Princeton University Athletics
Princeton University
EIWA Championships Day One
Players Mentioned
Garrett Frey Upsets Two Higher Seeds, Will Return Princeton To NCAAs
March 07, 2010 | Wrestling
Freshman Garrett Frey was Princeton's top wrestler in its best season in decades even before the 2010 EIWA Championships began. As it turns out, he hadn't even had his best weekend yet. Frey will wrestle for the 125-pound EIWA title Sunday afternoon at Lehigh, but by defeating both the No. 2 and No. 3 seeds, he assured Princeton its first NCAA qualifier since 2005.
Frey will wrestler top-seeded Troy Nickerson of Cornell in the first match of the EIWA championship finals, which begin Sunday at 3 p.m. It will be a mighty challenge for the Tiger freshman; not only is Nickerson a two-time EIWA champion at 125, but he is the reigning NCAA champion as well.
Still, Frey's brilliant Saturday has already guaranteed that this will be a special weekend for Princeton wrestling. Not since Jake Butler qualified for the 2005 NCAA Championships at 197 pounds has a Princeton wrestler been there for the final weekend of the season. When the NCAAs begin two weekends from now in Omaha, Frey will be there. He is also Princeton's first EIWA finalist since 2003, when Greg Parker '03 repeated as champion at 171 pounds.
The seventh seed took on second-seeded Joseph Langel of Rutgers in the quarterfinal. Frey scored a quick takedown to open the match, and following an escape, he added a second takedown to open a 4-1 lead. This time, though, there would be no escape. Frey rode, turned and pinned Langel at 2:12 of the first period to move into the semifinals.
Third-seeded Jasen Borschoff of American was waiting for Frey, and he was a familiar opponent. After Frey opened his collegiate career with a win at The Binghamton Open, he reached the finals of the Keystone Open the next weekend. His opponent in the final was Borschoff, and Frey fell by two points.
This time would be different.
After a scoreless first period, Borschoff rode Frey for more than a minute before the 26-5 wrestler from Princeton escaped to take a 1-0 lead. In the middle of a scramble, Borschoff was called for an illegal hold; Frey used the opportunity to score a takedown and, with the point for the illegal hold, entered the third period with a 4-0 lead.
Borschoff escaped to cut the lead to 4-1 and desperately needed a takedown, but he wouldn't get it. Frey scored the last takedown and rode his way to the finals with a 6-1 win.
"He wrestled great today," head coach Chris Ayres said. "It was a big goal of ours to get back to NCAAs, and Garrett took care of business today. He was on a mission."
Frey was the easy highlight on a day that saw all nine other wrestlers get bounced quickly from the championship finals. Princeton's only other win in the championship draw came from senior Danny Scotton, who capped a brilliant senior season with a 20-4 tech fall over Franklin & Marshall's Matthew Gittleman. Scotton fell to Harvard's J.P. O'Connor, the top-ranked wrestler in the country, in the quarterfinal round and lost a 6-5 decision to Brown's Bryan Tracy in the consolation draw.
The only other wrestler competing Sunday for Princeton will be junior Travis Erdman, whose win over Navy's Michael Billings in the consolation round assured him a spot in the seventh-place match Sunday. Erdman will take on Columbia's Stephen West; during the regular season, Erdman edged West 4-3 in a match that guaranteed Princeton its first Ivy winning record since 1987.