The 106th edition of the EIWA Championships, better known as the "Easterns," shapes up to be a real donnybrook between defending champion Cornell and up-and-coming Lehigh.

The Big Red will be attempting to win their fourth straight team title, a feat that has been accomplished only twice in the post-World War II era. Penn won four straight from 1996-99 and Lehigh won five straight from 2002-06. Cornell holds the all-time record of six straight team championships from 1912-17, in an era when there were only five teams in the conference.

Cornell head coach Rob Koll returns three champions and five finalists from the 2009 team, and three of them are legitimate NCAA title threats.

Senior Troy Nickerson returns at 125, where he was an NCAA champion just a year ago. He is nursing a bad shoulder, and has been used sparingly this season, but has yet to yield an offensive point.

Junior Mack Lewnes, who won at 165 last season, returns up a weight at 174, where he is undefeated with eleven pins. 

Sophomore Cam Simaz is back at 197, but he lost in a tiebreaker to Lehigh's Joe Kennedy in the dual meet, and may not be the top seed this weekend.

Freshman Kyle Dake, a home-grown product from Ithaca, N.Y., has been ranked #1 in the nation at 141 for the last two months. He has not lost since losing two overtime bouts in Las Vegas back in December.

In addition, Cornell returns two finalists from last season in Mike Grey at 133 and Justin Kerber, who drops from 184 to 165.

Based on these credentials, it would be tempting to pick the Bears as a runaway champion this weekend. But Lehigh and Cornell battled to a 15-15 draw in their dual meet at Ithaca, so the Mountain Hawks may bring some hidden weapons to the battle.

Head coach Pat Santoro has only two returning champions, and neither of them will be favored to repeat.

Senior Seth Ciasulli, 141, was one of Dake's victims, while David Craig was upset late in the season by Louis Caputo of Harvard at 184.

The only sure #1 seed appears to be Zach Rey at heavyweight. Joe Kennedy has had one of the toughest schedules in the nation at 197, and has defeated two Top 10 wrestlers in the last month, including Simaz, but lost in overtime to Penn freshman Micah Burak. Rey has defeated Dominick Russo of Rutgers twice, but lost to Scott Steele of Navy, who in turn lost to Russo.

The Brown and White feature unusual team balance, and are a threat to place high at every virtually every weight.

Some of the most hotly contested bouts this season have taken place in the Lehigh wrestling room, as two wrestlers were in the running for starting roles as recently as a month ago at 149, 165 and 174.

Freshman Joey Napoli has emerged as the starter at 149, and he could place as high as fourth. Sophomore Brandon Hatchett will get the nod at 165. He's had only one loss since January, and could end up in the finals. Freshman Robert Hamlin has won the spot at 174. His never-quit style could also catapult him into the finals if he can get by Scott Giffin of Penn, who dominated him in the dual..

Veteran returning captain Matt Fisk returns at 133, where he will be seeded behind Grey.

A spirited competition for third place in the team race is anticipated, among American, Bucknell, Navy and Rutgers.

American has two wrestlers who are likely #1 seeds in Kyle Borshoff at 149 and Mike Cannon at 184. Cannon was champion at 174 a year ago, and Borshoff was third at 149. Steve Fittery at 157 has a high-powered offense and seems sure bet to make the finals. Jasen Borshoff has been ranked Top 20 at 125, and Danny Mitchell, activated in late January, already has a win over Lamar Brown of Rutgers, ranked Top 20 at the time.

Bucknell brings their first senior class, led by Andy Rendos, runnerup at 165, and Shane Riccio, third at 174 a year ago. Junior Kevin LeValley has over 30 wins, and is a title threat at 149. One of their dual meet wins was 26-12 over Rutgers back in November, and they beat American 23-16 in late February.

Navy has been hit hard by injuries and academic problems this season, but the Mids return Bryce Saddoris, up a weight from 149, where he was champion a year ago. Scott Steele, who honed his skills behind Ed Prendergast for several years, anchors the heavyweight position for the Mids.

