Wrestling -- EIWA Championships

I thought the plan was to start a new thread for the NCAA qualifing tournament; my apologies ugarte if that was wrong.

Overall this season has had many positive surprises and very few disappointing ones. The Ivy win streak is now up to 63 duals (I think). An unprecendented 8th consecutive EIWA title is going to be earned on the mats, but the Big Red is favored to win in what was supposed to be a rebuilding year. The freshman on this team (Grey, Realbuto, Palacio, and Dean) have been outstanding.

The pre-seeds have a distinctly Red color (final seeds may vary, but probably won't to any significant degree)

125: Nahshon Garret (So.) #1

133: Mark Grey (Fr.) #2

141: Mike Nevinger (Sr.) #2

149: Chris Villalonga (Jr.) #1

157: Brian Realbuto (Fr.) #2

165: Dylan Palacio (Fr.) #1

174: Duke Pickett (So.) #4

184: Gabe Dean (Fr.) #1

197: Jace Bennett (Jr.) #2

285: Jacob Aiken-Phillips (Jr.) #5

Given the number of automatic qualifiers we got at 174 (3) and 285 (4), Pickett and JAP will have to (barely) outperform their respective seeds to qualify. The rest are expected to qualify without incident. <knock wood> And most, if not all, of the others are good candidates for a wildcard if there are wildcards available and they slip up at EIWAs.

The bracket is here: [www.scarletknights.com]

Duke probably has the toughest path. The top three seeds are ranked in Wrestling Report's top 15 and Duke is also behind the 5 seed from Army. Plus, he's coming off an injury. I would love to see it, but Duke has his work cut out for him.

Heavy meanwhile has a bunch of good wrestlers, but no real great ones. JAP took #1 seed Billy Smith to OT earlier this year. He'll need his A game, but JAP has a shot at qualifying.

Everyone else has some flexibility.

Cornell sends 7 to the semi-finals after every Big Red wrestler wins their first match. Duke and JAP both lost their 4/5 quarterfinal matches. At 174 the top seed also lost, so finishing 3rd is going to be very tough for Duke. JAP needs to win 3 in a row to guarantee himself a 4th place finish.

The surprise quarter final loser was Brian Realbuto, who lost on late takedown 4-3 to Columbia freshman Markus Scheidel.

The Big Red leads Columbia by 20+ points for the team title. It may not be locked up, but a lot would have to go right for the Hawkineers and very little right for Cornell.

Day 1 is done and every Big Red wrestler is still alive for tomorrow. Cornell leads second place Lehigh 92-62.5 and the Hawkineers have just 6 guys left, so title 8 in a row looks very likely. Here is what is up next for the good guys:

125: Garrett has two tech falls so far. He faces #23 and 4 seed Paul Petrov of Bucknell. The 2 and 3 seeds are alive on the other side of the bracket.
133: Grey has 6 seed Kevin Devoy in the semis. Top seed and #5 Mason Beckman would likely be waiting in the finals if Mark wins.
141: Mike must face 3 seed and national #15 Luke Vaith of Hofstra next in what should be a great bout. Seeds 4 and 9 are on the other side.
149: CV has yet to surrender a point. He'll meet 5 seed Theobold of Rutgers has two pins so far. Seeds 2 and 3 are on the other side.
157: Realbuto is in the wrestlebacks. He'll face 6 seed Kevin Moylan of Princeton next. Brian probably has the resume to get a wild card entry for the NCAA's, but to end the drama he'll need to win his next bout and one more.
165: Palacio has snuck through with a pair of tight wins (including a one point quarterfinal win that the Palestra crowd did not like). He faces #21 and 4 seed Josh Houldsworth of Columbia next. The 2 and 3 seeds are still alive; all four survivors are ranked between 15-21 nationally.
174: Duke faces an unseeded Hofstra wrestler in the wrestlebacks; he'll need to win out to clinch an NCAA berth.
184: Dean has two easy wins and faces unseeded Cameron Croy of Harvard next while the 2 and 3 seeds meet in the other semi.
197: Bennett will meet 6 seed Abram Ayala of Princeton next. Seeds 5 and 9 are on the other side.
285: Aiken-Phillips will face unseeded David Ng of Harvard in the wrestlebacks. He'll need to win that one, and the next one, to make the NCAAs.

mountainred
157: Realbuto is in the wrestlebacks. He'll face 6 seed Kevin Moylan of Princeton next. Brian probably has the resume to get a wild card entry for the NCAA's, but to end the drama he'll need to win his next bout and one more.

Hoping that 1-seed Taffur wins his semi or he's the guy who drops down to face Realbuto.

174: Duke faces an unseeded Hofstra wrestler in the wrestlebacks; he'll need to win out to clinch an NCAA berth.

And he has a tough draw to get there. If he beats the Hofstra guy, it's a top-three seed in the next round IIRC.

