LEWISBURG, Pa. - Two wrestlers from American University have advanced to the top eight of their weight classes at the 120th EIWA Championships, and will have a chance to earn a spot at the NCAA Championships in Kansas City later this month. Junior
Jack Maida has now made top eight for a third year in a row at 125 pounds and will try to qualify for NCAAs for a second straight year, while junior
Maximilian Leete is making his first day two appearance and will look to qualify for NCAAs for the first time at 133 pounds.
Notable
- The night session held a lot of excitement for American fans, as the Eagles earned four straight wins on the same mat including three straight pins for Lucas White, Will Jarrell and Jack Maida.
- Both Maida and Leete suffered one loss for the day, but rebounded with clutch victories in the consolation bracket to advance to the top eight in their respective weight classes. Both will need to finish in the top five to earn a trip to the NCAAs in Kansas City.
- Maida (125) easily advanced to the quarterfinals in his opening match against LIU's Robert Sagaris. With two takedowns and a four-point near fall, Maida did not allow a point scored in a 12-0 major decision.
- Coming up against #31 Ethan Berginc of Army in the quarters, Maida was only able to come up with an escape to get on the board. He had defeated Berginc two weeks ago in a dual, but suffered a 4-1 defeat today to send him into the consolation bracket.
- In a reversal of another match two weeks ago when Maida was pinned by Columbia's Nick Babin, Maida made quick work of Babin this time to advance to the final eight. He pinned him in just 35 seconds and will stand on the podium for a second year in a row.
- Leete (133) scored an early takedown and a late one in his upset victory over #31 Brendan Ferretti of Navy. It was a 10 seed against a 7 seed win that also marked a turnaround from Leete's overtime loss to Ferretti back in the Eagles' December dual against the Midshipmen.
- In the quarterfinals, Leete put up an impressive fight against #3 Vito Arujau of Cornell, also the reigning World Champion. Leete was taken down just once in a 4-2 loss, but it was enough to drop him into the consolation bracket.
- In his final match of the day, Leete earned the right to wrestle on Saturday with an 8-2 decision over Harvard's Coleman Nogle. It was an exciting match that saw Leete trailing 1-0 heading to the third period before he scored two takedowns on his way to victory.
- After an early loss to #12 Vince Cornella of Cornell, Raymond Lopez (141) rebounded with a 7-1 decision over Hofstra's Alex Turley in the consolation bracket. Lopez made it two straight in his second consolation bout, edging Army's Logan Brown 8-7 thanks to a pair of takedowns.
- Jack Nies (149) fell in his opening bout against Harvard, but posted a 12-2 major decision win over Franklin & Marshall in his first consolation bout. Unfortunately, a second trip to the podium wasn't meant to be for Nies, who later lost an 8-5 decision to Drexel's Dom Findora after Findora broke a 5-5 tie in the final seconds.
- The first pin of the day for AU belonged to Lucas White at 174 pounds. In his consolation bracket bout against Brown's Jonathan Conrad, White got the job done in just a minute and 37 seconds to stay alive in the tournament.
- Heavyweight Will Jarrell stayed alive thanks to a pin in 2:28 in his first consolation match against Harvard's Jeffrey Crooks. Jarrell dominated to that point with a takedown and a five-point near fall before getting the fall.
- Jarrell later fell to #19 Keaton Kluever of Hofstra, but is one of four wrestlers who will wrestle for ninth place at heavyweight on Saturday. The EIWA is allocated eight automatic NCAA spots in that weight class, and being one spot out is part of the consideration for at-large bids.
- Breon Phifer got his first-ever EIWA win with a 17 seed vs. 16 seed victory in the "pigtail" round at 165 pounds, getting the best of Sacred Heart's Calvin Pineda by 14-3 major decision thanks to four takedowns.
EIWA Championship Day One Results (
Complete Brackets)
125
- Rd. of 16 - #28 Jack Maida (AU) major dec. Robert Sagaris (LIU), 12-0
- QF - #31 Ethan Berginc (Army) dec. #28 Jack Maida (AU), 4-1
- Cons. Rd. of 8 - #28 Jack Maida (AU) pinned Nick Babin (Columbia), 0:35
- Cons. Rd. of 4 - #28 Jack Maida (AU) vs. Mike Joyce (Brown)
133
141
- Rd. of 16 - #12 Vince Cornella (Cornell) dec. Raymond Lopez (AU), 9-2
- Cons. Rd. of 16 - Raymond Lopez (AU) dec. Alex Turley (Hofstra), 7-1
- Cons. Rd. of 8 - Raymond Lopez (AU) dec. Logan Brown (Army), 8-7
- Cons. Rd. of 8 - #32 Kai Owen (Columbia) dec. Raymond Lopez (AU), 9-3
149
- Rd. of 16 - Jack Crook (Harvard) dec. Jack Nies (AU), 9-2
- Cons. Rd. of 8 - Jack Nies (AU) major dec. Josh Hillard (F&M), 12-2
- Cons. Rd. of 8 - Dom Findora (Drexel) dec. Jack Nies (AU), 8-5
157
- Rd. of 16 - #20 Max Brignola (Lehigh) tech. fall Devon Capato (AU), 16-1
- Cons. Rd. of 8 - Jurius Clark (Hofstra) dec. Devon Capato (AU), 11-4
165
- Rd. of 32 - Breon Phifer (AU) major dec. Calvin Pineda (SHU), 14-3
- Rd. of 16 - #3 Julian Ramirez (Cornell) pinned Breon Phifer (AU), 1:01
- Cons. Rd. of 8 - Jake Slotnick (Hofstra) major dec. Breon Phifer (AU), 14-4
174
- Rd. of 16 - #12 Ben Pasiuk (Army) major dec. Lucas White (AU), 14-2
- Cons. Rd. of 8 - Lucas White (AU) pinned Jonathan Conrad (Brown), 1:37
- Cons. Rd. of 8 - Myles Takats (Bucknell) def. Lucas White (AU), Inj. Def.
184
- Rd. of 16 - #20 Aaron Ayzerov (Columbia) tech. fall Connor Bourne (AU), 15-5 (3:33)
- Cons. Rd. of 8 - Will Conlon (Hofstra) def. Connor Bourne (AU), MFF
197
- Rd. of 16 - #7 Lou DePrez (Binghamton) tech. fall Liam Volk-Klos (AU), 16-1 (3:42)
- Cons. Rd. of 8 - Ibrahim Ameer (Drexel) major dec. Liam Volk-Klos (AU), 16-3
285
- Rd. of 16 - #25 Dorian Crosby (Bucknell) major dec. Will Jarrell (AU), 12-3
- Cons. Rd. of 8 - Will Jarrell (AU) pinned Jeffrey Crooks (Harvard), 2:28
- Cons. Rd. of 8 - #19 Keaton Kluever (Hofstra) major dec. Will Jarrell (AU), 14-3
- Semi to 9th - Will Jarrell (AU) vs. Santino Morina (Drexel)
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