EIWA Day One Recap: NCAA's 2024

Key Takeaways:

• 9 EIWA Wrestlers will compete in Friday’s quarterfinals 
• Sotelo of Harvard knocks off 5th seeded Volk of Wyoming at 125lbs in round 1
• Navy’s David Key will wrestle in the quarterfinals as a 25th seed at 184lbs
• Anthony D’Alesio of LIU (184lbs) claims the team’s first ever win at NCAAs

As a quick recap, the conference had 62 qualifiers. This is the most in conference history. Before the tournament began, there was a last-minute scratch on Wednesday afternoon. Unfortunately, the EIWA was victim to the scratch – making the total number of competitors at 61. Cornell’s Vince Cornella was a scratch. His knee injury was too much to compete. We wish him a speedy recovery. 

Cornell currently sits in 8th place with 17.5 points. They have 3 quarterfinalists, and 5 alive in the wrestlebacks. Lehigh sits in 17th place after day 1. They have 3 quarterfinalists and one person in the consolations.  Penn is the final EIWA team in the top 25. They have four still competing in the wrestlebacks. 
If you would like to see full brackets and team score. Please click the link below. Tune into ESPNU for coverage of the first session at noon. Tonight’s session will be on ESPN at 8PM. 

2024 NCAA Division I Championships (trackwrestling.com)

125

Diego Sotelo started the tournament off with a bang when he upset #5 Volk of Wyoming in the first round. This was one of the first upsets of the day. And, there were many! Brett Ungar used a rideout in tiebreakers to squeak by Peterson of Rutgers. Peterson, like Ungar, was a top-12 finisher last season. Luke Stanich had a major decision in his NCAA tournament debut. Unfortunately, there are no quarterfinalists at this weight, but three still remain alive in the wrestlebacks. 

Quarterfinals - none

Wrestle Backs 

#2 – Luke Stanich (Lehigh) vs #16 – Peterson (Rutgers)

#17 – Brett Ungar (Cornell) vs #18 DeAugustino (Michigan)

#28 – Diego Sotelo (Harvard) vs #22 Palmer (Chattanooga) 

Out

#25 – Ethan Berginc (Army)

#27 – Max Gallagher (Penn)

#32 – Michael Joyce (Brown)

133

Ryan Crookham’s first round opponent was Max Leete. Crookham snuck by via 4-3 decision. Vito Arujau cruised to a major decision in his opening round. Bucknell’s Kurtis Phipps avenged a loss to Wells of Minnesota – whom he lost to in the dual in November. Basile and Colaiocco lost by a takedown to the 8th and 5th seeds, respectively. Everyone wrestled hard in the first round. Arujau and Crookham each earned spots in the quarterfinals tomorrow. One more win will earn a spot on the podium. Colaiocco dropped a match to #12 in the consolations. Basile and Phipps were each 1-1 on the day. They will compete on Friday as well. 

Quarterfinals

#2 – Ryan Crookham (Lehigh) vs #7 Bailey (Little Rock) 

#6 – Vito Arujau (Cornell) vs #3 Orine (NC State)

Wrestle Backs 

#13 – Kurt Phipps (Bucknell) vs #32 Rooks (Indiana)

#25 – Braden Basile (Army) vs #23 Yarbrough (Virginia)

Out

#28 – Michael Colaiocco (Penn)

#31 – Max Leete (American)

141

Josh Koderhandt and CJ Composto squared off in round one. Koderhandt won in overtime. Hines of Lehigh lost a tough one to #14 Vasquez of Arizona State. He then dropped a match to Owen in the wrestlebacks. Koderhandt, Chappell, Composto and Hines are all still alive on Friday.

Quarterfinals – none

Wrestle Backs 

#11 – Josh Koderhandt (Navy) vs #29 Clark (Purdue)

#16 – Dylan Chappell (Bucknell) vs #15 Moore (Rutgers)

#22 – CJ Composto (Penn) vs #21 Edmond (Missouri) 

#30 – Kai Owen (Columbia) vs #20 Crook (Virginia Tech) 

Out

#19 – Malyke Hines (Lehigh) 

149

Fernandez was the lone winner in the first round. Williams had a very close 2-1 loss to #8 Swiderski. Fernandez dropped his round of 16 match against Swiderski in tiebreakers. Swisher had won in his pigtail match in the consolations. The weight class only had two wins on day one. 

Quarterfinals – none 

Wrestle Backs 

#9 – Ethan Fernandez (Cornell) vs #7 Kasak (Penn State)

Out

#16 – Kelvin Griffin (Lehigh)

#25 – Matthew Williams (Army)

#27 – Jack Crook (Harvard)

#30 – Jude Swisher (Penn)

157

Meyer Shapiro’s NCAA debut ended with a fall. Brignola and Revano each had All-American opponents in round 1. #13 Blockhus of Minnesota defeated Brignola 6-4. Revano fell to #12 Andonian of Virginia Tech 5-1. Shapiro’s second match was a win by tech fall. He has not gone a full match yet. Revano had a win in the wrestlebacks to keep his tournament alive. 

