bucknell – 2
Penn – 2
Columbia – 1
Franklin & Marshall – 1