2010 EIWA Wrestling Championship Recap
Mar 8th, 2010 | By viratas | Category: EIWA
As I’m fumbling around with the words, trying to sound as least offensive as possible in trying to tell University of Pennsylvania Head Coach Rob Eiter that his team’s performance was unexpected, he spares me the agony.
“Go ahead. You can say it.”
We both laugh at what we know is true; that no one, except maybe those in the Penn wrestling family, had the expectation of the Quakers storming into the EIWA Championships and coming out with a Runner-Up finish.
Not that Penn had a bad year. Eiter’s squad posted a solid 10-6 dual meet record. But the Quaker line-up, pre-championships, did not seem to be runner-up caliber.
Four individuals wrestling above their seeds made that possible as Penn qualified six individuals to the NCAA Championships.
“You know what’s funny,” Eiter continued, “that’s why you wrestle the matches. Of course we caught some breaks, but if you train hard and wrestle hard, you give yourself a chance. We saw the potential in our kids and that’s something that we’ve been trying to reinforce; that they deserve to be there. It’s a testament to the hard work our guys put in and it’s nice to see their efforts rewarded.”
The Champs
Although Penn was a surprise runner-up, the race for the team championship was never in jeopardy as Cornell racked up bonus point wins early and often. It’s the fourth consecutive year the Big Red has won the EIWA title, this year, with 5 conference champs and by 47.5 pts.
Cornell swept the first three weight classes with Nickerson, Grey, and Dake, and then added champions at 174 with Mack Lewnes, and 197 with Cam Simaz. For Lewnes, it was his third conference title in as many tries, putting him on pace to join the exclusive, eight-member list of 4-time EIWA Champions next season.
In total, Cornell qualified eight wrestlers to the big dance, setting themselves up for a potential podium finish in Omaha.
Freshman Gusto
Making the transition from high school-to-college as a wrestler is always a tricky proposition. That’s what I was thinking as I watched Garrett Frey take the mat for his first collegiate bout back in December at the Binghamton Open.
Sure he had a great prep career at Blair Academy, but how would he fare at the next level?
With each match he won in Binghamton, you could see his confidence grow. In the end, Garrett had won the first collegiate tournament he ever entered as he was crowned the BU Open Champ.
“It’s funny that you mention that, because that’s when I was really letting it rip; just going out there and doing my thing.”
Somewhere along the line, Garrett says he became tentative.
“After Binghamton, Coach Ayers told me I started wrestling like I was trying to protect something. He said I hadn’t accomplished anything yet. And he’s right. Coming into this tournament (EIWA’s) I just wanted to get back to that; going out and having fun and putting the excitement back into my matches.”
And boy, did Frey do that.
Seeded 7th, Garrett made a finals run this weekend that included a fall over second seeded Joey Langel (Rutgers) and a 6-1 win over third seeded Jasen Borschoff (American).
In the finals, he fell to returning NCAA Champion, Nickerson, but Frey talks as if that spark is back, and just at the right time.
“I lost four one-point matches this year,” he said. Looking back, how many of those would I have won if I opened up like I did this weekend? I’m going to try and carry this over to NCAA’s.”
Building Blocks
Ask Rutgers assistant coach Cory Cooperman to handicap his team’s performance at EIWA’s this weekend and he’ll explain to you the ambiguous feelings.
“I figured we’d finish somewhere around sixth and that’s exactly where we ended up. So that’s about right. It’s good that, overall, our guys wrestled to our (the coach’s) expectations, but you know, we’d like to have just a bit more.”
Cooperman sees this experience as a key moment in the maturity of a Rutgers’ wrestling squad that earned its highest national ranking in school history this year.
“Our guys are young, and really not used to this kind of environment. But we can build on this. Next year at this time, we’ll win a scramble here and there in pressure situations and it will make a big difference.”
Championship Finals
125 Sr. Troy Nickerson, Cornell wbf Fr. Garrett Frey, Princeton 5:44
133 Jr. Mike Grey, Cornell dec. Sr. Matt Fisk, Lehigh, 8-2
141 Fr. Kyle Dake, Cornell dec. Sr. Jordan Lipp, American, 9-2
149 Sr. Matt Kyler, Army dec. Jr. Kevin LeValley, Bucknell, 5-3
157 Sr. J.P. O’Connor, Harvard dec. Sr. Bryce Saddoris, Navy, 3-1
165 Sr. Andy Rendos, Bucknell dec. So. Brandon Hatchett, Lehigh, 9-2
174 Jr. Mack Lewnes, Cornell dec. Jr. Scott Giffin, Penn, 9-2
184 Sr. Mike Cannon, American dec. Sr. Louis Caputo, Harvard, 5-1
197 So. Cam Simaz, Cornell dec. Jr. Micah Burak, Penn, 3-1
HWT So. Zach Rey, Lehigh dec. Jr. D.J. Russo, Rutgers, 3-1 OT
Final Team Scores
1. Cornell 160.5
2. Penn 113
3. Lehigh 109.5
4. Bucknell 103.5
5. American 96
6. Rutgers 87
7. Navy 81.5
8. Columbia 65
8. Army 65
10. Brown 55
11.Harvard 52.5
12. Princeton 24
13. Franklin & Marshall 2
