Bucknell 141 lber Darren Miller (photo courtesy of Bucknell athletics)A majority of the conference was in action this weekend. There were some outstanding performances. Penn seemed to keep things rolling from where they left off last year at the Journeyman Round Robin event in Bethlehem. Ethan Berginc of Army knocked off yet another ranked opponent to remain unbeaten this year. Lehigh earned a team win over Oklahoma thanks to a pin at heavyweight. LIU earned their first win this year in thrilling fashion by criteria over Sacred Heart. Hofstra's Jacob Ferreira won the Journeymen 184lbs bracket at Journeyman. And, Cornell showed their power while claiming four champs at the Bearcat open without Vito, Yianni, and Cardenas. Yaraslau Slavikouski is back from a torn ACL last season, as the Harvard heavyweight looked great in his return.
However, the most impressive performance from last week was Bucknell's Darren Miller. Coming into the weekend ranked 28th, he knocked off #10 Carter Young of Oklahoma State by a score of 4-2. This was Miller's first time wrestling for the season – and what a way to start! Expect him to keep things rolling next week at the Navy Classic. Congrats to this week's OW – Darren Miller of Bucknell.
American
The Eagles were on the road at the Citadel Open. They started the final session with back-to-back champions at 125 and 133lbs. Raymond Lopez had a 4-1 win in the finals over former Penn opponent, Blair Orr (now at The Citadel). Jack Maida followed suit by winning the 133lbs bracket. The two runner-ups for American were Connor Bourne (197lbs) and Lucas White (174lbs). With a handful of placers, the Eagles had a rather successful trip to Citadel. One interesting result was at the 125lbs weight class where Max Leete earned fifth place, being outplaced by teammate (and champion) Lopez. We will see how this plays out. This weekend, the Eagles will host Michigan State Friday night before competing at the Navy Classic on Saturday.
Army
The Black Knights wrestled at Journeyman against Sacred Heart (39-0) and #17 Nebraska (9-25). Ethan Berginc (#30 @ 125) had a win over #18 Liam Cronin of Nebraska. Harkins (#26 @ 165) defeated Jagger Condomitti (#30) of Nebraska. The third win in the Nebraska dual was at 184lbs where Sahm Abdullrazzaq defeated Lenny Pinto.
The following day, a busload of Black Knights competed in the round-robin competition of the Journeyman Classic. Of the numerous round-robin pools, Army walked away with eighteen first-place finishers. Berginc continued his unbeaten season. There's a ton of results to break down here, but I loved what I saw from this team. They come to battle every single match. This week, the Iowa Hawkeyes (#2) will come to town on Thursday 11/17. A few days after, Army hosts the Black Knight Invite which includes nine incoming teams – including #1 Penn State.
Binghamton
On Friday, the Bearcats hosted a dual against Northern Colorado before hosting the Jonathan Kaloust Bearcat Open the following day. They dropped the dual 22-16 while winning four of 10 duals. Michael Zarif had the first win of the dual at 149lbs. Binghamton did not have a win until 184lbs when Jacob Nolan (#23) won by decision, followed up by Lou Deprez (#7 @ 197). Cory Day earned a pin at hwt.
With a few starters sitting out for the open, the Bearcats had five place winners. The highest comes from Sam Deprez at 174lbs. His lone loss came to #11 Chris Foca of Cornell. Third place at 165lbs was Dimitri Gamkreilidze – his lone loss was to returning All-American and eventual open champ (#7) Peyton Hall of West Virginia. The Bearcats are on the road this weekend, with tough matches against #22 North Dakota State and #11 Minnesota on Friday and Sunday, respectively.
Brown
The Bears of Brown University had an off weekend. They will be one of a couple of EIWA teams at the Black Knight Invite on Sunday.
Bucknell
The Bison hosted #11 Oklahoma State for a dual Saturday night. This came off an impressive 25-6 Oklahoma State win at Lehigh earlier in the day. As mentioned, Miller had the upset of the night. The other win came at 157lbs when Nick Delp (#30) won over Luke Mechler. The Bison had a few close losses to acknowledge. Kurt Phipps lost to #2 Daton Fix by a 4-1 score at 133lbs. Logan Deacetis fell late to Travis Wittlake (#15 @ 184). Also, Kolby DePron hung tough with Victor Voinovich (#19 @ 149). I am intrigued to see this team against some EIWA competition, to see where they stack up. Bucknell will be back in action on Saturday when they compete at the Navy Classic.
