Ten Questions for the Ivy League in 2024-25
This year’s preview will not include the typical, boring “here’s the lineup for each team.” Half the time, these lineups change by the 2nd semester anyway. Let’s ask some questions about the conference, as a whole, including one directed at each team.
1. What will the first-ever Ivy League Wrestling Conference Championship look like?
With the championships being held at Princeton this year, what will the atmosphere be like? What sort of attendance can we expect? With only six teams participating, one would imagine the numbers being less than the 17-team EIWA conference championships. Not that any of this matters, just questions I am thinking about. With a single-day tournament, in lieu of the EIWA multi-day event, maybe more fans will make the trip when things like a hotel may not be required. For some diehard wrestling fans like me, we will attend EIWAs on Friday March 7th, and Saturday, March 8th at Lehigh University and then attend the Ivy Championships on Sunday, March 9th. Unfortunately, the Pennsylvania high school state championships run from Thursday through Saturday of the same weekend. Coaching staffs have already complained about this timing – as it puts a damper on a fantastic recruiting weekend. Once more details emerge, we can revisit this one.
2) Will BROWN improve on last season’s lone NCAA qualifier?
Last season, Michael Joyce took many by surprise by qualifying for NCAAs. He went on a run at the conference tournament to place fourth in a loaded bracket. He was the first qualifier for the Bears since 2019 – where zero wrestlers on the team last season were on the 2019 roster to witness it. Coach Jordan Leen explained to me how Joyce has lit a fire for many of these guys to follow in his footsteps. Brown has been hard at work in many aspects to improve the program’s results while building a winning culture. NCAA qualifiers are just the first step in the process.
To answer the question, Brown had a handful of EIWA place finishers who missed out on an allocation by a placement or two. Expect Hunter Adrian to be in the mix to qualify at 133 lbs. He was eighth at EIWAs while wrestling as the starter for multiple years. At 157 lbs, Blake Saito placed fifth at EIWAs, which is typically good enough to qualify for NCAAs in most years. Last year was an exception, unfortunately. Alex Semenenko placed tenth in a bracket that qualified the top eight and saw the ninth-place finisher earn the first alternate bid. Even if multiple qualifiers do not happen this season, it will only be a matter of a few years until Brown catches up with the rest of the conference. Coach Leen and his staff are building something special.
3) Will the new staff at COLUMBIA continue its upward trajectory?
Columbia has been improving every year under former Head Coach Zach Tanelli. Tanelli’s departure for Virginia Tech left a vacant position at the helm. Rutgers’ longtime assistant, Donny Pritzlaff, accepted the job along with a brand new staff. He took on Jeff Buxton, Sebastian Rivera, and Greg Bulsak to take control of the Lions. With a brand-new staff and many wrestlers forced to find new homes due to Ivy League eligibility rules, the Lions will have many new faces.
Kai Owen and Cesar Alvan look to be the only returning starters with previous NCAA tournament experience - (as Aaron Ayzerov and Jack Wehmayer will take Ivy shirts). Alvan took an Olympic redshirt last season and will be slated to be up one weight at 165 lbs this season. Much like Brown, we may need to give this team a few years to develop young talent and get some recruiting classes under their belt. If there’s one thing that Columbia has always done well, it’s a tough schedule. This year is no different. Expect a young lineup to take a few lumps this season. The Lions will be fun to follow this year, but keep your eye on them in the upcoming years.
4) Does CORNELL have the firepower to earn a team trophy again?
With only one All-American returning from last season, it’s hard to imagine they have the points to do so. Meyer Shapiro is the lone All-American with a third-place finish after racking up a ton of bonus point wins. Chris Foca has seen the podium in the past – he will be back again. Two-time NCAA Champ, Vito Arujau, graduated while two-time All-American Jacob Cardenas has run out of eligibility in the Ivy League and will compete at Michigan this season. Obviously, these are some big shoes to fill. However, the line-up is full of so many wrestlers who have been so close. Brett Ungar has been a top-12 finisher in the past. This year, he will be up a weight class at 133lbs. Vince Cornella has seen a top-16 finish before missing NCAAs last season with an injury. Julian Ramirez has won two EIWA titles, finishing in the top 12 three times in his career. He’s been ranked as high as #3 in the nation.
Some new faces will include Greg Diakomihalis slated to be the full-time starter at 125lbs. Although he has experience, being an everyday wrestler is something that will be new to him. Freshmen like Simon Ruiz (174 lbs) and Mike Dellagatta (197 lbs) will be first-time starters looking to contribute to team points at both conferences and nationals. Expect to see Ethan Fernandez (149 lbs) return to NCAAs after winning EIWAs a season ago. Ashton Davis will be the heavyweight this season looking to score points at NCAAs as well.
5) Is this the year HARVARD earns its first All-American since 2012?
The Crimson had high hopes for Phil Conigliaro the past few seasons. Finishing in the round of 12, he was one match away from a podium finish. They had a talented heavyweight in Yara Slavikouski, who barely missed the podium also. Although he earned NWCA All-American honors in 2020 during the canceled tournament, it just is not the same as wrestling the gruesome three-day event and earning it the old-fashioned way. The drought is the longest since Jay Weiss took over the program over 30 years ago. At one time, Harvard had at least one podium finisher from 2002 – 2012 except in the 2005 season. The last All-Americans from Harvard were Walter Peppelman and Steven Keith in 2012, both finishing in 8th place.
