Princeton University
EIWA Day 2
Players Mentioned
Harner Wins EIWA Title, Highlights Best Princeton Team Finish In 38 Years
March 06, 2016 | Wrestling
COMPLETE RESULTS
It had been thirteen years since Greg Parker won an EIWA title. It had been 10 years since Chris Ayres came to Princeton with plans of returning the historic Tiger wrestling program to prominence. It had been a full season of highs and lows, and then even more of both during Day 1 of EIWAs.
It had been seven tense semifinal minutes. It had been hours waiting for his final, then a few extra painful minutes while one last match preceding it went to overtime.
But one magical seven-minute journey by Brett Harner — and the ensuing eruption from an orange-clad crowd inside Jadwin Gym — made it all worth worthwhile.
Harner, who earned the top seed at 197 pounds thanks to a 28-3 regular season, took down Army's Bryce Barnes five times during a dominant championship final, claiming a 14-4 major decision to bring the Tigers their first EIWA title in 13 years and their 53rd in program history.
Unlike a tense semifinal, when he scored one takedown and fought off Frank Mattaice of Penn through a hard-fought final period, Harner took control of the final early on. He got in on the left leg of Barnes midway through the opener for a 2-0 lead, then used an underhook for a 4-1 lead at the end of the period. A quick escape and then another single-leg gave him a 7-1 lead, and he kept control the rest of the way for the title.
His embrace with Ayres on the side of the mat afterwards said it all — two men who have given their all to this program, embracing in a moment when that work was rewarded.
Harner's victory also helped Princeton finish fifth overall with 71.5 points. That marked the best team finish since winning the 1978 championship, and it was the best finish for an Ivy League team outside of Cornell, which won its 10th straight EIWA title. The next closest Ivy League finisher was Harvard, which finished ninth.
Harner was one of six placewinners for Princeton, and one of three who assured themselves a spot in the NCAA Championships, which will be held at Madison Square Garden in two weeks. Joining Harner will be classmates Jordan Laster, the fifth-place finisher at 141 who will be making a second straight trip to NCAAs, and Ray O'Donnell, the fourth-place finisher at 285 who will make his first trip to NCAAs.
Senior Adam Krop took eighth at 157 to conclude a determined, injury-plagued career. Krop, who reached the 2012 NCAA Championships, fought back from two major injuries, and he fell by one point to eventual champion Dylan Palacio in the quarterfinal.
While Krop's Princeton career ended, the promising careers for freshmen Pat D'Arcy and Mike D'Angelo began in exciting fashion. D'Arcy opened his day with a technical fall and took sixth overall, while D'Angelo finished with a technical fall to take seventh.
Laster joined Harner Sunday morning as Tiger semifinalists, but he fell 7-3 to eventual champion Rick Durso of F&M. Laster was aggressive early, but Durso made a weekend of turning your shots into his takedowns, and he did so again to grab an early lead in his win over Laster. The Tiger junior wrapped up his day with a 3-2 win over Navy's Nic Gill to take fifth and head into NCAAs on a win.
O'Donnell won twice Saturday, and both in dominant fashion. He opened with a 16-0 technical fall, then pinned Cornell's Jeramy Sweaney in 4:00 to reach the third-place match. Those two results were worth 3.5 team points, enough to move the Tigers past sixth-place Navy (68.5). His only two losses of the weekend came to the same opponent, third-seeded Mike Hughes of Hofstra.
Ultimately, though, the weekend belonged to Harner, the nation's 11th-ranked wrestler at 197 pounds and the co-captain of a Princeton team that wrestled for an Ivy title for the first time in 30 years. He wrestled under the pressure of winning that elusive EIWA title at home, and he handled the moment in brilliant fashion.
Sure, there is still work to be done this year. Harner can turn his attention to Madison Square Garden soon enough.
But this was his day, and a day Princeton Wrestling can also proudly call its own.