Columbia
The Lions were off this weekend. They have a tough road schedule this week when they travel to #4 Ohio State for a dual Friday night. They will then compete at seventh-ranked Michigan on Sunday. This could be a big weekend for Josh Ogunsanya at (#10 @ 165). He'll take on two returning All-Americans in Carson Kharchla (#6) and Cam Amine (#4) .
Cornell
The Big Red started off with a big weekend at the Jonathan Kaloust Bearcat Open in Binghamton. Their 4 champs include Ethan Fernandez (133lbs), Vince Cornella (141lbs), Chris Foca (174lbs), and Jonathan Loew (184lbs). Julian Ramirez was runner-up at 165lbs, losing to returning All-American Hall of West Virginia. Fernandez and Cornella were impressive freshmen, both knocking off ranked opponents en route to titles. Foca's closest match was against former teammate Andrew Berreyesa (now at Northern Colorado) while Loew has two three-point decisions. One interesting result came at 125lbs, where 29th ranked Dom LaJoie lost to his own teammate, Brett Ungar, by a 14-2 major. Let's keep an eye on this weight for the Big Red moving forward. Saturday afternoon, #6 Cornell takes on #13 Wisconsin at home. Tune into ESPN+ for action at 1PM.
Drexel
The Dragons competed at the inaugural Mizzou Tiger Style Invitational. The highest place-finishers include Antonio Minnino at 125lbs, and Evan Barczak (#19 @ 165lbs). Minnino's lone loss was a 4-1 decision to #27 Antonio Lorenzo of Cal Poly. Barczak lost in the semis to returning national champion, and top-ranked, Keegan O'Toole of Missouri. The Dragons had injuries to some of their top guys in Mickey O'Malley and Luke Nichter. Hopefully, they can heal up quickly for next weekend's event up the street (literally) at the Keystone Classic at Penn.
Franklin & Marshall
The Diplomats hosted a dual against the local Division III team, Elizabethtown, mid-week last week. They walked away victorious by a score of 32-9. At the Jonathan Kaloust Bearcat Open in Binghamton, Pat Phillips (#31 @ 133lbs) was the runner-up in his bracket – leading the way for the Dips once again. At 125lbs, F&M has two place winners. Gio Diaz was fourth, while Mason Leiphart was sixth. The strength of the lightweights continues for Franklin & Marshall. The upper half of the lineup will continue to improve. Plus, Cenzo Pelusi will come back in the second semester. The heavyweight will help add some firepower back into the lineup. Expect to see them at the Keystone Classic in Philadelphia on Sunday 11/20.
Harvard
The Crimson participated in the Journeyman Round Robin event. The highest finisher for them was at heavyweight with fifth-ranked Yaraslau Slavikouski winning his round-robin. Phillip Conigliaro (9th @ 174) lost last second in the finals to Darrien Roberts of Oklahoma. Josh Kim has one loss on the day to Lucas Revano (#16) of Penn. Also coming in second place was Leo Tarantino at 197lbs. I was impressed with some of the young talent – like Joe Cangro at 141lbs – who won his round robin with a major over returning EIWA placer, Justin Hoyle of Hofstra. Harvard will be in Philadelphia this weekend to compete at the Keystone Classic.
Hofstra
The Pride were at the Journeyman Round Robin event on Sunday in Bethlehem, PA. two of the team's incoming transfers earned first place in their pools. First was 25th ranked, Jacob Ferreira earning a hammer at the 184lbs pool. His pin over Harvard's Tarantino in the finals caused Coach Papadatos (I mean “Hopâ€-adatos) to show his athletic ability by jumping over the barrier in celebration. The second mentioned transfer, Chase Liardi, won the B division at the 133lbs. Trey Rogers (#33 @ 197) had a quality win over NCAA qualifier Cole Urbas of Penn (#23), before he medicalled out. Big man Zachary Knighton-Ward (#22 @ HWT) had a tough 1-2 day, losing to higher-ranked opponents. He'll be just fine. Hofstra will be at the Black Knight Invite this weekend.