Rutgers has been one of the hottest teams in the conference this year. The Scarlet Knights were 14-0-1 in 2010 before losing to Lehigh on the last weekend of the season. Second-year coach Scott Goodale has instilled a will to win at New Brunswick, and his team is well balanced, with the potential to place at nearly every weight. Junior heavyweight Dominick Russo leads the team with Top 10 ranking and 15 pins.

At stake, besides the team championship and individual honors, will be approximately 50 invitations to the NCAA Championships at Omaha, Neb. in two weeks. More than 40 of these will be decided this weekend. It is assumed that the top three at each weight will be automatic qualifiers, with some weights getting as many as six "automatics." Additional "wild card" qualifiers will be named by the NCAA on Monday, March 8.

Here is our annual weight-by-weight review.

125 pounds - There's no doubt that Nickerson will be the top seed, but Lehigh's John McDonald threw a monkey wrench into things on the last Saturday of the season by upsetting Rutgers freshman Joseph Langel, who looked like the #2 seed until then. He followed up the next day by drubbing Mark Rappo of Penn 8-0. Except for Nickerson, it seems that most of the leaders have been taking turns beating each other, so the seeding committee should have a spirited discussion. 

133 pounds - This is a tough weight class, with possibly five automatic qualifiers. Grey will be the top seed, followed by Fisk and Bill Ashnault of Rutgers. Bucknell's David Marble is a three-time qualifier, and Bryan Ortenzio of Penn should place high.

141 pounds - Dake is the easy choice for #1 seed, followed by Ciasulli and Trevor Melde of Rutgers. Juniors Zack Kemmerer and Casey Thome of Army will challenge the leaders.

149 pounds - Borshoff, LeValley and 2009 runnerup Matt Kyler of Army all rank as potential All-Americans. Picking a winner among these three will be a challenge, although LeValley beat Borshoff on the last Saturday of the season. Navy's Glenn Shober could sneak in here following his 5-2 upset of Kyler on the final weekend of the season. Former champion Cesar Grajales of Penn has been wrestling hurt, and the coaches will have to decide where to seed him.

157 pounds - Harvard senior J. P. O'Connor is undefeated (26-0) and ranked first in the nation. He'll be challenged by Fittery, a two-time Division II runnerup who transferred to American this year. He is 25-1 and has not lost since November. Former champion Saddoris will be the #3 seed, followed by Daryl Cocozzo of Rutgers and Sean Bilodeau of Lehigh. A big question mark is Matt Dragon, a two-time former champion for Penn who has been out of the lineup most of the season.

165 pounds - Rendos will be the #1 seed, but after that this weight is hard to figure. Someone is going to get hot and make the finals. Most likely candidates include Penn junior Gabriel Burak and Kerber, but Hatchett could also make the finals.

174 pounds - Lewnes, with a record of 32-0, stands alone at the top, and is unlikely to be beaten. The semifinals between Riccio and Penn junior Scott Giffin will determine Lewnes' opponent.

184 pounds - This is a very strong weight class, where the seeds will be Cannon, Caputo and Craig, in that order. Cornell sophomore Steve Bosak appears ready to challenge the leaders. Navy freshman Andrew Buck is somewhat of an unknown, as he spent much of the season recovering from an injury.

197 pounds - Seeding here is a tossup among Simaz, Kennedy and Army senior Richard Starks. Kennedy looked like the sure #1 seed until he lost in overtime to Penn freshman Micah Burak. Burak and Rutgers senior Lamar Brown have both suffered from inconsistency, but could mount a challenge.

285 pounds - Rey leads a trio of nationally ranked heavyweights by virtue of two wins over Russo this season. Steele beat Rey in the dual meet and Russo beat Steele, so they'll probably meet in the semifinals. All three are potential champions.

EDITOR'S NOTE: TheMat.com, as well as many of its partners from the College Wrestling Network, will be posting preview stories for upcoming conference championships and national tournaments within college wrestling