285: Aiken-Phillips will face unseeded David Ng of Harvard in the wrestlebacks. He'll need to win that one, and the next one, to make the NCAAs.

If the main bracket holds to form, he'll be facing the 6-seed for a trip to the NCAAs. Good position to be in.

Day 2:

Garrett with a forfeit win, he'll face American's Tereo (2 seed) in the final.

Grey losses his semi-final to DeVoy in OT after giving up a takedown on a scramble. It was a close call and survived a challenge. Mark just never opened up against a guy he "should" have beaten based on the seeds.
Grey will face Columbia's Armenta. If he wins, he qualifies for the NCAA.

Nevinger loses to Vaith 3-0 and suffers a knee injury though he wrestled out. Top seed Durso is next. Mike needs to win one of the next two to lock down an NCAA bert.

CV wins his Semi 3-1. He'll get Minotti of Lehigh next.

Realbuto with a workmanlike 16-0 tech fall in the wrestlebacks. He has Sommer of Drexel next.

Palacio wins 5-3. He'll face Hofstra's Joe Booth for the title.

Pickett loses. He'll wrestle for 7th, but almost certainly won't qualify.

Semi-final falls for Dean and Jace!

Realbuto gets a 17-0 tech fall and will face the 6 seed next.

Pickett loses 7-2 and is out. He's done for the year since he won't get a WC.

Palacio wins 5-3 and will face the 2 seed in the finals.

Even if Nevinger defaults out of the tournament I think he has a pretty good chance at a WC (the conference has 5 bids; if he defaults out, he finishes in 6th; he is a likely WC recipient as a 2 seed and 2 time AA. But I'm not sure if he wrestled enough to qualify. And if he doesn't forfeit, he's got the 1 seed up next which probably sends him to the 5th place match if he's not at 100%. Yikes.)

Dean gets the pin, moves on to the finals. He'll face Thomas (Penn).

Bennett gets the pin too! The other 197 semi is still in progress.

JAP wins his consolation match 5-2 and moves on. One match away from qualifying. Opponent TBD.

Mark Grey facing the 5 seed in the consolation round ...

ugarte


Even if Nevinger defaults out of the tournament I think he has a pretty good chance at a WC (the conference has 5 bids; if he defaults out, he finishes in 6th; he is a likely WC recipient as a 2 seed and 2 time AA. But I'm not sure if he wrestled enough to qualify. And if he doesn't forfeit, he's got the 1 seed up next which probably sends him to the 5th place match if he's not at 100%. Yikes.)

Tough road for Mike. Listening to Koll on the radio, he seems to think Mike has to earn the bid because he doesn't have enough matches to get the WC. He also thought the EIWA only had 4 bids at 141, so I hope he's wrong on both counts.

mountainred

ugarte


Even if Nevinger defaults out of the tournament I think he has a pretty good chance at a WC (the conference has 5 bids; if he defaults out, he finishes in 6th; he is a likely WC recipient as a 2 seed and 2 time AA. But I'm not sure if he wrestled enough to qualify. And if he doesn't forfeit, he's got the 1 seed up next which probably sends him to the 5th place match if he's not at 100%. Yikes.)

Tough road for Mike. Listening to Koll on the radio, he seems to think Mike has to earn the bid because he doesn't have enough matches to get the WC. He also thought the EIWA only had 4 bids at 141, so I hope he's wrong on both counts.

Fortunately, it is 5, if this is right (and I don't know why it wouldn't be): [www.brownbears.com]

I realized that he might not have enough matches to qualify for the WC when I saw the RPI list; Nevinger isn't on it.

Things fall the way we wanted for JAP; he'll face the 6 seed for a trip to NCAA's.

Grey up now in the consolation semi, Nevinger up soon.

ugarte

mountainred

ugarte


Even if Nevinger defaults out of the tournament I think he has a pretty good chance at a WC (the conference has 5 bids; if he defaults out, he finishes in 6th; he is a likely WC recipient as a 2 seed and 2 time AA. But I'm not sure if he wrestled enough to qualify. And if he doesn't forfeit, he's got the 1 seed up next which probably sends him to the 5th place match if he's not at 100%. Yikes.)

Tough road for Mike. Listening to Koll on the radio, he seems to think Mike has to earn the bid because he doesn't have enough matches to get the WC. He also thought the EIWA only had 4 bids at 141, so I hope he's wrong on both counts.

Fortunately, it is 5, if this is right (and I don't know why it wouldn't be): [www.brownbears.com]

I realized that he might not have enough matches to qualify for the WC when I saw the RPI list; Nevinger isn't on it.

Here is the spreadsheet fron the NCAA: [wrestlingreport.com]. It has five spots at 141 for EIWA.

Grey with a quick fall. Moves on to the 3d place match.

Nevinger getting destroyed by Durso; took an injury default. If he's allowed to wrestle (not sure about the rules re: defaults) he'll be facing 6 seed Dippery (Rutgers).

