13 Questions for the EIWA in 2024-25

1. Who will be the wrestler not named “Jack Maida” to step up for AMERICAN? There are multiple answers here, in my opinion. Will Jarrell might be the best one, however. He was the first alternate at NCAAs – just missing the opportunity to compete in Kansas City. He will begin the year ranked #26 in a competitive heavyweight class. With an excellent season last year, expect a more confident Jarrell to wrestle his way towards the top of the podium at EIWAs. Some other Eagles I look forward to stepping up are Caleb Campos at 174lbs and Lucas White at 184lbs. These two will open some eyes and get some big wins over the course of the season. Campos used a redshirt last year and wrestled to a 14-3 record. Expect some entertainment during his matches. White has been under a .500 win percentage, but he seems to improve every time he’s on the mat. It may sound crazy to people outside the program, but White is ready to make a big jump this season. You need to mention some youth in this line-up as well. JJ Peace at 125lbs and Kaden Milheim at 157lbs are both capable of having successful college resumes. Peace is a true freshman, while Milheim is a redshirt freshman – so they may need some time to develop into a household name. 2. Who will be the next All-American for ARMY? Last year, Ben Pasiuk earned All-American honors for The Black Knights. He was their first since 2008. The way this team has been trending, this will soon be an annual achievement for them. This year’s line-up is very strong from top to bottom. Looking at who will compete deep into the NCAA tournament, the lower weights stick out to me. Between Charlie Farmer at 125lbs, Ethan Berginc at 133lbs, and Braden Basile at 141lbs – one of these guys is destined to win a few matches at NCAAs. Berginc and Basile each moved up a weight, so it may take them some time to adjust this season. Some others to keep an eye on as a potential All-American threat are Gunner Filipowicz at 165lbs and heavyweight Lucas Stoddard. First of all, what better name for an Army West Point wrestler than “Gunner”? He came onto the scene when he won the Southern Scuffle last season. He scraps HARD and finds himself in a lot of matches because of it. Stoddard was a freshman last year whose improvement was obvious from November through March. For what it's worth, both Farmer and Stoddard secured gold medals while repping the U.S.A. at U-23 Pan Ams in May. Stoddard took it a step further to compete at Worlds, where he ended the tournament in fifth place. 3. Which wrestlers will jump levels for BINGHAMTON? There are a few answers here. The Bearcats have two wrestlers ready to jump from the “win a match or two at NCAAs” level into the All-American threat level. First, Cory Day at heavyweight had a fantastic season last year – ending the year in the top-16. He begins this season ranked #17 nationally. What separates him from heavyweights is his top-game. He doesn’t only ride people, he turns them and often pins them. Twelve pins last season is evidence of this. Speaking of top wrestling, the second Binghamton wrestler to fit this category of being an All-American threat is Brevin Cassella. He’s moved up to 174lbs this year – beginning the year ranked 16th in the country. Cassella is a multiple-time qualifier at 165 lbs. He’s used his length and leverage very well causing frustration to many opponents. He can scramble out of takedowns as well. Expect a big year from these two leaders. A wrestler I expect to see jump a level is Carson Wagner at 125lbs. Yes, I’m a little biased because we went to the same high school as me (shoutout Northampton Konkrete Kids). Wagner is a guy that can wrestle hard for an hour if you let him. Last year, he was over .500 as a true freshman while adjusting to college wrestling. With his pace and an extra year of experience, it’s easy to see him on the podium and possibly looking to qualify for NCAAs. Last year, he was very competitive with NCAA qualifiers and had a win over one of them. 4. Will BUCKNELL be a top 2 team in the EIWA? If we are looking at the team race, Lehigh is the odds-on favorite to take home the team title. After that, the team race will be very tight. Bucknell will make the case to finish right behind Lehigh, along with Army and Navy most likely. The Bison return four NCAA qualifiers, which is amongst the most for any team in the conference. They will be led by Kurt Phipps – who was one match away from claiming All-American honors. Dylan Chappell will return to his natural weight of 141lbs. Noah Mulvaney began the year very hot – eventually cooling off, however. Look for him to continue to improve and climb the rankings at 165lbs. At 174lbs, Myles Takats had himself an under-the-radar great freshman season after earning a trip to NCAAs. The youth of this program is beginning to shine through. They have claimed a top 25 recruiting class two years in a row. Expect some of those youngsters to make an impact in the lineup this year. Cade Wirnsberger may have a chip on his shoulder, being the head coach’s son. The redshirt freshman will look to continue his success from his deferred year a season ago. First year freshman, Dillon Bechtold, will look to make a statement at 197 lbs. He was a pinning machine in high school. The excitement around the program is noticeable. Many people will sleep on this team, but they better wake up soon! 5. Will DREXEL claim an All-American in front of their home crowd – ending an 18-year drought? The Dragons have not claimed an All-American since Ryan Hluschak in 2007. Current head coach, Matt Azevedo, took over the program in 2011 and has come up short of this goal on a few occasions. He’s coached multiple wrestlers in the dreaded “bloodround” to no avail. This year could be different. After redshirting a handful of quality wrestlers last season to put the best team forward this year, they will co-host the NCAA Championships. Mickey O’Malley has been a top 12 finisher in the past at 174 lbs. This season, expect him up at 197lbs. O’Malley has the potential to break this streak after falling short a few times. He will be the leader of this Dragon squad. A seventh-year transfer in Giuseppe Hoose will be another guy the team will lean on. He’s enrolled at his fourth school and has NCAA experience in the past. With other wrestlers like Luke Nichter and Jasiah Queen looking to be on the podium, this team will have some chances to break this streak. As an alum (maybe a biased one at that), I am hoping we see a Drexel Dragon on the podium. It would be a great story for the sport overall. 