EIWA Weekly Recap (1/4/2024)

Below is a recap of last week’s EIWA action, with individual news and highlights worth noting.

Key Takeaways 

• Lehigh’s Stanich and Beard win Midlands titles
• Penn wins Midlands team title for first time in school history
• Conigliaro’s 2nd place finish at Midlands is best ever by a Harvard wrestler
• Pasiuk of Army, Phipps and Mulvaney of Bucknell win Southern Scuffle

American  

The Eagles were off over the holiday break. This week’s agenda includes a dual with Michigan State. There will be some wrestlers at the F&M Open as well. 

Army West Point

The Black Knights had a handful of participants in the Southern Scuffle. The top performer was #11 Ben Pasiuk at 174 lbs, earning a title. He beat #22 Norman of Stanford and won in the final by medical forfeit from #10 Washington of Indiana. At 165 lbs, Gunner Filipowicz was runner-up to #26 Mulvaney of Bucknell. He had a major decision win over #17 Carlson of Oklahoma before that. Ethan Berginc was 3rd and Charlie Farmer was 7th at 125lbs. Berginc won this head-to-head match-up 2-1. Nate Lukez was 4th at 157 lbs. Braden Basile (#33 @ 133 lbs) was sixth with losses to #27 Serrano of Northern Colorado and #17 Knox of Stanford. At 149lbs, Thomas Deck was 7th. In 3rd at 285 lbs was Lucas Stoddard, while Thomas Godbee was 8th at 197 lbs. 

Army will be in Lancaster, PA for the F&M Open this week.

Binghamton 

 The Bearcats did not compete over the holidays. They will return at the F&M Open this week as well.

Brown  

The Bears competed at the Southern Scuffle to bring in the new year. They had a lone placewinner in Ian Oswalt at 141 lbs. He earned his 8th place finish when he lost in the first round, only to win four in a row to be on the podium. At 133 lbs, Hunter Adrian was a quarterfinalist. Unfortunately, he lost his next two bouts and failed to place. Much of the team’s lineup is still up in the air, as they had a very light first semester which contained zero dual meets. We will know more about this team as the season progresses. 

The Bears will be off this weekend. After that, they have a full slate of dual meets well into February. 

Bucknell 

The Bison were one of the teams at the Southern Scuffle. They walked away with two champions. Kurt Phipps (#24 @ 133 lbs) had a win over #27 Serrano of Northern Colorado in the finals. #26 Noah Mulvaney managed to win his 165 lbs bracket without facing a ranked opponent as all ranked wrestlers in his bracket lost before getting a chance to face him. At 285 lbs, #33 Dorian Crosby, wrestled in the finals where he dropped the match to #15 Heindselman of Oklahoma. Mikey Bartush was 4th at 184 lbs and Logan Deacetis was 6th at 197 lbs. Bucknell’s performance was good enough for a 6th place finish overall. Overall, it was a pretty good showing for Bucknell. 

The Bison will take a weekend off before dual meet action in two weeks.

Columbia 

The Lions were at the Soldier Salute in Iowa. They finished as the highest non-Big Ten team, earning third overall behind Iowa and Minnesota. #24 Lennox Wolak was the highest finisher for the squad when he was runner-up at 174 lbs. Nick Babin was 4th at 125 lbs and #29 Aaron Ayzerov was 4th at 184 lbs. At 197 lbs, #28 Jack Wehmeyer was in 5th place. Angelo Rini lost his wrestleback match due to a medical forfeit. 

Columbia has been banged up with injuries and this continued over the holidays. Expect to see various lineups moving forward as the injuries heal and plenty of wrestlers see action. This week’s agenda includes a matchup with #23 West Virginia in Atlantic City. 

#8 Cornell

Cornell was not in action between Christmas and New Year’s. They will face #6 Ohio State away on Friday and host #9 Virginia Tech on Sunday. This is a huge weekend of duals for the Big Red. 

Drexel 

The Dragons only had a few participants at the Southern Scuffle. They returned home with one placewinner at 125 lbs. Deon Pleasant took 8th place. He split matches with Farmer of Army, who finished in 7th. Jack Janda was 2-2 on the day at 174 lbs while Cody Walsh was 3-2 during the event. 

The Dragons will be back closer to full strength at the F&M Open this weekend.

Franklin & Marshall 

The Diplomats had five wrestlers compete at the Midlands. Overall, they were in 12th place out of 30 teams. Noah Fox (174 lbs), Pat Phillips (141 lbs), and John Crawford (#32 @ 197 lbs) all finished in the round of 12, just failing to place. Mason Leiphart placed 6th at 133 lbs, with all three losses on the weekend coming from ranked opponents. At 184 lbs, #17 James Conway finished in 6th. It was a great performance by a quality contingent at this event. 

