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Video Feature: Jordan Laster Opens Up On Offense, Confidence, EIWA Champs
March 04, 2015 | Wrestling
EIWA CHAMPIONSHIPS l SCHLEIFER EARNS ROOKIE OF THE YEAR; 6 CLAIM ALL-IVY
TWITTER: @TigerWrestling l @2015EIWA l @PUTIgers l @PUTigers_Live
Sophomore Jordan Laster admitted that he felt a little pressure starting as a freshman, and then went to his first EIWA Championships feeling like he needed to defend something. This year, he has been on a new mission, and so far, the results have been impressive. Laster, who earned second-team All-Ivy League honors this week, will enter the 111th EIWA Championships with a new energy and an offensive, confident mindset.
Prior to beginning his pursuit of one of five NCAA Championships bids at the 141-pound weight class, Jordan Laster shared some thoughts with GoPrincetonTigers.TV.
You can read a full preview of the upcoming EIWA Championships below.
Chris Ayres will return to his old stomping grounds this weekend, and he'll undoubtedly have a warm feeling or two when he first enters Stabler Arena. After all, he became an EIWA champion and an All-America while wrestling for Lehigh, and then he began his coaching career with the Mountain Hawks.
But it will be a brief moment. After all, he wants to make sure his guys can have those same warm feelings when they someday return to Princeton, and he's got a strong group that could make a real impact at this weekend's EIWA Championships.
The best wrestlers in the league will meet at Stabler Arena Mar. 6-7 to compete for both 10 EIWA championships and the 43 direct tickets to the NCAA Championships later this month. Princeton had four wrestlers represented in the final set of league rankings last week, though preseeds have yet to be announced.
The entire tournament will be streamed live on FloWrestling (subscription required), and you can also follow along live on both the @TigerWrestling and @PUTigers_Live twitter feeds. There will be full recaps after both days on GoPrincetonTigers.com.
The Championships will begin Friday at 10 am with first-round matchups; quarterfinal matches and wrestlebacks will start at 12:30. The semifinals will begin Saturday morning at 10 am, with wrestlebacks schedule for a 12:30 pm start. The EIWA Hall of Fame inductions and then the 1st, 3rd and 5th place matches will start at pm.
Here is a quick look at the likely starter for Princeton at each weight; the NCAA qualifications at all weights are included.
125 (3 spots)
Ryan Cash (10-12 overall, 5-9 dual)
Cash will be making his second straight EIWA Championships start, and he is in one of the more wide-open weight classes. Cornell junior Nahshon Garrett, the reigning champion and two-time All-America, is the clear favorite, but only one other EIWA wrestler (American's David Terao) is ranked inside the latest InterMat Top 20. Cash can build off wins against his last two Ivy League opponents, including a 9-5 win over Jeremy Schwartz at the Palestra.
133 (3 spots)
Jordan Reich (4-14 overall, 2-6 dual)
Reich is a freshman who earned the starting nod in the middle of the season, and he earned his biggest win of the year in a 10-3 decision during Princeton's victory over Harvard. This could be one of the most competitive weights, as four EIWA wrestlers are ranked in the Top 20, but only three can leave with direct tickets to the NCAA Championships. While Reich could surprise, he will gain significant experience just from being part of the environment.
141 (5 spots)
Jordan Laster (23-9 overall, 12-6 dual)
Laster was ranked fourth in the final set of EIWA rankings, and he comes into the Championships on the strength of a win over NCAA qualifier Chuck Zeisloft of Rider and a comeback overtime win over Jeff Canfora of Penn. He was also tied with ninth-ranked Anthony Ashnault of Rutgers in the third period late in the season. After a brilliant start to the season, Laster hit a slight lull in the middle, but seems to have picked things back up in time. He has losses to the likely top three seeds, though he fell to Lehigh's Randy Cruz by a 2-0 score. He is more than capable of challenging for the title, and the coaches will look for him to be aggressive and built off his late-season victories.
149 (3 spots)
Chris Perez (13-8 overall, 9-4 overall at 149, 7-5 dual)
Perez could be one of the most interesting wrestlers to watch throughout the weekend. He moved between 149 and 157 early in the season, but then settled into 149 and earned wins in Tiger victories over Harvard, Brown and Columbia. Perez has battled through one injury after another, but he is one of the team's most fiery competitors, and definitely somebody who could catch fire with an early-round upset. The EIWA has only three ranked 149-pounders, but it also only has three spots to NCAAs.
157 (7 spots)
Rich Eva (5-10 overall, 1-2 dual)
The flip side of the previous weight is 157, where a league-most seven wrestlers will go directly to NCAAs. Princeton will send out senior Rich Eva, who reached the EIWA Championships as a freshman, and then didn't wrestle the next two seasons because of injury. Eva is a testament to the commitment within the program, as he continued to battle just to get another shot at the lineup. Eva had one win in the Ivy League season at Columbia, and one early upset puts him right in the mix with all of the NCAA berths up for grabs. 165 (4 spots)
Jonathan Schleifer (22-9 overall, 14-4 dual)
If anybody on the roster needed that one extra week between the end of the regular season and the EIWA Championships, it was probably Schleifer. As a freshman, he stepped in and won 22 matches, including 14 in duals, and climbed inside the InterMat Top 20 before a pair of overtime losses in his final weekend. Schleifer was ranked fifth in the final InterMat ranks, one spot behind Penn's Ray Bethea, who beat Schleifer 6-4 in sudden victory two weeks ago. They could meet again Saturday for a berth in the NCAAs, though Schleifer does have his sights set higher.
174 (2 spots)
Judd Ziegler (12-16 overall, 5-8 dual)
It's the finals-or-bust at 174, where only two will advance to NCAAs. Cornell's Duke Pickett is ranked first in the latest EIWA poll, and Ziegler stayed within five of him (8-3) during the season. He went to overtime against Penn's Brad Wukie, a returning EIWA finalist and NCAA qualifier. Ziegler has been to the EIWA Championships each of the last two years, which nobody else on the roster can say. He has experience on his side, but he'll need to post his first three-match win streak to have any chance at the NCAA Championships.
184 (5 spots)
Brett Harner (26-7 overall, 13-2 dual)
Harner had a terrific February and earned the No. 3 spot on the final set of EIWA rankings. He defeated Ophir Bernstein, a returning All-America and the guy who ended his EIWA competition last season, and followed it up with a 9-6 victory over Penn's Lorenzo Thomas, another returning All-America who was ranked fifth nationally at the time. Somehow, Harner has been unable to move into the InterMat ranks, but he remains a very dangerous opponent in an absolutely loaded weight class.
197 (6 spots)
No. 12 Abram Ayala (26-4 overall, 14-2 dual)
Speaking of loaded weight classes, the EIWA has four of the Top 12 wrestlers at this weight class, which could set up for a fascinating semifinal round. Ayala is ranked No. 1 in the latest EIWA poll, but he was the lowest of the top four in the InterMat rankings. That group includes Cornell's Jace Bennett, Harvard's James Fox and Lehigh's Elliot Riddick, each of whom can make a strong claim at the title. Ayala has had one of the toughest schedules of any Tiger wrestler, and he enters the EIWAs with the fifth-highest RPI in the nation.
285 (5 spots)
Ray O'Donnell (19-17 overall, 8-10 dual)
O'Donnell returns to the EIWA Championships after placing eighth in the heavyweight division last season; like Schleifer, he probably needed the extra week after a tough final stretch of the season, but O'Donnell has proven to be a game competitor who can challenge any of the higher seeds. He has had numerous close losses to potential seeded opponents.