Wrestling Heads North for Matches Against Harvard and Brown

Saturday, February 3

Cambridge, Mass.

12:00 PM

Princeton University

Harvard

Wrestling Heads North for Matches Against Harvard and Brown

February 01, 2024 | Wrestling

vs. Harvard (3-3, 0-2 EIWA)
February 3rd (Sat.) | 12:00 p.m. | Malkin Athletic Center
Watch | Live Stats

vs. Brown (1-4, 0-2 EIWA)
February 4th (Sun.) | 1:00 p.m. | Pizzitola Sports Center
Watch | Tickets | Live Stats

PRINCETON, NJ - The Princeton wrestling team (2-3, 1-1 EIWA) is gearing up for a journey north as they prepare to confront two Ivy League rivals on their turf. The first challenge awaits them on Saturday, February 3rd, when they'll square off against Harvard at Malkin Athletic Center, commencing at 12:00 P.M. The following day, February 4th, will see the Tigers in action against Brown at 1:00 P.M. Both showdowns will be available for streaming on ESPN+.

Series History

11-10 against Harvard since the 2002 season
7-4 record on the road
Last matchup (1/27/23): Princeton 18, Harvard 20

10-3 against Brown since the 2010 season
5-2 record on the road
Last matchup (1/28/2023): Princeton 36, Brown 6

Probables for Harvard

Princeton	Weight	Harvard
Drew Heethuis	125	TBD
Sean Pierson or Nick Kayal	133	TBD
Tyler Vazquez or Chris Martino	141	TBD
29/12/25 Eligh Rivera or Cody Tavoso	149	TBD
Rocco Camillaci or Danny Coles	157	TBD
Blaine Bergey or Luca Pontone	165	TBD
Mikey Squires	174	TBD
23/18/22 Nate Dugan	184	TBD
11/12/13 Luke Stout	197	TBD
Aidan Conner or Sebastian Garibaldi or -/-/30 Matt Cover	285	TBD

Probables for Brown

Princeton	Weight	Brown
Drew Heethuis	125	Michael Joyce
Sean Pierson or Nick Kayal	133	Hunter Adrian
Tyler Vazquez or Chris Martino	141	Ian Oswalt or Justin Bierdumpfel
29/12/25 Eligh Rivera or Cody Tavoso	149	Sam Mcmonagle
Rocco Camillaci or Danny Coles	157	Umihiko Blake Saito
Blaine Bergey or Luca Pontone	165	Dom Frontino and Keegan Rothrock
Mikey Squires	174	Jonathon Conrad
23/18/22 Nate Dugan	184	Nick Olivieri or Colby Isabelle
11/12/13 Luke Stout	197	Jame Araneo or Lear Quinton
Sebastian Garibaldi or -/-/30 Matt Cover or Aidan Conner	285	Alex Semenenko or Alex Hamrick

Dubuque's Debrief

"Harvard always wrestles us tough and they want to beat Princeton," said head coach Joe Dubuque. "It seems like they always put out their best performance for us. We have to be ready. We're going to be training hard this week and we're going to be ready for whatever they throw at us. With brown under their second year of new leadership, I know those guys are going to have a different mentality and they're going to be wrestling harder. We need to be prepared for a good weekend. It's tough anytime that you're on the road for three days. You got to make sure that your routine is on point and you got to make sure your weight is on point. That's just part of the Ivy League schedule. We're ready for Harvard and Brown this weekend."

Princeton head coach Joe Dubuque clinched dual NCAA titles during his stint at Indiana, claiming victories at 125 in both 2005 and 2006. He shares the distinction of being a two-time NCAA champion in Indiana's wrestling history with Charlie McDaniel (275, 1935 & 38). Dubuque, a three-time All-American, secured an eighth-place finish in 2004 and concluded his collegiate career with an impressive 114-18 record.

Know Your Tigers

The Tigers took down Columbia last Friday, 26-7, to take their first conference and Ivy League win of the season.
The Tigers fell to Drexel on January 19th in a heavily contested battle, 20-15.
Princeton kicked off their dual schedule with a competitive match against Indiana and only lost by a close margin of 18-15. However, they managed to achieve a split in match victories, securing five wins in competition. In the second dual against No. 14 Rutgers, Princeton fell but saw wins from No. 11 Eligh Rivera, Blaine Bergey, and Matt Cover.
125: Freshman Drew Heethuis holds a 13-4 record this season following his first collegiate dual victory in a 10-8 decision against Indiana. Heethuis went 4-1 at the 2024 F&M Open, securing a 5th place finish.
133: Sean Pierson placed 5th at this year's Navy Classic having three wins by decision and one win by technical fall, 18-2 in 6 minutes and 31 seconds.
149: Freshman No. 25 Eligh Rivera holds a 11-6 record with three wins over ranked top-25 opponents. Rivera had a strong showing at his first Midlands Championships where he knocked off No. 19 Kelly Dunnigan (Penn). Rivera set the tone for his start of the dual season with an impressive win overcoming a 3-1 deficit and securing a 7-4 (SV) decision victory and knocking off No. 8 Graham Rooks of Indiana. Rivera also notably took 4th place at the Navy Classic.
165: Blaine Bergey has a 11-7 record this season with a notable win against No. 25 Anthony White from Rutgers by decision 5-4 (SV). Bergey defeated Columbia's Kyle Mosher by major decision, 12-3 in last Friday's matchup.
174: Mikey Squires' record this season is 8-9. At the Princeton Open, Squires showcased his dominance by securing a notable 5th place finish after a series of three impressive victories by technical fall in a row. At the Navy Classic he had three victories and took 3rd place.
184: No. 18 Nate Dugan currently holds a 14-4 record this season notably taking first place at this year's Princeton Open, sixth place at the 2023 Midlands Championships and securing third place at the Navy Classic. Dugan knocked off the one-seeded Layne Malczewski at this season's Midlands Championships and had a quarterfinals run.
197: No. 11 Luke Stout, the junior and two-time NCAA qualifier maintains a 16-3 record this season. Stout recently placed 2nd at the 2023 Midlands Championships where he went 4-1 in the tournament. Stout is a standout in the Tiger's dual lineup.
285: No. 30 Matt Cover dug deep for a 5-4 win over No. 32 Nick Wilhelm from Indiana at heavyweight in the first dual this season. Cover has a 11-3 record since the start of the 2023-24 season and placed 3rd at the Princeton Open and 5th at the Navy Classic.

In The Rankings

As of January 27th, the Tigers have four wrestlers ranked by national media outlets:

149 - Eligh Rivera
InterMat: 25 (-1)
WrestleStat: 12 (-)
FloWrestling: 29 (-)

184 - Nate Dugan
InterMat: 22 (+2)
WrestleStat: 18 (-6)
FloWrestling: 23 (-2)

197 - Luke Stout
InterMat: 13 (+3)
WrestleStat: 12 (-1)
FloWrestling: 11 (-1)

285 - Matt Cover
InterMat - 30 (-)
WrestleStat - N/A
FloWrestling - N/A

The First 2024 NCAA Coaches' Poll

Eligh Rivera (149) - #21
Nate Dugan (184) - #20
Luke Stout (197) - #11
Matt Cover (285) - #24

Season Tickets

Don't miss out on any home meet action. All eight Princeton home duals will be ticketed events. Purchase your season, group or individual tickets for Princeton duals here.

Social Media

For the latest news and updates, follow along with the Princeton wrestling social media.

Twitter: @tigerwrestling
Instagram: @princetonwrestling