PISCATAWAY, New Jersey – The first session, featuring the first round and quarterfinals have been at the EIWA Championships on Friday, and Navy sits in the unexpected position of leading the team race.

Bruce Burnett’s Midshipmen have seven athletes in Friday evening’s semifinals, with his other three wrestlers still in the consolation rounds with 64 points.

Six-time defending champion Cornell is in second place with five in the semifinals and five alive in consolations with 55.5 points.

“There is a lot of wrestling left,” said Navy Coach Bruce Burnett. “This is good for the guys. They have competed hard. We will try to come out on top in the next round also.”

Navy caught a bit of a break at 149 pounds, when No. 7 seed Raymond Borja won his quarterfinal match by injury forfeit over No. 2 seed Shane Welch of Lehigh. Welsh injured his shoulder in his first match victory over Andrew Murano of Franklin and Marshall and could not continue. If Welsh is done for the tournament, will need to get a wildcard selection if he is to wrestle at the NCAAs.  Borja faces No. 3 Daniel Young of Army in the semis, somebody he has lost to this year.

All of Navy’s big athletes are in the semifinals,from 149 pounds and up. By seed, joining Borja in the semifinals are No. 2 Matthew Miller at 174, No 3. Bobby Barnhisel at 157, No 3 Peter Huntley at 197,  No. 4 Mason Bailey at 184, No. 4 Daniel Miller at 285 and No. 5 Peyton Walsh at 165.

Top seed and three-time NCAA champion Kyle Dake of Cornell continued to maul his opposition at 165 pounds, pinning Judson Ziegler of Princeton and No. 8 Phillip Barriero of American, setting Cornell’s single-season school record with 18 pins.

Joining Dake in the semifinals are some big guns for Cornell who are expected to score many team points as they go along. They are, by seed, No. 1 Nahshon Garrett at 125, No. 1 Mike Nevinger at 141, No. 2 Steve Bosak at 184 and No. 4 Chris Villalonga at 149. Bosak is the defending NCAA champion, but seeks his first EIWA title.

Cornell did lose a pair of No. 3 seeds. At 133 pounds, No. 3 seed Bricker Dixon was beaten by No. 6 seed Paul Petrov of Bucknell, 5-4 in the quarterfinals. At 285, No. 3 seed Stryker Lane lost to No. 6 seed Steven Graziano of Penn, 5-3.

Also with five in the semifinals and five in the consolation are Penn, now in third place with 48.5 points and Lehigh, currently fourth with 31.5 points. Coming in at fifth is Columbia, with four semifinals.

Host Rutgers also took a big loss with an injury at 125 pounds, when No. 3 Joseph Langel was injured and pinned by Brown’s Billy Waterson in the quarterfinals. Three of Rutgers’ other top prospects took early losses during the first session. No. 1 seed Vincent Dellafave lost in the quarterfinals to No. 8 Matt Brystol of Columbia. No. 3 seed Greg Zannetti lost in the first round to unseeded Ryan Callahan of Princeton at 174 pounds. No. 4 seed Scott Winston was defeated by No. 5 Jake O’Hara of Columbia in the quarterfinals at 157 pounds. With only three in the semifinals, Rutgers is in seventh with 29.5 points, behind Harvard in sixth with 31.5 points.

EIWA Team Scores after first session
with athletes in championship/consolation rounds
1. Navy, 64 (7-3)
2. Cornell, 55.5 (5-5)
3. Penn, 48.5 (5-5)
4. Lehigh, 46 (5-5)
5. Columbia, 42 (4-5)
6. Harvard, 31.5 (3-6)
7. Rutgers, 29.5 (3-7)
8. Army, 28 (3-7)
9. American, 25.5 (2-6)
10. Brown, 19.5 (1-7)
11. Bucknell, 13 (1-8)
12  Franklin and Marshall, 10.5 (1-6)
13. Princeton, 5.5 (0-6)
14. Sacred Heart, 0 (0-4)

Semifinal pairings (with seeds)

125 pounds
No. 1 Nahshon Garrett (Cornell) vs. No. 4. David Terao (American)
No. 2 Mark Rappo (Penn) vs. No. 6 Billy Waterson (Brown)

133 pounds
No. 5 Jordan Thome (Army) vs. No. 8 Matt Brystol (Columbia)
No. 2 Randy Cruz (Lehigh) vs. No. 6 Paul Petrov (Bucknell)

141 pounds
No. 1 Mike Nevinger (Cornell) vs. No. 5 Richard Durso (F&M)
No. 2 Steven Keith (Harvard) vs. No. 3 Charles Cobb (Penn)

149 pounds
No. 1 Steve Santos (Columbia) vs. No. 4 Chris Villalonga (Cornell)
No. 3 Daniel Young (Army) vs. No. 7 Raymond Borja (Navy)

157 pounds
No. 1 Walter Peppelman (Harvard) vs. No. 5 Jake O’Hara (Columbia)
No. 2 Joseph Napoli (Lehigh) vs. No. 3 Bobby Barnhisel (Navy)

165 pounds
No. 1 Kyle Dake (Cornell) vs. No. 5 Peyton Walsh (Navy)
No. 6 Nick Visicaro (Rutgers) vs. No. 7 Josh Houldsworth (Columbia)

174 pounds
No. 1 Nate Brown (Lehigh) vs. No. 5 Ian Korb (Penn)
No. 2 Mathew Miller (Nevay) vs. No. 6 Coleman Gracey (Army)

184 pounds
No. 1 Robert Hamlin (Lehigh) vs. No. 4 Mason Bailey (Navy)
No. 2 Steve Bosak (Cornell) vs. No. 3 Dan Rinaldi (Rutgers)

197 pounds
No. 1 Micah Burak (Penn) vs. No. 5 John Bolich (Lehigh)
No. 2 James Fox (Harvard) vs. No. 3 Peter Huntley (Navy)

285 pounds
No. 1 Billy Smith (Rutgers) vs. No 4 Daniel Miller (Navy)
No. 2 Blake Herrin (American) vs. No. 6 Steven Graziano (Penn)