#1 Ryan Crookham to Miss 2025 Postseason

Last night, returning All-American Ryan Crookham of Lehigh, confirmed what many in the wrestling community suspected or feared for the past two months. Crookham will not be able to compete in the 2025 postseason due to an injury. 

In early-January word trickled out from the Lehigh wrestling room that Crookham had suffered a serious, potentially season-ending injury. In the wake of this news, there were mixed signals about Crookham’s actual status. There was some thought amongst those close to the Lehigh program that Crookham would be able to return for the postseason. 

As a freshman in 2023-24, Crookham burst onto the scene and upset returning NCAA champion Vito Arujau at the Journeymen Collegiate Classic in early-November. He defeated Arujau again to remain undefeated in the finals of the 2024 EIWA Championships. Arujau got revenge in the NCAA semifinals; however, Crookham rebounded to finish third in the country. 

With Arujau and finals opponent Daton Fix out of eligibility, Crookham began the season as the top-ranked 133 lbs - an honor he’s carried since. 

Crookham was 5-0 on the season with his most notable win coming over Penn State’s #6 Braeden Davis. 

In his place, Lehigh will turn to true freshman Matty Lopes. Because of the uncertainty surrounding Crookham’s availability, the Lehigh staff didn’t initially pull Lopes’ redshirt, so he only comes into the postseason with 12 matches this season. He does own wins over multiple-time national qualifiers Kurt Phipps (Bucknell) and Ryan Miller (Penn). 

The competition at 133 lbs in the EIWA will be intense as only one automatic berth to the 2025 NCAA Championships is on the line. Phipps and Army West Point’s Ethan Berginc are two ranked wrestlers from the EIWA at the weight. 

InterMat will make some injury-related tweaks to the national rankings today and remove Crookham from the rankings.