Quarterfinals 

#3 – Meyer Shapiro (Cornell) vs #6 Cardenas (Stanford)

Wrestle Backs 

#21 – Lucas Revano (Penn) vs #11 Lee (Indiana)

Out

#20 – Max Brignola (Lehigh)

165

Cerniglia and Mulvaney wrestled each other in their first match. Cerniglia was up 9-2 until Mulvaney scored eight unanswered points to win 10-9. Julian Ramirez survived an upset scare in round one to advance. He moved onto the quarters with a comfortable six-point win. Cassella blanked Brady of Virginia Tech to win 5-0 in round one before losing to the 2nd seed Messenbrink. Four wrestlers are still alive entering day two. 

Quarterfinals 

#3 – Julian Ramirez (Cornell) vs #6 Caliendo (Iowa)

Wrestle Backs 

#11 – Andrew Cerniglia (Navy) vs #12 Thompson (Ohio)

#15 – Brevin Cassella (Binghamton) vs #17 Lillard (Indiana)

#22 – Noah Mulvaney (Bucknell) vs #21 Fish (Michigan State)

Out

#19 – Gunner Filipowicz (Army)

#32 – Jake Logan (Lehigh)

174

There was another EIWA match-up in round one at this weight between Wolak and Baker. Wolak earned a major decision. He squared off with Nick Incontrera in the second round after Incontrera’s first round decision win. The winner of that one was Wolak by a 4-2 score. Ben Pasuik won the first round match 18-11 in a high scoring event. Takats was neck and neck in his first-round bout with #3 Ruth of Illinois, but gave up a last second takedown. Incontrera, Pasiuk, and Wask are all alive on the backside. 

Quarterfinals

#7 – Lennox Wolak (Columbia) vs #2 DeVos (South Dakota State)

Wrestle Backs 

#10 – Nick Incontrera (Penn) vs #24 Sparks (Minnesota)

#18 – Ben Pasiuk (Army) vs #17 Maylor (Wisconsin) 

#27 – Danny Wask (Navy) vs #21 Eischens (UNC)

Out

#5 – Phil Conigliaro (Harvard)

#26 – Benny Baker (Cornell)

#30 – Myles Takats (Bucknell)

184

We saw two EIWA match-ups in round one. Ayzerov skated by Nolan while Conway upset Foca. Foca was an All-American a season ago. D’Alesio won his pigtail match, then dropped to top-seeded Keckeisen of UNI. D’Alesio took on Dugan in the consolation round. Dugan won via fall to advance to Friday. Navy’s David Key was 2-0 on the day to advance to the finals. He won two tight matches. History was made when Anthony D’Alesio won his pigtail. This was the first win by an LIU wrestler at the D1 level. 

Quarterfinals 

#25 – David Key (Navy) vs #1 Keckeisen (Northern Iowa)

Wrestle Backs 

#13 – Aaron Ayzerov (Columbia) vs #14 – Chris Foca (Cornell) 

#16 – Nate Dugan (Princeton) vs #18 Rogotzke (Ohio State)

#19 – James Conway (Franklin & Marshall) vs #29 Anderson (Gardner Webb) 

Out

#26 – Max Hale (Penn)

#32 – Anthony D’Alesio (LIU)  

197

Michael Beard had two bonus point wins on day one. Lou DePrez had two decision victories to advance. Cardenas was 1-1 on the day, dropping his R16 match to #12 Elam. Both Stout and Urbas won their consolation match to advance to Friday.

Quarterfinals 

#4 – Michael Beard (Lehigh) vs #12 Elam (Missouri)

#6 – Lou Deprez (Binghamton) vs #3 Sloan (South Dakota State)

Wrestle Backs

#5 – Jacob Cardenas (Cornell) vs #11 Smith (Maryland)

#16 – Luke Stout (Princeton) vs #18 Stemmet (Stanford)

#24 – Cole Urbas (Penn) vs #26 Smith (Virginia Tech)

Out

#28 – Jack Wehmeyer (Columbia)

#32 – John Crawford (Franklin & Marshall)

285

The deepest weight class in the conference only has one quarterfinalist in Taylor of Lehigh. He was 2-0 with two comfortable decision victories. Grady Griess defeated Cory Day in round one. Bucknell’s Crosby won his opening round match, as did Fernandes of Cornell. Both wrestlers fell to the 3rd and 2nd seeds in the second round, respectively. Day won his consolation match to move into Friday. He will take on Fernandes of Cornell in a rematch from EIWAs that Fernandes won. Kluever’s draw included two top-10 seeds, ending his tournament early. 

Quarterfinals 

#5 – Nathan Taylor (Lehigh) vs #4 Schultz (Arizona State)

Wrestle Backs

#15 – Lewis Fernandes (Cornell) vs #16 – Cory Day (Binghamton)

#17 – Grady Griess (Navy) vs #18 Szuba (Rider)

#19 – Dorian Crosby (Bucknell) vs #20 Bucknavich (Cleveland State)

Out

#22 – Matthew Cover (Princeton)

#23 – Lucas Stoddard (Army)

#24 – Keaton Kluever (Hofstra)