6. Will this be the year we see Mason Leiphart compete at NCAAs for FRANKLIN & MARSHALL? Mason Leiphart is a tech fall machine. In his freshman year, while competing at 125lbs, he earned 13 of them. Last season, up at 133lbs, he earned nine – three of them came in the first period. This is the same Mason Leiphart that nearly turned eventual NCAA Champ, Vito Arujau, in a November matchup. The guy is dangerously good at defense, and once he gets on top of you, look out! The only concern for Mason is that he’s well-scouted by his opponents – especially EIWA competition who may have seen him before. He’s a tricky wrestler to nail down with his unorthodox style. He can keep it close with many talented wrestlers – he will need to beat a few more of them in order to make a run at NCAAs. Surprisingly, he has not qualified for nationals yet. Part of this is due to a poor conference weekend in back-to-back seasons. Expect that to change this year once he can force the action to his advantage a little more often. Experience in these situations will help him win these tight, high-pressured bouts. 7. What will HOFSTRA need to do to improve from their down year last season? Jamie Franco has bled blue and gold for over a decade from his competition days as a Hofstra wrestler to being the head assistant coach. Now that he’s been named the head coach of his alma mater, what can we expect from him? Well, he inherited a team that was 16th in the conference a year ago. Their lone NCAA qualifier has now graduated. Jurius Clark placed seventh at EIWAs and will return this season. Last year’s finish was not the best Hofstra could do – and it’s safe to say the program would agree. This season, Justin Hoyle returns to the lineup after injuries kept him out last year. He’s placed at EIWAs in the past. Noah Tapia had a great freshman campaign last year – so expect improvement from him at 149lbs in a weight class that has no real front-runner at the moment. Ross McFarland has the potential to finish near the top of the podium at 184lbs. Hofstra’s off-season acquisition of Kyle Mosher will help them out in the middle of the lineup. He has transferred from Columbia where he had some quality wins in his career. Coach Franco spent a season as the assistant there, where he developed a relationship with Mosher. On the positive side, The Hofstra Pride are in a much better position than they were last season. This should help Coach Franco out in the long run. Once he gets some recruiting classes under his belt, we can expect Hofstra to consistently climb the ranks of the EIWA. 8. Will LEHIGH crack the top 10 at NCAAs this season? Last year’s 15th-place finish is an achievement. Three All-Americans and eight qualifiers is a pretty solid year for any team. Lehigh may be an exception to that rule. They strive to be a top-five team annually. They are heavy favorites to win the conference, but how does that register on the national scale? Considering Luke Stanich will most likely redshirt this season, they are missing valuable potential team points to help improve upon their 15th-place finish. Ryan Crookham will look to lead the Mountain Hawks, beginning the season ranked #1 at 133lbs. Michael Beard will be next in line, beginning the year as the 6th ranked wrestler at 197lbs. With a handful of wrestlers ranked inside the top 20 – they will need some wrestlers to come through. One of these guys will be Malyke Hines at 141lbs. He’s finished top 16 and top 12 in his career. One last chance to earn a podium finish should be motivation for him. He will need to stay healthy and wrestle to his ability to help Lehigh gain enough points to crack the top 10. Last year, Nathan Taylor was a Round of 12 finisher, missing the podium by just one win. If he can outperform his current national ranking of 8th – Lehigh could look to be in business. Lastly, a transfer portal pick-up at 174lbs will need to shine through as well. Rylan Rogers spent two seasons at Michigan before finding a new home at Lehigh. He was a very highly-ranked recruit out of high school. If his potential is matched, he will help add team points at NCAAs. This is. Obviously. all best-case scenario for this Lehigh team, but they have a knack for peaking in March. An NCAA tournament team trophy may be out of reach, but this team is still young – so maybe a team trophy is achievable next year, or the year after. 