Princeton University Athletics
Princeton University
EIWA Championships
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Wrestlers Get Knocked Out Of EIWAs During First Day
March 04, 2006 | Wrestling
March 4, 2006
BETHLEHEM, Pa. - A tough, injury-plagued season came to an end Saturday afternoon at the EIWA championships. Senior Matt DeNichilo earned two of Princeton's only three wins on the day, but the Tiger wrestling program can hope that its underclassmen benefit from the experience gained Saturday at Lehigh.
DeNichilo, Princeton's most successful wrestler this season and the team's only seeded grappler, defeated Harvard's Wesley Walker 8-3 in a prequarterfinal match to advance to the league quarterfinals. The eighth-seeded DeNichilo fell to the top seed, Lehigh's Travis Frick, by a 14-5 score. DeNichilo won his opening consolation match, topping Brown's Matthew Gevelinger 7-3, but his road ended against fifth-seeded Dan Miracola in the next match. Miracola defeated DeNichilo 13-1 one match before DeNichilo could have guaranteed a top-six place and a potential NCAA bid.
The rest of the Princeton squad lost early at the EIWAs. At 125 pounds, Robert Benitez was pinned in 2:30 by Brown's Jeffrey Schell, and then he was pinned in 43 seconds by American's Matthew Morkel.
Princeton didn't have a representative at 133 pounds, but Eric Marcotulli was pinned in 4:25 at 141 pounds by third-seeded Steve Adamcsik of American. Marcotulli lost in the consolation round by a 13-4 score to Penn's Cesar Grajales.
Freshman Danny Scotton was pinned in the first round against seventh-seeded Keith Dickey of Cornell. He was knocked out of the tournament by East Stroudsburg's Christopher Sullivan by a 25-12 decision.
John Clore dropped a 10-1 decision at 157 pounds to Harvard's Andrew Flanagan, and then an 18-6 decision to Navy's John Jarred. At 165 pounds, Marty Everin was pinned in 1:02 to top-seeded Troy Letters of Lehigh, and then he was pinned by Penn's Lior Zamir in 1:38. Gordon Scharf was pinned in 2:09 in the first round of his 184-pound bracket, and he was eliminated by East Stroudsburg's David Williams by pin in 47 seconds.
Princeton senior Jake Butler couldn't overcome a knee injury, so Logan Lowe competed at 197 pounds. Lowe lost to Navy's Charles Pogue 15-4 in the first round, but he topped American's Anthony Fuschino 10-3 in his first consolation match. Columbia's Orrin Kleinhenz eliminated Lowe 15-7.
At heavyweight, Kris Berr was pinned in 2:09 by Harvard's Bode Ogunwole, and then he dropped a 6-1 decision to Rutgers' Mike D'Amico.
The EIWA finals will be held Sunday at Lehigh.