Six Tigers Earn Arm Raises as Princeton Falls to Rider, 20-19

Saturday, January 24

Lawrenceville, N.J.

4:00 PM

Princeton University

Rider

Photo by: Lisa Elfstrum

Six Tigers Earn Arm Raises as Princeton Falls to Rider, 20-19

January 24, 2026 | Wrestling

LAWRENCEVILLE, N.J. – In a razor-thin dual, the Princeton wrestling team fell to Rider, 20-19, on Saturday afternoon in Lawrenceville.

The Tigers had standout performances as freshman Matt Martino picked up a ranked win, while Eligh Rivera, Rocco Camillaci, Ty Whalen, Holden Garcia and Xavier Giles all had exciting victories on the day.

Winning a majority of the matches despite forfeiting 133, the Tigers came up just short of a team win in the end, notably with a team point deducted on a controversial headgear-toss call on Camillaci.

First-year Martino got Princeton on the board at 141, going up against #14 Eli Griffin. Holding his own in the first period, Martino went into the second period down 3-1. Earning an escape after starting down, Martino was clinical defensively as he kept the 3-2 score going into the third.

With 90 seconds to go, Martino took Griffin down for three, earning another four points as he got Griffin on his back for the near fall. With a final score of 9-5, it was Martino with his arm raised at the end of the match.

Up next at 149, #11 Rivera took to the mat opposite Dylan Layton. Down 1-0, a stall call on Layton tied the match for Rivera in the third period, sending it into overtime. With 45 to go in the sudden victory period, Rivera came up with a big mat return to get the three and win three important points for Princeton.

Camillaci, tied 1-1 late in the third period against Gianni Maldonado, made a winning takedown as the clock expired to win the match 4-1 and fire up the Princeton crowd in Rider's Alumni Gym.

After three straight victories, #12 Whalen was up at 165 with the opportunity to put Princeton ahead. Scoring from the jump, Whalen worked his way to a 10-2 lead on three takedowns. Making another two in the third period to force a major decision as he won 16-6, he gave Princeton the 12-11 lead.

Garcia also controlled his match against Enrique Munguia, getting a takedown in the first period before adding to his lead with a big reversal. Getting two more stall points called in his favor, Garcia went up 7-1 in the third period.

Making another takedown with 15 seconds to go, Garcia took the dominant major decision, 11-2.

Xavier Giles was next at 184, and after a close battle with Giovanni Alejandro, both wrestlers were knotted at 1-1 as the clock expired in regulation. Still struggling to find an advantage, the two pushed through the sudden victory period and the first OT period without either finding a point.
With 15 seconds remaining in the second overtime period, Giles got a hold of Alejandro and brought him down to the mat, earning the first, and final, takedown of the 10-minute match to win it and send the Orange & Black crowd into a frenzy.

With Rider picking up a fall at 197, Princeton took a 19-17 advantage into the final match.

First-year Conor McCloskey, wrestling up a weight at 285, fought hard but ultimately fell by decision, 4-0, to Hogan Swenski. With three points going to the Broncs, they took the dual 20-19.

The Tigers will now look ahead to next weekend, when they will return to Ivy League action with duals against Harvard and Brown on Saturday and Sunday.

Rider defeats Princeton, 20-19
125 | #19 Tyler Klinsky TF Dale O'Blia, 22-6; Rider leads 5-0
133: Will Betancourt FOR Princeton, Rider leads 11-0
141: Matt Martino DEC #14 Eli Griffin, 9-5; Rider leads 11-3
149: #11 Eligh Rivera SV Dylan Layton, 4-1; Rider leads 11-6
157: Rocco Camillaci DEC Gianni Maldonado, 4-1; Rider leads 11-8
165: #12 Ty Whalen MD Brendon Abdon, 16-6; Princeton leads 12-11
174: Holden Garcia MD Enrique Munguia, 11-2; Princeton leads 16-11
184: Xavier Giles TB-2 Giovanni Alejandro, 4-1; Princeton leads 19-11
197: #22 Brock Zurawski FALL Gabe Garibaldi, Princeton leads 19-17
285: Hogan Swenski DEC Conor McCloskey, 4-0; Rider leads 20-19.