2024 NCAA Championships: EIWA Day Two Recap

Key Takeaways

• 9 EIWA wrestlers are named All-Americans 
• Vito Arujau of Cornell looks to repeat as 133lbs champion Saturday night
• Army’s Ben Pasiuk is the school’s first All-American since Matt Kyler in 2008
• Navy’s David Key is team’s first All-American since Mat Miller in 2016 
• Lennox Wolak is Columbia’s first All-American since Steve Santos in 2013
• Kolat, Ward, and Tanelli all crown All-Americans for the first time as Head Coaches 

After Day 2 of the 2024 NCAA Championships, 80 All-Americans were named. The EIWA claimed 9 of these podium spots. The past two years, the EIWA had 7 All-Americans with less qualifiers. The past two seasons, the dreaded round of 12 (blood round) has been quite the hurdle for the conference. Over the past two seasons, the conference has only won half the blood round matches they wrestled in. This equates to 14 All-Americans total in the last two years combined. If you guess they would win 50% of these matches this year, you would be correct. The conference went 6 of 12 in these do or die matches. 

Cornell currently sits in 6th place with 58.5 points. They are trailing by 1.5 points  – who sits in third. Another trophy is not out of the question for Cornell by any means. They will return home with three All-Americans. Lehigh sits in 15th place after day 2. They have two All-Americans. Navy has one All-American in David Key. They find themselves in 25th place. Army and Columbia each crowned All-Americans for the first time this decade and the first under their current coaches. It was a great tournament thus far for these teams. 

If you would like to see full brackets and team score. Please click the link below. Tune into ESPNU for coverage of the first session at noon. Tonight’s session will be on ESPN at 8PM. 

2024 NCAA Division I Championships (trackwrestling.com)

125

Congrats to Luke Stanich on being named an All-American. He had to defeat last year’s runner-up in #4 Ramos from Purdue. He will continue back for 3rd place Saturday morning. He has a rematch with Wisconsin’s 10th seed Eric Barnet. Stanich has a win over him at Midlands. Brett Ungar fell short of his goal losing in the round of 16. 

Out

#17 – Brett Ungar (Cornell)

#25 – Ethan Berginc (Army)

#27 – Max Gallagher (Penn)

#28 – Diego Sotelo (Harvard)

#32 – Michael Joyce (Brown)

133

Congrats to both Vito Arujau and Ryan Crookham on being named All-Americans. We saw Crookham and Arujau wrestle for the third time this season. After Crookham won the first two bouts, Arujau came back with a vengeance and majored Crookham in the semi-finals. Vito looks to be on a mission to repeat as NCAA champion. He will have a tough task in Daton Fix, a four time All-American. 

Kurtis Phipps of Bucknell made the Round of 12. He dropped his match in overtime to #7 Bailey of Little Rock. 

Out

#13 – Kurt Phipps (Bucknell) 

#25 – Braden Basile (Army) 

#28 – Michael Colaiocco (Penn)

#31 – Max Leete (American)

141

Josh Koderhandt made the round of 12. His opponent was returning All-American from Nebraska, Brock Hardy. Koderhandt fell 7-3, just one win shy of being an All-American himself. Josh had three wins on the event – which ties the remainder of his EIWA competitors. 

Out

#11 – Josh Koderhandt (Navy) 

#16 – Dylan Chappell (Bucknell) vs

#19 – Malyke Hines (Lehigh) 

#22 – CJ Composto (Penn)

#30 – Kai Owen (Columbia)

149

Ethan Fernandez was the lone wrestler to make it into Friday. His one win at NCAAs is the only win this weight class saw. Getting five wrestlers there was impressive. It’s safe to say we expected a few more wins. It was a great season for these guys, nonetheless!  

Out

#9 – Ethan Fernandez (Cornell)

#16 – Kelvin Griffin (Lehigh)

#25 – Matthew Williams (Army)

#27 – Jack Crook (Harvard)

#30 – Jude Swisher (Penn)

157

Congrats to Meyer Shapiro on earning All-American honors! He fell short in the quarterfinals to #6 Cardenas of Stanford. He won via major decision in his next two wins to place in the top six. We will see him face #12 Andonian of Virginia Tech – a match we are all excited to see! Revano wrestled into Friday, earning one win on the weekend. Congrats to Revano on a stellar career. 