9. What will be the next historic “first” for the LIU program? Last season, we saw Anthony D’Alesio become the first NCAA qualifier for the school in its young D1 history. Witnessing that in person was an emotional moment to watch unfold. D’Alesio is looking for his second trip to NCAAs, which would make him the first multiple-time qualifier at this level – cementing him in the history books yet again. Will that be another “first” for the program, or will we see something else before that? Could we see multiple qualifiers in one season? Will we see a finalist? Or an EIWA champ – all of which would be firsts for the program. All of these are possibilities, based on this season’s potential lineup. D’Alesio is one of the top contenders at 184lbs, being the highest returning place finisher from a year ago. That may put him in the driver’s seat to check all three boxes above. Another option for LIU is Robbie Sagaris at 125lbs. Sagaris was seventh at EIWAs last season. This year’s bracket has cleared due to graduation, but mostly, due to the Ivy League schools departing from the conference. Sagaris is in good shape to be a finalist, or champ – which would assure him a trip to NCAAs. Much of LIU’s line-up from last year returns. There could be others who find themselves in a solid position to help make history entering the second day of the EIWA Conference Tournament. 10. What can we expect from MORGAN STATE in their inaugural season as members of the EIWA? Morgan State is now an official member of the conference. After reinstating the program just a few years ago, there is expected to be a growth period to help build the program from scratch, essentially. Head Coach Kenny Monday has the wrestling pedigree and is challenging himself in this new role. The excitement of the only HBCU (Historically Black College or University) expanding the EIWA conference to 12 teams is well documented. Being “the new kid on the block” does have its challenges. The Bears will be in an uphill battle as they try to climb the ranks of the EIWA conference. The natural progression of new teams typically requires some time to assert themselves into the conversation and compete in the middle tier. This year’s bright spot will be Darrien Roberts, a transfer who spent time at Oklahoma. He’s seen himself ranked in the top 33 as a starter, while accumulating over 40 career wins in four seasons. Roberts will be looking to use his experience and lead this team throughout the season. It will be fun to see the team compete and improve from November through March. 11. Will NAVY claim an All-American for the 2nd year in a row? David Key’s 8th place finish at NCAA’s broke a 7-year drought without an All-American. He gutted his way to close wins when they mattered most. Navy is ready for the next step of making this a regular occurrence. There are a few wrestlers looking to continue this trend this season. First, Josh Koderhandt at 141lbs. He’s been ranked in the top 12 but has just missed out on a podium finish. Last season’s bloodround finish left a bad taste in his mouth. You bet he’s in the mix to earn a podium finish this season. Danny Wask was two wins away from being an All-American last year at 174lbs. He finds himself in a good spot to improve this run after a phenomenal freshman year. Currently, Koderhandt finds himself ranked #9 in the nation heading into the start of the season. He will look to claim his third EIWA title in the process. Wask had a sub-par EIWA performance, compared to his NCAA run. It would be shocking if he failed to improve on his seventh-place finish this season. Obviously, Navy will have other contenders in the mix. 12. Who will look to compete at NCAAs for SACRED HEART? The Pioneers have not had an NCAA qualifier since 2021. That season, they qualified two wrestlers in Nick Palumbo and Joe Accousti. Since then, there has been a bit of a drought. Last season, Andrew Fallon missed the NCAA tournament by a tiebreaker match. Sacred Heart has been so close in a few instances. This season, Fallon returns and will look to improve on his sixth-place finish and have the opportunity to wrestle at the NCAA tournament. Fortunately, he is in the 133 lbs weight class. This bracket is the deepest, which will lead to more chances to qualify. The Pioneers will have two transfers in the line-up, which help provide them with more chances to see someone competing in Philly for NCAAs. Braxton Appello comes from Ohio State and will be at the 125 lb class. He’s placed at states multiple times in Pennsylvania. A new school may be the thing he needs. Felix Lettini comes from Wisconsin and will wrestle at 157 lbs. He spent two years at 141 lbs. We’ve seen so many times in the past a wrestler finds a new home and weight class and sees success. Sacred Heart has an opportunity to have multiple wrestlers compete at NCAAs. 13. How many All-Americans can the EIWA expect? The conference walked away with 9 All-Americans last season. We will only see Lehigh’s three return. Luke Stanich was 5th at 125 lbs. Ryan Crookham was 3rd at 133 lbs. Michael Beard was 8th at 197 lbs. Three is a very low bar to set, so let’s set an optimistic, but realistic goal. We will see Crookham and Beard return to the line-ups this year, while Stanich is slated to redshirt. Barring any injury to the first two, expect them to be in the hunt for a national title. Other potential All-Americans include Kurt Phipps of Bucknell and Navy’s Josh Koderhandt – whom were both top 12 to end the season last year. Then, when adding other top 12 finishers from years ago, you get Mickey O’Malley of Drexel and Malyke Hines of Lehigh. Guys who have been in the top 16 over their career include Brevin Cassella and Cory Day of Binghamton, and Nathan Taylor of Lehigh. As you can see, ten names are listed above. This is solely based on past performances. As fans know, the NCAA tournament is so unpredictable – anything can happen. The season is long, and anyone can get on a hot streak to earn their way to the podium. If half of the names mentioned above can get on the podium, plus one more outside the names mentioned sneaks on – that will give the conference six All-Americans. Book it, and take it to the bank!

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13 Questions for the EIWA in 2024-25

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