Wrestling Team Sends Six To Semifinals, Shares Second With Cornell After Day 1 Of EIWAs

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Princeton has had plenty of good days at the EIWA Championships over recent years, but nothing quite like the Day 1 of the 2019 EIWAs that the Tigers just experienced. Princeton sent six to the semifinals — including two lower seeds — and two more to placewinner status to stand within three points of the top spot in the team points race.

Patrick Glory, Matthew Kolodzik, Quincy Monday, Leonard Merkin, Travis Stefanik and Patrick Brucki will each compete in the EIWA semifinals, which will begin Saturday at 10 am. Monday has already clinched his spot in the NCAA Championships, which will take place in two weeks in Pittsburgh, while both Marshall Keller and Kevin Parker will join the afore-mentioned five Tigers in hunting for NCAA tickets Saturday.

Princeton, which went on a run of bonus points in both sessions, shares second place with Cornell with 82 points. Reigning champion Lehigh leads the field with 85 points, while Army — the only team with all 10 wrestlers still alive — is fourth with 78 points. No other team has as many as 55 points. Princeton hasn't finished in the Top 2 at EIWAs since winning the event in 1978, and that is the only time it has done so since 1941.

"Overall I don't know more what we could have done today," said head coach Chris Ayres. "I couldn't imagine being in a better place. The guys wrestled hard, and that's what we ask of them. I like where we're at. I talked to them the night before about bonus points, and that tournaments are won or lost on bonus points, so they need to get them. They took it to heart I guess. Just an incredible day."

While there was no shortage of pins and technical falls for Princeton Friday, the most memorable performance came from the only semifinalist without a bonus point. Merkin, who dealt with early-season injuries and only recently grabbed the starting spot at 165, upset both 7^th-seeded Brandon Levesque and 2^nd-seeded Jonathan Viruet — the latter in a sudden-victory classic — to become the lowest-seeded semifinalist (#10) in the entire field.

Sixth-seeded Stefanik also had a quarterfinal upset, as he knocked off third-seeded Brock Harvey of Army to reach the 174 semifinal. Stefanik will face second-seeded Brandon Womack of Cornell to open Day 2, and he'll need only one victory Saturday to clinch a spot at NCAAs.

Glory, Kolodzik, Monday and Brucki were each higher seeds that put forth dominant efforts throughout Day 1. That quartet combined for four falls, two techs, a major and a regular decision en route to four semifinal berths. Glory and Monday were part of a freshman contingent (along with Keller and Stefanik) that went 8-1 overall Friday.

Every Princeton wrestler won at least once during the day. Sophomore Jonathan Gomez and junior Obinna Ajah were both eliminated in their final matches Friday, but not before aiding the team points race with pins in their first consolation matches.

RESULTS
125 – #2 Patrick Glory
1^st: Glory WBF Jose Diaz (F&M) 1:58
QF: Glory WBF #7 Gage Curry (American) 4:22
SF: #3 Carmen Ferrante (Penn)

133 – Jonathan Gomez
1^st: #2 Josh Terao (Amer) TF Gomez 19-4
1^st Cons: #10 Jacob Martin (Hofstra)
2^nd Cons: Doug Zapf (Penn) dec. Gomez 5-3, SV-1

141 – #7 Marshall Keller
1^st: Keller mdec. #10 AJ Vendici (Penn) 13-3
QF: #2 Nicholas Gil (Navy) mdec. Keller 10-0
2^nd Cons: Keller WBF Ryan Friedman (Harvard) 3:38
3^rd Cons: #3 Ryan Pomrinca (Lehigh)

149 – #1 Matthew Kolodzik
1^st: Kolodzik TF Patrick Quinlan (F&M) 17-2
QF: Kolodzik WBF #9 Holden Heller (Hofstra) 2:01
SF: #4 Jared Prince (Navy)

157 – #3 Quincy Monday
1^st: Monday mdec. TJ Calas (Sacred Heart) 12-2
QF: Monday WBF #6 Hunter Ladnier (Harvard) 1:43
SF: #2 Josh Humphreys (Lehigh)

165 – #10 Leonard Merkin
1^st: Merkin dec. #7 Brandon Levesque (Sacred Heart) 13-8
QF: Merkin dec. #2 Jonathan Viruet (Brown) 9-7, SV-1
SF: #3 Tanner Skidgel (Navy)

174 – #6 Travis Stefanik
1^st: Stefanik WBF Jacob Conners (F&M) 0:47
QF: Stefanik dec. #3 Brock Harvey (Army) 11-7
SF: #2 Brandon Womack (Cornell)

184 – #7 Kevin Parker
1^st: #10 Brian Bonino (Columbia) dec. Parker 11-9
1^st Cons: Parker WBF Kyle Davis (Sacred Heart) 3:42
2^nd Cons: Parker TF Kyle Inlander (Bucknell) 16-1
3^rd Cons: #5 Noah Stewart (Army)

197 – #1 Patrick Brucki
1^st: Brucki TF Greg Bensley (Penn) 16-1
QF: Brucki dec. #9 Nezar Haddad (Hofstra) 8-3
SF: #4 Stephen Loiseau (Drexel)

285 – Obinna Ajah
1^st: #4 Ben Sullivan (Army) TF Ajah 15-0
1st Cons: Ajah WBF Evan Callahan (Harvard) 0:59
2^nd Cons: #4 Jeramy Sweany (Cornell) mdec. Ajah 9-0

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