Out

#20 – Max Brignola (Lehigh)

#21 – Lucas Revano (Penn)

165

This weight class had two top-16 finishes in Cassella and Cerniglia. Cornell’s Ramirez was in the blood round yet again – failing to secure a win. Ramirez dropped a decision to #9 Hall of West Virginia – a multiple time All-American. We saw many wins at this weight class. It’s unfortunate no one came through on the podium. Many of these guys will return next season to achieve this goal. 

Out

#3 – Julian Ramirez (Cornell)

#11 – Andrew Cerniglia (Navy) vs #12 Thompson (Ohio)

#15 – Brevin Cassella (Binghamton) vs #17 Lillard (Indiana)

#19 – Gunner Filipowicz (Army)

#22 – Noah Mulvaney (Bucknell) vs #21 Fish (Michigan State)

#32 – Jake Logan (Lehigh)

174

This is one of 3 weight classes with two All-Americans! Congrats to Lennox Wolak of Columbia on being the school’s first AA since Steve Santos in 2013. He is also Coach Tanelli’s first! Speaking of firsts, Ben Pasiuk of Army is his school’s first All-American since Matt Kyler in 2008. This is Coach Ward’s first All-American since he took over. This has been a year of history at this weight class! Pasiuk will wrestle for 7th on Saturday morning while Wolak continues his path to 3rd. The worst he can do is 6th.

Out

#5 – Phil Conigliaro (Harvard)

#10 – Nick Incontrera (Penn)

#26 – Benny Baker (Cornell)

#27 – Danny Wask (Navy)

#30 – Myles Takats (Bucknell)

184

Congrats to Navy’s David Key on being named an All-American! He is Navy’s first since Mathew Miller in 2016. He defeated #11 Hawks of Missouri in his blood round match. He will wrestle for 7th on Saturday. This is Coach Kolat’s first All-American as head coach at Navy. Chris Foca lost in the blood round and failed to repeat as an All-American. His loss came to #7 Stewart of Virginia Tech. Before this, he wrestled Ayzerov of Columbia for the 4th time this year. After losing the previous three bouts, he came back and won via tech fall in the first period. Crazy things happen at this tournament! 

Out

#13 – Aaron Ayzerov (Columbia) 

#14 – Chris Foca (Cornell) 

#16 – Nate Dugan (Princeton) 

#19 – James Conway (Franklin & Marshall)

#26 – Max Hale (Penn)

#32 – Anthony D’Alesio (LIU)  

197

Congratulations to both All-Americans at this weight. Michael Beard of Lehigh and Jacob Cardenas each return to the podium. Beard’s last time on the podium was in a Penn State singlet in 2021. He will wrestle #9 Little of Little Rock. Cardenas will be on the podium for the 2nd year in a row. His quest for 3rd continues with a rematch against #12 Elam – who he lost to in the quarters on Friday. 

Lou Deprez was a win short of finding the podium again. There was some controversy in his round of 12 match – which I am still looking into what the controversy was. I know the coaching staff was not happy over what transpired. I will need to do some digging and see what occurred.

Out

#6 – Lou Deprez (Binghamton)

#16 – Luke Stout (Princeton)

#24 – Cole Urbas (Penn)

#28 – Jack Wehmeyer (Columbia)

#32 – John Crawford (Franklin & Marshall)

285

Lehigh’s Nathan Taylor came up short in the round of 12, giving up a takedown in overtime to #7 Ghadiali. Including Taylor, we had 5 wrestlers competing into Friday. We saw Crosby, Day, Fernandez, and Griess all ended in the top 16 in the nation. Two heart breakers for Taylor, but he will be back next season along with a few of the qualifiers. 

Out

#5 – Nathan Taylor (Lehigh)

#15 – Lewis Fernandes (Cornell)

#16 – Cory Day (Binghamton)

#17 – Grady Griess (Navy) 

#19 – Dorian Crosby (Bucknell) 

#22 – Matthew Cover (Princeton)

#23 – Lucas Stoddard (Army)

#24 – Keaton Kluever (Hofstra)