The Diplomats will host their Open this week. Expect a few starters to miss this one, as they recover from a tough Midlands. 

Harvard  

Harvard saw action at the Midlands over the break. #13 Phil Conigliaro returned to the lineup, earning 2nd in the 174 lbs bracket. He had wins over #7 McCoy of Virginia and #14 Kemp of Cal Poly. Conigliaro’s performance was the best ever by a Harvard wrestler. Finishing 5th at 125 lbs was Diego Sotelo – he came into the weekend with a ranking of #25. He had a win over #21 Gallagher of Penn in the consi’s. At 157 lbs, Jimmy Harrington earned 8th with a win over #23 Clark of Rutgers. Joe Cangro, Josh Kim, and Coleman Nogle each wrestled well, notching multiple wins. 

Next for Harvard is the F&M Open on Friday. 

Hofstra 

The Pride will return to competition this week at the F&M Open. 

#28 Lehigh

The Mountain Hawks sent a handful of strong competitors to the Midlands. Luke Stanich was champion after defeating a two-time All-American #9 Barnett of Wisconsin. He then defeated #10 Flynn of Virginia Tech and #25 Sotelo of Harvard on the weekend. Stanich, who competed unattached, still has the potential to redshirt this season. It will be interesting to see how the remainder of the season checks out. 

At 197 lbs, #9 Michael Beard was the champion using all bonus point wins, dominating his competition. This included a fall over #25 Smith of Virginia Tech and a major over #10 Stout of Princeton. Also at 197 lbs, JT Davis earned a fourth-place finish in the bracket behind Beard. Lehigh also had Kelvin Griffin competing at 149 lbs where he won a few matches. Lehigh’s unattached wrestlers included Mays at 165 lbs and Repos at 149 lbs – each winning a couple of matches on the weekend. 

The Mountain Hawks of Lehigh will be off this weekend. Expect a large turnout of Hawks for the F&M Open while the starters heal up, and the staff figures out what the line-up will look like moving forward. 

Long Island 

LIU will be back to competing at the F&M Open. Expect most of the team to compete.

#15 Navy

The last remaining undefeated team in the conference was home for the holidays. They will be in action at the F&M Open this week.  

#20 Penn

The Quakers were team champions at the Midlands for the first time in school history. At 141lbs, #11 CJ Composto was the runner-up in the bracket. Max Hale (#28 @ 184lbs) had a big weekend with wins over #33 Fisher of Northwestern and #17 Conway of F&M to earn a silver medal. #11 Michael Colaiocco was 4th in the 133 lbs bracket. He had a win over #5 Latona of Virginia Tech, a multiple-time All-American. Lucas Revano may have had the most impressive day of everyone, wrestling to a 7-2 record – enough for 3rd place at 157lbs. After a loss to #23 Clark of Rutgers, he had wins over guys like #16 Saldate of Michigan State, #33 Washleski of Rider, and #28 McGee of George Mason. #12 Nick Incontrera was a third-place finisher with a lone loss to #3 Ruth of Illinois. At 197lbs, Cole Urbas emerged with a 3rd place victory. He had a tech fall over #29 Bates of Northwestern and a win over #25 Smith of Virginia Tech. At 285lbs, John Stout was 8th. His big win was over #26 Wolfgram of West Virginia.  

The Quakers return to action this weekend. You will see some wrestlers at the F&M Open on Friday. Expect the starters to be in action in a home dual with #14 Rutgers on Saturday. 

Princeton 

The Tigers competed at the Midlands. #10 Luke Stout was the highest placer with a runner-up finish at 197 lbs. In the same bracket, Aidan Conner was in 7th place. At 184lbs, #22 Nate Dugan was 6th after a quality win over #12 Malczewski of Michigan State. The talk of the Princeton faithful, however, was not wearing a Princeton uniform. Ty Whalen is in an active gray-shirt season where he is not enrolled in school. He competed unattached and won the 149 lbs bracket. He took out multiple-time All-American #3 Parco of Arizona State and #19 Watters of West Virginia. Rocco Camillaci was 4-2 on the weekend, with two losses to ranked foes by a total of two points. He is right there with many quality wrestlers. 

The Tigers will be at the F&M Open this week in return to competition. 

Sacred Heart 

The Pioneers competed before Christmas and are off until next week’s duals with Queens and VMI.