TEAM STANDINGS (Top 10)
| Cornell | 170.5 |
| Lehigh | 154 |
| Bucknell | 84 |
| Army | 73.5 |
| Princeton | 71.5 |
| Navy | 68.5 |
| American | 63 |
| Drexel | 62.5 |
| Harvard | 60.5 |
| Penn | 53 |
PRINCETON INDIVIDUAL RESULTS
125 • #6 Pat D'Arcy
1R – D'Arcy mdec. Sean Badua (Army) 13-0
QF – #3 David Terao (American) dec. D'Arcy 6-2
C2 – D'Arcy mdec. Brett Carter (Columbia) 11-2
C3 – D'Arcy TF #8 Steven Bulzomi (Binghamton) 16-0
C4 - #5 Zach Fuentes dec. D'Arcy 3-1
5th - #3 David Terao mdec. D'Arcy 12-2
133 • Noah Ajram
1R - #4 David Pearce (Drexel) mdec. Ajram 11-3
C1 – Tim Johnson (Sacred Heart) mdec. Ajram 10-0
141 • #5 Jordan Laster
R1 – Laster dec. Dylan Carauna (Binghamton) 6-2
QF – Laster dec. #4 Tyler Smith (Bucknell) 9-5
SF –#1 Rick Durso (F&M) dec. Laster 7-3
C3 – Jamel Hudson dec. Laster 3-1, SV-1
5th – Laster dec. #7 Nic Gill 3-2
149 • #8 Mike D'Angelo
R1 – Tom Page (American) dec. D'Angelo 4-2
C1 – D'Angelo advances via forfeit
C2 – D'Angelo dec. #7 Corey Wilding (Navy) 7-3
C3 - #3 Laike Gardner (Lehigh) dec. D'Angelo 5-1
7th – D'Angelo TF Matt Kelly (Army) 15-0
157 • #8 Adam Krop
R1 – Krop dec. Vincent DePrez (Binghamton) 9-6
QF - #1 Dylan Palacio (Cornell) dec. Krop 10-9
C2 – Krop dec. Zach Kelly (Bucknell) 7-3
C3 - #4 Markus Scheidel (Columbia) dec. Krop 3-2
7th - #6 Ian Brown dec. Krop 9-4
165 • Judd Ziegler
R1 - #1 Duke Pickett mdec. Ziegler 13-1
C1 – Ziegler dec. Bobby Fehr (Hofstra)
C2 – #7 Austin Rose (Drexel) dec. Ziegler 3-2
174 • #4 Jon Schleifer
R1 – Nick Elmer (Drexel) dec. Schleifer 4-3
C1 – Schleifer mdec. Frank Affronti (Hofstra) 13-2
C2 - #6 Jack McKeever (Binghamton) dec. Schleifer 9-4
184 • #6 Abram Ayala
R1 – Ayala dec. Michael Mocco (Harvard) 10-4
QF – #3 Matthew Miller (Navy) p. Ayala 4:57
C2 – Samson Imonode (Army) dec. Ayala 9-7, SV
197 • #1 Brett Harner
R1 – Harner dec. Troy Hembury (Columbia) 8-3
QF – Harner dec. #8 Tyler Greene (Bucknell) 6-2
SF - Harner dec. #5 Frank Mattiace (Penn) 3-2
Champ – Harner mdec. Bryce Barnes (Army) 7-2
285 • #6 Ray O'Donnell
R1 – O'Donnell dec. Antonio Pelusi (F&M) 3-0
QF - #3 Mike Hughes (Hofstra) p. O'Donnell 0:46
C2 – O'Donnell dec. Connor Calkins (Binghamton) 7-0
C3 – O'Donnell TF Ray Sherwood (Sacred Heart) 16-1
C4 – O'Donnell WBF Jeramy Sweaney (Cornell) 4:00
3rd - #3 Mike Hughes (Hofstra) mdec. O'Donnell 10-1