The best opportunity to end this streak is probably Diego Sotelo at 125lbs. Last season, he had wins over All-Americans, Anthony Noto of Lock Haven and Jore Volk of Wyoming. At the NCAA Championships, he came in as the 28th seed and knocked off #5 Volk in the first round. Volk wrestled all the way back to earn seventh while Sotelo ended the season in the top 16. He’s been to NCAAs twice now and is looking to finish on the podium in his senior year. With the way the 125 lbs weight class was last year (and looks to be this year), you cannot count anybody out. He can scramble with the best, and his skills on the mat are exceptional. If he can stay healthy, expect to see him on the podium.
6) Will PENN produce an All-American as they co-host NCAAs?
Penn, along with Drexel, will co-host the 2025 NCAA Championships in Philadelphia. You know they will want to be well-represented, as is the case for any host school. As if this isn’t enough motivation, this will be the last time we see Roger Reina as the Head Coach. He will be stepping down after the season. The Quakers will want him to go out with a bang, Although, they had eight qualifiers last season – they only accumulated six wins at the championships. CJ Composto claimed AA honors in 2022 and will look to repeat that achievement. We’ll see a proven winner in Nick Incontrera, back for another season at 174 lbs. He’s been ranked in the top 10 for much of the past two seasons.
They have the capacity to put at least one person on the podium in front of the home crowd. Plus, with many returning NCAA qualifiers, it’s very possible to have someone catch fire at the right time and earn All-American honors. We see it every year. With new coaches, Matt Valenti (slated to become the head coach next season) and Darian Cruz, expect a bump from the lightweights. Doug Zapf was a fan favorite as a competitor – he’s now on staff showing the young guns the ropes on how to push the pace and press the action. This team will be primed and ready come March.
7) Who will be the new face(s) of PRINCETON wrestling?
The Tigers of Princeton University have been an impressive story to follow over the last decade plus. The program is undergoing a bit of a revamp. Long-time coach Chris Ayres moved out west to take the job at Stanford. He took his assistant Sean Gray with him. That opened the door for Joe Dubuque to become the Head Coach after serving as the head assistant under Ayres for a while. He brings in a whole new staff in Anthony Ashnault, Cody Brewer, and Nate Jackson. Jackson has been an assistant in the past while training at the RTC as well. The wrestling team has seen a bit of change also. The Tigers have gained so much attention thanks to guys like Pat Glory. Pat was a multiple-time All-American, and NCAA Champion. He’s since graduated and moved into post-wrestling life. We can’t forget about Quincy Monday, who graduated in 2023 after being a multiple-time All-American. These two really led the way for Princeton, helping propel the program into the national spotlight. This year’s lineup does not have the notoriety of years past, at least on paper. Yet.
With so much young talent waiting to showcase, how many guys will make an immediate impact on the national stage? Luke Stout has been to NCAAs multiple times – will he break through and earn a spot on the podium? Kole Mulhauser and Ty Whalen have made names for themselves – will it be their turn? Princeton has multiple options to be a new “face” or “faces.”
Many are excited to see what Marc-Anthony McGowan will bring to the table at 125lbs after missing last year due to injury. The excitement for the program has always been there, and maybe now more than ever with a new staff on board. Plus, with so many potential breakout stars – it adds to the excitement.
8. How many NCAA allocations will we expect?
When the Ivy League was still part of the EIWA last season, they accounted for 29 of the 62 qualifiers for the conference. Now that they are a six-team conference, will these allocations hold? On paper, they seem to have lost a lot of firepower. Your gut reaction is to expect less this year. Simple math would show that’s an incredible feat – as nearly half of the overall participants (29 of 60) would qualify for NCAAs. On the face of it, that seems awfully high.
It’s a personal opinion that last year’s luxury of a large conference tournament may have helped them achieve more qualifiers – simply due to a higher probability of a bracket-buster causing havoc. With a small conference tournament this season, many of the wrestlers may need to lean more on a better body of work throughout the season in lieu of qualifying via automatic placement at conferences. Position battles, injury bugs, or any reason for missing mat time will be more critical at the end of the year.
Lastly, when at-large bids are discussed after conference weekend, adding an additional conference into the mix is another aspect. Remember, placement at your conference tournament is a factor, albeit a small factor. This gives more “wild card” options for the algorithm to choose from.
9) Which weight class will be the deepest?
Looking at potential lineups, 125 lbs jumps out to me. It’s entirely possible we see five qualifiers from this weight in Philadelphia. Three potential starters have already qualified, plus Cornell’s Diakomihalis and Princeton’s McGowan make five studs in this weight. Bah of Columbia was at 133lbs last year and had some good battles. Moving down to his natural weight makes him a complete wild card. Joyce of Brown, Sotelo of Harvard, and Gallagher of Penn will look to return to NCAAs once again. This will be a fun class to watch and see how it plays out.
10) What do the lineups look like?
That’s a great question! See potential line-ups below. These are super early projections, and we will know more once they see mat time.