I have to think the rules would allow Mike to wrestle for 5th, unless he really can't go. Destroyed was, sadly, a pretty accurate description. Mike just has never been right all season.

Realbuto wins 8-3 and moves on to the 3d place match against 8 seed Perrotti (Rutgers).

We haven't even bothered to say that we've already qualified 7 for the NCAAs. Nevinger is dicey but JAP is in good position. JAP's match starts soon.

JAP can't pull it out. Loses 3-2 and drops down to the 5th place match. Long shot for the wildcard even if he wins it.

7 qualifiers and a 55 point lead on Lehigh as of the last team update. (There is a 45 point spread between 2nd and 15th place overall).

Mark and Mike with falls!!!!!!

Grey with a late takedown in the 3d place match to go up 4-3 and then gets the pin with 18 seconds left!

Maybe Nevinger was saving his strength against Vaith and Durso. Got a quick takedown against Dippery and then pinned him in 1:16! Nevinger is going back to the NCAAs!

Good medal round so far for the Big Red.

Mark was trailing Dellefave with 30 seconds left when he just overpowered his opponent to his back.

Mike locked up a pinning combination off the start.

Very gutty wins for both guys. I think that sends Mike to the NCAAs.

ugarte

Maybe Nevinger was saving his strength against Vaith and Durso.
Good medal round so far for the Big Red.

Durso, no question.

Very nice start. We qualify 8.

Realbuto loses 11-7. At first I thought this was a big comeback, and an SV loss but I think track wasn't updating. Did Perrotti get a late reversal and backs?

ugarte
Realbuto loses 11-7. At first I thought this was a big comeback, and an SV loss but I think track wasn't updating. Did Perrotti get a late reversal and backs?

Yep. Brian gave up a very late reversal as he was trying to hold on to force OT. I didn't see the swipes for the back points, but he was in an awkward position so it doesn't surprise me.

I think Brian was about 5 seconds short of getting the rideout he needed. Tough to do at this level.

JAP with an 8-7 win in the 5th place match. Longshot for a wildcard but here's hoping.

Pickett closes out his season with a 7-3 win to take 7th place.

5 finals tonight. Garrett at 125, Villalonga at 149, Palacio at 165, Dean at 184 and Bennett at 197.

Garett gets American's Terao. Nahshon has two wins this season, one in Vegas (5-0) and one at the Scuffle (7-3).
CV gets Lehigh's Minotti. Chris won 3-0 at this year's dual.
Palacio faces Joe Booth of Hofstra. Dylan and Joe split a pair of one point decisions this year.
Dean will meet Thomas of Penn. Dean won at the dual, but it was 7-5.
Bennett gets surprise finalist Cody Reed of Binghamton. Jace was 2-0 against Reed back in November with a tight one at the dual and a 13-6 win at NY states. There's been a lot of wrestling since then.

Bottom line is that everyone who makes the EIWA finals is wrestling very well and none of our guys has an easy title match. But Let's Go Red!!

Garrett wins 2-1 and claims his second EIWA title.

Chris Villalonga EIWA Champ! He beats Minotti 4-2.

Congrats CV, he's made enormous strides this year and deserves this title (not that the other champs don't).

Dylan Palacio drops a 6-4 decision in SV. EIWA runner-up as a freshman isn't bad.

Dean with a 3-1 win for the title. Probably spent 5-10 minutes on a pair of video reviews. Ugh.

And Jace gets Cornell's 4th title with a very, very late reversal to win 5-4.

4 titles, 8 qualifiers (maybe JAP can get #9), and an eighth team title.

mountainred
And Jace gets Cornell's 4th title with a very, very late reversal to win 5-4.

4 titles, 8 qualifiers (maybe JAP can get #9), and an eighth team title in a row.

FYP because … wow. We had a bunch of titles before this run too.

What Koll has done with this program is amazing and it looks to only get better in the next couple of years.

Final tally: 4 first, 1 second, 1 third, 1 fourth, 2 fifth, 1 seventh.

Thanks for the updates, mountainred.

ugarte

mountainred
And Jace gets Cornell's 4th title with a very, very late reversal to win 5-4.

4 titles, 8 qualifiers (maybe JAP can get #9), and an eighth team title in a row.

FYP because … wow. We had a bunch of titles before this run too.

What Koll has done with this program is amazing and it looks to only get better in the next couple of years.

Final tally: 4 first, 1 second, 1 third, 1 fourth, 2 fifth, 1 seventh.

Thanks for the updates, mountainred.

Yes, eight in a row. That's what I meant.

And 12 Ivy titles in a row, which is the longest title streak in the history of the league in any sport.

If that weren't enough, this year's team had just one senior (not counting Chris since I think he is expected to come back for the second semester next year). I know you know this Ugarte, but Cornell has a freshman in Alex Cisneros who is expected to step in for Nevinger. Alex was 10-0 this season and was pushing CV until Chris elevated his game to national contender status. Unreal.