2024 NCAA Championships: EIWA Recap

Key Takeaways

• Vito Arujau of Cornell repeats as NCAA Champion
• Cornell finishes in 2nd place as a team
• 9 EIWA wrestlers are named All-Americans 

Last season, the EIWA left NCAAs crowning 7 All-Americans. This total matched the previous year. This season, the conference had two more – making the total number of All-Americans at 9. 

Congratulations to the 9 EIWA All-Americans below.

Vito Arujau, Cornell – Champion @ 133lbs

Ryan Crookham, Lehigh – 3rd @ 133lbs

Meyer Shapiro, Cornell – 3rd @ 157lbs

Jacob Cardenas, Cornell – 4th @ 197lbs

Luke Stanich, Lehigh – 5th @ 125lbs 

Lennox Wolak, Columbia, 6th @ 174lbs

Ben Pasuik, Army – 8th @ 174lbs

David Key, Navy – 8th @ 184lbs

Michael Beard, Lehigh – 8th @ 197lbs

Cornell finished exactly 100 points behind the team champions, Penn State. Fortunately, this was enough for 2nd place in this year’s wild team race. With 72.5 team points, the Big Red were awarded the runner-up in another historic year for them. There were six teams within striking distance of Cornell, so bonus points were the difference. Meyer Shapiro’s first NCAA performance may not have ended with the individual goal he wanted, but knowing he helped contribute to the team race may be a good consolation prize. His 21 team points thanks to two pins, one tech fall, and two major decisions helped propel the Big Red over powerhouses like Michigan, Iowa State, Iowa, Arizona State, Virginia Tech, Ohio State, Nebraska, and Oklahoma State – rounding out the top 10. 

Lehigh scored 36.5 points with their three All-Americans – good enough for 15th place. Navy finished in 26th place with 13 points. Columbia was 12.5 points and Army had 9.5 points. 

If you would like to see full brackets and team score. Please click the link below.

2024 NCAA Division I Championships (trackwrestling.com) 

125

Congrats to Luke Stanich on being named an All-American. Once he earned All-American honors Friday night over #4 Matt Ramos of Purdue (last year’s runner-up), he went on to defeat #5 Jore Volk of Wyoming by major. He then dropped a match to #10 Eric Barnett of Wisconsin. His final match for 5th was a revenge win over #15 Caleb Smith of Nebraska who beat Stanich in the championship bracket. 

5th Place – Luke Stanich (Lehigh) 

NCAA Qualifiers 

#17 – Brett Ungar (Cornell)

#25 – Ethan Berginc (Army)

#27 – Max Gallagher (Penn)

#28 – Diego Sotelo (Harvard)

#32 – Michael Joyce (Brown)

133

Congrats to both Vito Arujau and Ryan Crookham on being named All-Americans. Saturday’s morning action included two wins for Crookham. The first was a 4-1 win over #8 Frost of Iowa State. His second of the day was another win over #7 Bailey of Little Rock by a 4-3 decision. He beat Bailey in the quarterfinals 4-2. 

We all witnessed Vito on the center stage Saturday night. In a crazy match full of reviews, challenges, and more reviews – Vito prevailed again to remain the champion at the 133 lbs weight class.  

Champion – Vito Arujau (Cornell)

3rd Place – Ryan Crookham (Lehigh) 

NCAA Qualifiers

#13 – Kurt Phipps (Bucknell) 

#25 – Braden Basile (Army) 

#28 – Michael Colaiocco (Penn)

#31 – Max Leete (American)

141

Since no EIWA wrestlers earned All-American honors this season, there was no action on Saturday. As mentioned, Josh Koderhandt of Navy lost in the round of 12.  

NCAA Qualifiers

#11 – Josh Koderhandt (Navy) 

#16 – Dylan Chappell (Bucknell)

#19 – Malyke Hines (Lehigh) 

#22 – CJ Composto (Penn)

#30 – Kai Owen (Columbia)

149

There was no EIWA action on Saturday. Fernandez and Swisher were the only wrestlers to win a match. Next year will be a better year for the EIWA.  

