Princeton University Athletics
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Wrestling Sends Program-Record Five Qualifiers To 2015 NCAA Championships
March 11, 2015 | Wrestling
Princeton wrestling head coach Chris Ayres talked about a "Higher Standard" before the season started, and his team went all-in on his vision. The result came Wednesday afternoon, as a program-record five wrestlers were named 2015 NCAA Championships qualifiers, including a pair who earned at-large bids.
Juniors Abram Ayala (197) and Chris Perez (149) joined sophomore Jordan Laster (141) as automatic qualifiers during last weekend's EIWA Championships, when Princeton finished seventh as a team despite having only nine wrestlers in competition. Sophomore Brett Harner (184), who defaulted from the tournament due to injury, and freshman Jonathan Schleifer (165) earned at-large bids because of the quality of their regular season.
"I'm thrilled to be bringing a program-record five wrestlers to the NCAA Championships this year," Ayres said. "Our guys put in an incredible amount of work towards this goal, and they deserve to be going to St. Louis. I'm glad the selection committee recognized what our team sees in the room every day, that Jon and Brett are among the nation's best, and they earned the right to compete with the best.
"Now it's time to go back to work."
Ayala earned the seventh seed at 197, the highest a Princeton wrestler has been seeded since Greg Parker '03 was seeded second at 184 during the 2003 Championships. Ayala is the only one of the five to have NCAA Championships experience, as he qualified last year and won a consolation round match.
Here is more on Princeton's five NCAA qualifiers:
THE FIRST SHALL BE LASTER
Laster (26-12) will be the first to compete at 141 pounds, as he will take on local rival Chuck Zeisloft of Rider in a preliminary match, with the winner to take on top-seeded Logan Stieber of Ohio State. These two met during the final weekend of the regular season, with Laster earning a 5-4 road victory.
SIXTH SENSE
Perez (16-9) made the biggest jump of any Princeton wrestler at the EIWA Championships, as he moved from the sixth seed to the finals, where he fell to Cornell's Chris Villalonga (the fifth seed at the NCAAs). Along the way, he defeated both CJ Cobb and Cody Ruggirello, both of whom earned seeds at NCAAs. Perez is unseeded and will open his journey against eighth-seeded Alexander Richardson of Old Dominion.
FRESH FACE
Schleifer (26-11) had to sweat out the at-large announcements, but he will continue his historic season in St. Louis. After becoming the first Princeton wrestler to ever earn Ivy League Rookie of the Year honors, Schleifer will open his first NCAA Championships against third-seeded Isaac Jordan of Wisconsin; Jordan defeated Schleifer 7-2 at the Navy Classic. Schleifer is only the second Princeton freshman to qualify for the NCAA Championships in the last 35 years.
FOURTH TIME'S A CHARM?
Harner (28-7) injured himself late in the week before the EIWA Championships, and despite hoping to compete, he was forced to default as the third seed. A brilliant regular season, which included two February victories over returning All-Americas, earned him an at-large bid to his first NCAA Championships, and Ayres is confident he will be ready to compete. Harner is 28-4 against everybody in the NCAA not named Richard Robertson; care to guess which Wisconsin freshman Harner drew in the first round? Robertson is 26-8 and the 15th seed.
SEVENTH HEAVEN
Ayala has been ranked in the Top 15 throughout the season, but he has wrestled one of the toughest schedules in the nation and has one of the top RPIs at the weight. He was rewarded with the seventh seed and will open against Old Dominion's Kevin Beazley, who he defeated 7-5 in sudden victory at the Midlands Championships.
The group is just the third five-man Princeton squad to qualify for the NCAA Championships in the same year. In 1975, Dennis Underkoffler '76, Kevin Roesch '78, Randy Schutte '75, Bill Miron '78, and Mike Murburg '77 qualified. In 1978, when Princeton won its most recent EIWA Championship, the quintet of Roesch, Steve Grubman '78, John Sefter '78, Keith Ely '79 and Bill Hawley '80 qualified.