2011 EIWA Wrestling Championships Day 1 Recap

LEWISBURG, Pa.—The Big Red wrestling team sits in first place after day one of the EIWA tournament with 140 points. All 10 Cornell wrestlers will compete on Sunday, including six in the finals and four competing in the wrestle backs. Frank Perrelli (125), Mike Grey (133), Kyle Dake (149), Mack Lewnes (174), Steve Bosak (184) and Cam Simaz (197) will all wrestle for the titles in their respective weight classes. With his first win of the day, Lewnes becomes Cornell’s all-time record holder for career wins. Cornell will place all 10 wrestlers in the top six of their respective weight classes for the first time in school history.

Lewnes became Cornell’s leader in career wins after pinning Army’s Collin Wittmeyer in 3:53 in the quarterfinals. Travis Lee ’05 was the former record holder with 143 wins from 2002-2005. The Big Red senior followed with a 10-4 victory over Rutgers’ Alex Caruso. Lewnes will wrestle Navy’s Matt Demichiel in the finals on Sunday.

Brackets: 2011 EIWA

The Rutgers wrestling team completed day one of action at the 107th EIWA Championships at Sojka Pavilion on the campus of Bucknell University. RU, who currently sits fourth in the team race, was led by redshirt sophomore Scott Winston (Jackson, N.J.), who advanced to the finals at 165-pounds. Additionally, RU saw two seniors make history as both DJ Russo (Netcong, N.J.) and Daryl Cocozzo (River Edge, N.J.) recorded their 100th collegiate wins in day one action.

Winston, who will meet up with Eren Civan of Columbia in the finals, advanced to his first EIWA finals by winning a pair of thrilling matches. In his first match, in the quarterfinals, Winston earned a 2-1 victory over Patrick Graham of American in sudden victory. Winston followed that impressive performance with a tough win over Justin Kerber of Cornell. After Kerber scored a quick four points after a takedown and two back points, Winston scored a reversal and rode Kerber out in the first. In the second, Kerber chose down and got ridden out but still held the 4-2 lead going into the final period. Winston started down in the third and quickly earned a reversal to tie the score at four. Winston then continued to go to work on top riding Kerber out and adding two back points as time expired to win 7-4.

Nine Navy wrestlers remain active, two in the championship bracket and seven in the consolations, following the first day of action at the 107th EIWA Championship, as the Mids currently sit in sixth place in the team standings with 69.5 points. Meanwhile, seniors Bryce Saddoris (Spring Creek, Nev.) and Matt DeMichiel (Whitesboro, N.Y.) have already clinched berths to wrestle at the 2011 NCAA Championship in Philadelphia, Pa. on March 17-19.

Bucknell senior Kevin LeValley went 3-0 and defeated a pair of seeded opponents to advance to the finals of the 149-pound bracket for the second straight year Saturday on the first day of the EIWA Championships at Sojka Pavilion. Guaranteed of a top-two finish, LeValley has clinched an automatic berth into the NCAA Championships. Classmates Rob Waltko and Jay Hahn are still in the running for top-six finishes in their weight classes and possible NCAA berths.

Bucknell is listed ninth in the team standings with 49.5 points following the first day of competition. The Bison will enter Sunday just three points behind eighth-place Army. Four-time defending champion Cornell is in first place with 146 points and has six wrestlers in Sunday’s finals. Lehigh stands second in the standings with 105 points and three grapplers in the finals.

The American University wrestling team will send a record three Eagles to the finals of the 107th EIWA Championships while a total of seven remain alive in the tournament. Wrestling will resume Sunday, March 6 in Lewisburg, Pa. beginning at 10 a.m.

#1 Steve Fittery, #2 Ryan Flores and #3 Matt Mariacher will each wrestle in the finals for American, marking the first time three Eagles have made the championship round. Both Fittery and Mariacher will be making their first appearance in the finals while Flores will be making his third. The junior won the 2009 EIWA Championship while wrestling for Columbia University after placing second as a freshman.

After the first day of action at the 107th EIWA Championships, Penn has six wrestlers left in the tournament including finalists Mark Rappo (125 pounds) and Micah Burak (197 pounds).

Rappo picked up two wins on the day, downing Army’s David White, 10-4, and No. 3 seed Garrett Frey of Princeton, 5-2, in the semifinals. Rappo, the second seed, will meet top-seeded Frank Perrelli of Cornell in the final.

Burak went 3-0 on Saturday to advance to his second consecutive EIWA finals as only a sophomore. He started his day with a 6-0 win over Columbia’s Mike Pushpak before picking up a major decision over Navy’s No. 7 seed Peter Huntley. Burak, the No. 2 seed, then downed No. 6 Michael Wagner from Rutgers, 4-1, in the semis. His early takedown 27 seconds into the first period helped Burak post 3:38 o riding time throughout the match. He will meet the man who defeated him last year in the conference finals, No. 1 seed and national No. 1 Cam Simaz of Cornell.

With their berths in the EIWA finals, Rappo and Burak became Penn’s first two NCAA qualifiers in 2011. For Burak, this will be his second trip to NCAAs while Rappo will be making his first-ever appearance at the national tournament.