The Mountain Hawks won both bouts matching ranked wrestlers against one another and also picked up an impressive win from junior Cortlandt Schuyler over 19th-ranked Jared Prince at 149 to improve to 8-1 in duals and 6-0 against EIWA opponents. Lehigh has now won eight straight duals against Navy to take a 51-47 lead in the all-time series, with the Mids serving as Lehigh's second most-wrestled opponent behind Penn State.
"We wrestled really well," Lehigh head coach Pat Santoro said. "It was a good weekend. Navy has a really talented team. I like their team a lot. I like their coach a lot. I like the way they wrestle. We knew it would be a battle today and a lot of those matches were battles."
At 125, Cruz started things off with his second fall of the weekend and fourth of the season. Needing four near fall points to secure a technical fall, Cruz was able to pin Aslan Kilic with a tilt at 6:36 to give the Mountain Hawks the early 6-0 lead.
Freshman Nick Farro started fast in his 133 pound bout against Cody Trybus, scoring a trio of first period takedowns to take a 6-3 lead after one. Trybus was strong on top in the third, riding most of the period before a late Farro escape made the final score 7-4.
Karam won a battle of ranked wrestlers at 141, beating Nicholas Gil for the second time this month with his first career win by fall. After a scoreless first period, Karam locked up a cradle and turned Gil, securing the fall in 3:21 to put the Mountain Hawks up 15-0.
"Darian came out and worked hard for the bonus points and worked for the pin," Santoro said. "Nick Farro stepped up and is doing a great job. He's really excited to be out there and that's really fun to see. With Luke, we knew that Gil is really good. For him to get the pin, that's something you don't write in when you do the pre-match predictions. He did a nice job and getting that pin there was huge."
Schuyler continued Lehigh's roll scoring a takedown in each period plus a pair of third period escapes to down Prince 8-6. On the weekend, Schuyler knocked off wrestlers ranked 18th and 19th nationally to even his season record at 6-6.
"Cort is getting better every week out right now," Santoro said. "We're starting to see the Cortlandt Schuyler that we saw last year. He's really coming out of his shell with two big wins this weekend.
Junior Ian Brown avenged a loss at the Southern Scuffle with a 7-3 win over Zack Davis at 157. Brown scored the opening takedown and added a two point near fall. A second takedown in the opening period put Brown up 6-1 and he added a third period escape, with his win giving the Mountain Hawks a 21-0 lead at intermission.
Another rematch from the Southern Scuffle took place at 165 and like in the Scuffle quarterfinals, a big move late helped junior Gordon Wolf down Drew Daniels 7-2. Daniels scored the opening takedown but a pair of Wolf escapes tied the match 2-2 after two periods. Daniels chose neutral in the third and was hit twice for stalling, with the penalty point putting Wolf in front. Wolf added a takedown and two point near fall late to seal the win over the 20th-ranked Mid.
Sophomore Jordan Kutler made it seven straight wins for the home team, racking up four takedowns and 4:14 of riding time advantage in an 11-3 major decision over A.J. Alford that put Lehigh up 28-0 with three bouts remaining.
Navy (5-1, 2-1 EIWA) picked up its lone win at 184 where 18th-ranked Michael Coleman scored takedowns in the first and third periods to knock off sophomore Andrew Price 5-1.
At 197, freshman Jake Jakobsen bounced back from a loss Friday night with a 6-1 decision over Steban Cervantes. Jakobsen trailed 1-0 in the second when he scored a takedown off a Cervantes shot. He had an escape and takedown in the third plus 1:13 riding time advantage.
Sophomore Christian Colucci got the nod at 285 and closed out the dual with a 2-0 decision over Austin Faunce. Colucci used a second period escape and then rode out Faunce in the third to improve to 2-0 in duals this season.
"The focus is always on the next match," Santoro said. "It has to be. We see it all the time in sports, not just in wrestling. You get ahead of yourself and you get in trouble. You think you're getting too good and you get worse. You have to manage where you are right now to get better. Friday night, I thought we wrestled well. We knew we had to wrestle well today. We just took one match and focused on it and now we have to get ready for next weekend with two big ones next weekend."
The Mountain Hawks will be on the road for two EIWA duals next weekend. Lehigh will travel to No. 13 Cornell to face the 11-time defending EIWA Champions, Friday at 6:30 p.m. and then will visit Army West Point Sunday at 2 p.m.
Results:
125 – Darian Cruz (Lehigh) Fall Aslan Kilic (Navy) 6:36
133 – Nick Farro (Lehigh) dec. Cody Trybus (Navy) 7-4
141 – Luke Karam (Lehigh) Fall Nicholas Gil (Navy) 3:21
149 – Cortlandt Schuyler (Lehigh) dec. Jared Prince (Navy) 8-6
157 – Ian Brown (Lehigh) dec. Zack Davis (Navy) 7-3
165 – Gordon Wolf (Lehigh) dec. Drew Daniels (Navy) 7-2
174 – Jordan Kutler (Lehigh) major dec. A.J. Alford (Navy) 11-3
184 – Michael Coleman (Navy) dec. Andrew Price (Lehigh) 5-1
197 – Jake Jakobsen (Lehigh) dec. Steban Cervantes (Navy) 6-1
285 – Christian Colucci (Lehigh) dec. Austin Faunce (Navy) 2-0
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