NCAA Qualifiers

#9 – Ethan Fernandez (Cornell)

#16 – Kelvin Griffin (Lehigh)

#25 – Matthew Williams (Army)

#27 – Jack Crook (Harvard)

#30 – Jude Swisher (Penn)

157

Congrats to Meyer Shapiro on earning All-American honors! He defeated #10 Jared Franek of Iowa by major after he earned AA honors. He went on to pin #12 Bryce Andonian of Virginia Tech in a highly anticipated rematch. Shapiro ended the day with a 3rd place finish over #6 Cardenas. He was a huge part in Cornell’s team trophy finish. To make things sweeter, he avenged a loss from the previous day to end his run. Shapiro will have three more years left to achieve NCAA Champion status. He will be one of the favorites again next season. 

3rd Place – Meyer Shapiro (Cornell)

NCAA Qualifiers

#20 – Max Brignola (Lehigh)

#21 – Lucas Revano (Penn)

165

There were no matches wrestled on Saturday by EIWA participants. They won a bunch of matches, and many will return next season. 

NCAA Qualifiers

#3 – Julian Ramirez (Cornell)

#11 – Andrew Cerniglia (Navy) 

#15 – Brevin Cassella (Binghamton) 

#19 – Gunner Filipowicz (Army)

#22 – Noah Mulvaney (Bucknell) 

#32 – Jake Logan (Lehigh)
 

174

Congratulations to Lennox Wolak of Columbia and Ben Pasiuk of Army on earning All-American status! As mentioned, Columbia has not had an All-American since 2013. Army’s last All-American was 2008. Pasiuk had one match on Saturday for 7th place. He dropped the bout to #3 Edmond Ruth of Illinois. Wolak dropped both of his matches to earn 6th. His losses came to #1 Mekhi Lewis of Virginia Tech and #2 Cade DeVos of South Dakota State. Wolak will be wrestling for the Virginia Tech Hokies next season as a grad student. Pasuik will graduate and has committed to serving the country. 

Kevin Ward now has an All-American as head coach at Army. Zach Tanelli is in the same boat, crowning his first All-American as head coach. 

6th Place – Lennox Wolak (Columbia)

8th Place – Ben Pasiuk (Army)

NCAA Qualifiers

#5 – Phil Conigliaro (Harvard)

#10 – Nick Incontrera (Penn)

#26 – Benny Baker (Cornell)

#27 – Danny Wask (Navy)

#30 – Myles Takats (Bucknell)

184

Congrats to Navy’s David Key on being named an All-American! He is Navy’s first since Mathew Miller in 2016. Key battled his way through the tournament, wrestling one match on Saturday morning. He dropped it to #7 TJ Stewart. Cary Kolat finally coached his first All-American as head coach at Navy. 

8th Place – David Key (Navy)

NCAA Qualifiers

#13 – Aaron Ayzerov (Columbia) 

#14 – Chris Foca (Cornell) 

#16 – Nate Dugan (Princeton) 

#19 – James Conway (Franklin & Marshall)

#26 – Max Hale (Penn)

#32 – Anthony D’Alesio (LIU)  

197

Congratulations to both All-Americans at this weight. Michael Beard of Lehigh and Jacob Cardenas each return to the podium. On Saturday, Michael Beard dropped his lone match to #9 Stephen Little of Little Rock to end the season with an 8th place finish. Jacob Cardenas of Cornell defeated #12 Rocky Elam of Missouri in the rubber match between the two. They split on the weekend, while Cardenas won the regular season meeting. He then fell to #8 Buchanan of Oklahoma in the 3rd place match. 

4th Place – Jacon Cardenas (Cornell)

8th Place – Michael Beard (Lehigh)

NCAA Qualifiers

#6 – Lou Deprez (Binghamton)

#16 – Luke Stout (Princeton)

#24 – Cole Urbas (Penn)

#28 – Jack Wehmeyer (Columbia)

#32 – John Crawford (Franklin & Marshall)

285

There was no action on Saturday at this weight class. Nathan Taylor was the highest performer with a top-12 finish. There were many wrestlers who won multiple matches.

NCAA Qualifiers

#5 – Nathan Taylor (Lehigh)

#15 – Lewis Fernandes (Cornell)

#16 – Cory Day (Binghamton)

#17 – Grady Griess (Navy) 

#19 – Dorian Crosby (Bucknell) 

#22 – Matthew Cover (Princeton)

#23 – Lucas Stoddard (Army)

#24 – Keaton Kluever (Hofstra)