Lehigh
The Mountain Hawks wrestled the state of Oklahoma this weekend. They dropped a tough 25-6 loss to #7 Oklahoma State at home on Saturday. The score seems lopsided, but when you consider the fact that Lehigh lost five matches within two points or less, the match was tight – nonetheless. Then, Lehigh squared off with #20 Oklahoma. It came down to heavyweight, where Nathan Taylor (#26) pinned OU's Josh Heindselman (#17) to clinch the dual. Michael Beard (#7 @ 197) and Josh Humphreys (#9 @ 157) continued their winning ways all weekend. The big win for the Hawks against the Sooners was at 125lbs. Carter Bailey upset 14th-ranked Joey Prata to begin the dual on the upswing. The coaching staff is adamant the team will start to win the close ones. This week, they travel to face 16th-ranked Pittsburgh on Saturday.
Long Island
The Sharks participated in the Journeyman Duals on Saturday, dropping a dual meet to Buffalo, then defeating Sacred Heart on criteria. The Sharks needed a fall at 197lbs by John Dusza and a close 8-5 decision from Aeden Begue at 285lbs to tie the match. Devin Matthews (141lbs) was 2-0 on the day, which was a team-best. On Sunday, the team wrestled in the round-robin portion of the Journeyman weekend. The team had a bunch of wins – most notably at 174lbs where Blake Bahna pinned freshman standout, Cael Valencia of Arizona State. I like the improvements the team has made over the summer, already showing in the first two weeks of the season. LIU will be back in Pennsylvania this weekend for the Shorty Hitchcock Open in Millersville.
Navy
The Midshipmen secured three gold medals at the Jonathan Kaloust Bearcat Open. At 157lbs, Andrew Cerniglia (#18) won a few close matches to claim his title. At 197lbs, Jacob Koser (#30) had himself a day with a pin, tech fall, and major decision. Grady Greiss won the heavyweight bracket. He upset #19 Michael Wolfgram of West Virginia in the process. Greiss has now entered the rankings because of this. Koderhandt (#26) was runner-up at 141lbs. Also, a runner-up, David Key lost a tight one in the 184lbs final to returning All-American (#7) Loew of Cornell. Other place winners include Val Park at 165lbs, and Sammy Starr at 174lbs – both losing one match on the day. Navy hosts the Navy Classic this weekend. I'm looking forward to the team having great results there too.
Penn
The Quakers started right where they left off a season ago. At the Journeyman Round Robin, they had impressive results – walking away with two champs in the “A†brackets. 9th ranked, “Skinny†Doug Zapf (down from 157lbs last season) looked great in his debut at 149lbs. He won in the finals via injury default over 6th ranked and two-time All-American Parco of Arizona State. Anthony Artalona (#13 @ 157) made his debut up a weight class without any issues, winning all three matches. The silver medal at 133lbs was claimed by (#10) Michael Colaiocco – losing in a barn burner to #4 Michael McGee of Arizona State – a multiple-time All-American. We may see that rematch this weekend at the Keystone Classic. The same goes for the 165lbs final between Tony Negron (#18) of Arizona State and Lucas Revano (#19) of Penn. Negron won a tight one this time around. John Stout defeated his teammate, Max Hale, at 184lbs by a 3-1 decision. This may be a season-long battle at this weight class. Penn's Ryan Miller (#15 @ 125lbs) and Nick Incontrera (#19 @ 174) each dropped a match. The Quakers are back in action at home this weekend, as they will compete in the Keystone Classic on Sunday 11/20.
Princeton
The Tigers were off the past weekend. They will travel to Indiana for a dual Friday night against Coach Joe Dubuque and Nate Jackson's alma mater. Dubuque was a two-time national champion for the Hoosiers and Jackson was a two-time AA.
Sacred Heart
The Pioneers are no strangers to tough opponents, losing to both #21 Rutgers and Army this weekend. In addition to the drama-filled match that was decided on criteria against LIU, Sacred Heart had a few bright spots this weekend. They had 26 wrestlers compete at the round-robin Journeyman event, but missed some valuable starters – including Nick Palumbo. Nick was an EIWA runner-up and NCAA qualifier a few years ago. He wrestled against LIU, and nowhere else. Getting him healthy into the lineup full-time will help bring some experienced winning to the line-up. Of the 26 wrestlers who competed this weekend, 16 of them had one loss or less in their respective bracket. This weekend, things will get worse before they get better for Sacred Heart. They take on #2 Iowa Friday night before competing at the Keystone Classic on Sunday.
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