Bernholz of Lehigh named EIWA Wrestler of the Week
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Denny Diehl (EIWA Newsletter)
02/21/2001
Wrestler of the Week is Lehigh senior Ryan Bernholz, who saved his best Grace Hall performance for last, as he upset #2 Yoshi Nakamura of Penn to enable Lehigh to upset the Quakers 21-18. Bernholz fended off a couple of deep Nakamura attacks in regulation, lost the coin flip, and put on an impressive 30-second ride on the Quaker in the tiebreaker period to earn the win. The Offensive Award this week goes to Harvard sophomore Patrick O'Donnell, who tuned up for the forthcoming EIWA Championships with a pair of pins over opponents from Brown and Boston University. Despite having two regulars out of the lineup, Lehigh found a way to win six bouts against archrival Penn to lock up the dual meet championship of the EIWA and even the modern series at 3-3. The Engineers and Quakers are co-favorites to win the EIWA tournament. Slump of the Week goes to Syracuse, as a once-proud program winds down for good in its final season by giving up at least four forfeits in every meet. The Orangemen are a victim of Title IX, an unsympathetic athletic administration, and an alumni base that couldn't find a way to independently fund the program. The storied program produced eight EIWA team champions, 62 individual champions, and Gene Mills, one of just a handfull of four-time EIWA champions. The program also produced 35 All-Americans and seven NCAA champions including Mills, who won it twice. Leading the schedule this week is the annual Army - Navy meet, which takes place this Saturday evening at Army.