Princeton University Athletics
Princeton University
EIWA
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Wrestlers Pick Up Trio Of Victories At 104th EIWA Championships
March 08, 2008 | Wrestling
Freshman Tony Comunale, junior Marty Everin and senior Sam Ritter each picked up a victory during the first day of the 2008 EIWA Championships, held at Franklin & Marshall. Everin picked up the lone win in the championship bracket, while Comunale remains the only Tiger still in the hunt for an NCAA tournament berth.
Everin, a junior co-captain who has missed much of the season with an injury, topped the eighth-seeded Christopher Norrell of Rutgers 9-2 in the first round of the 157-pound weight class. Everin fell by the same score to the top-seeded Jordan Leen of Cornell and was eliminated from the draw in the consolation round by Bucknell's Brantley Hooks, who won a tight 7-5 decision.
The eighth-seeded Comunale received a first-round bye, but his quarterfinal opponent was Penn's Roger Peterkin, the top-seeded wrestler in the 125-pound weight class. The Princeton freshman had no answers and was tech falled 15-0 in 4:34. Comunale kept his NCAA dreams alive by pinning East Stroudsburg's Matthew Benedetti in 2:18; the top four placewinners are all guaranteed NCAA spots, and a handful of wild-card entries will also be awarded.
Senior heavyweight Sam Ritter might have earned a seed at the EIWA championships, but he was injured in the middle of a successful season. Instead, he was forced to face third-seeded Levon Mock of Brown, who topped Ritter 12-1. Ritter came back to defeat Lehigh's Justin Allen 4-2, but Cornell's Maciej Jochym eliminated Ritter with an 11-3 victory.
The rest of the Princeton squad fell in both their championship and consolation matches. Sophomore Nikhil Pereira was pinned in 1:37 against second-seeded Seth Ciasulli (Lehigh) and was knocked out when Army's Whitt Dunning pinned him in 5:33. Junior Alex Enriquez (165) fell 10-0 to Navy's Justin Jacobs and then lost a 15-4 decision to Brown's Christopher Musser. Freshman Travis Erdman, one of Princeton's most successful wrestlers of the season, lost a tight 6-3 decision at 174 pounds to the third-seeded Shane Riccio of Bucknell. Erdman was eliminated in his first consolation match when Rutgers' Mike Whalen beat him by the same 6-3 score. Freshman Anthony Salerno (184) fell to eighth-seeded Keith Dobish of Rutgers 6-1 and followed with a 10-8 loss to Harvard's Fred Rowsey. Sophomore Zack Morse (197) put up a strong fight in a 4-2 loss to the second-seeded Justin Kerber of Cornell and was eliminated 8-3 by Lehigh's Alex Iacocca.