Kyle Dake of Cornell takes down Peyton Walsh of Navy in the semifinals at 165 pounds. Lindsey Mechalik photo

PISCATAWAY, New Jersey – Coming into the evening session at the EIWA Championships, Cornell trailed a plucky Navy team, with Cornell having five semifinalists and Navy seven.

When the evening session was over, Cornell’s prospects of winning a record seventh straight conference tournament looks very good, as the Big Red leads Navy in the team standings by a strong 15.5 points.

The evening session began with a round of consolations, and Cornell won all of their bouts, putting them in first place ahead of Navy before the semifinals started. Navy saw its 8.5 point lead from the morning session disappear, and was unable to keep up with Cornell as the session progressed.

Earning a spot in the finals for Cornell were a pair of NCAA champions, three-time NCAA champion Kyle Dake at 165 pounds and 2012 NCAA champion Steve Bosak at 184 pounds. Also advancing to the finals for the Big Red was top seeded Nahshon Garrett at 125 pounds.

Dake opened up with two pins, and scored a major decision in the semifinals over Peyton Walsh of Navy, 10-2. Dake looked a bit frustrated that he could not score more often or secure the fall. He will face No. 7 Josh Houldsworth of Columbia in the finals

Bosak, seeded No. 2, scored a 3-0 win over No. 3 Dan Rinaldi of Rutgers. His top rival, No. 1 seed Robert Hamlin of Lehigh did not make the finals, losing an injury default in the semifinals to Mason Bailey of Navy.

Garrett has drawn No. 2 Mark Rappo of Penn in the finals.

All seven of the other Cornell wrestlers are alive in the consolations, with a chance to help add to the Cornell lead in the wrestleback rounds on Saturday morning.

“We want to break our record. We want go make it number seven, which hopefully won’t be broken until next year when we get number eight. I not too happy with how we wrestled in some places. But this is a tough tournament. There is a lot more parity in this tournament than most,” said Cornell coach Rob Koll.

Navy has three finalists and six in the consolations. Joining Bailey as a finalist for Bruce Burnett’s Midshipmen is No. 2 Mathew Miller at 174 and No. 4 Daniel Miller at 285.

Rounding out the top five are Penn in third with 91.5, Lehigh in fourth with 82.5 and Rutgers in fifth with 74.5.

Penn has three finalists, with Rappo, No. 3 seed Charles Cobb at 141 and No. 1 seed Micah Burak at 197. Lehigh’s three finalists are No. 2 Randy Cruz at 133, No. 2 Joey Napoli at 157 and No. 1 Nate Brown at 174.  Lehigh lost two of their top wrestlers, No. 1 Hamlin and No. 2 Shane Welsh at 149 due to injury. Rutgers has nine wrestlers in the consolations, but no finalists.

Getting into the finals at 133 pounds is the No. 8 seed Matt Brystol of Columbia who stopped No. 5 Jordan Thome of Army, 7-0. He draws No. 2 Randy Cruz of Lehigh in the finals.

EIWA TEAM STANDINGS
After semifinal round, with number in championship and consolation rounds
1. Cornell, 109.5 (3-7)
2. Navy, 94 (3-6)
3. Penn, 91.5 (3-6)
4. Lehigh, 82.5 (3-4)
5. Rutgers 74.5 (0-9)
6. Harvard, 72 (2-6)
7. Columbia, 67.5 (3-2)
8. Army, 64 (1-6)
9. American, 49.5 (1-4)
10. Bucknell, 39.5 (0-5)
11. Brown, 28 (0-2)
12. Princeton, 23.5 (0-3)
13. Franklin and Marshall, 17.5 (1-0)
14. Sacred Heart, 0 (0-0)

SEMIFINAL RESULTS

125 pounds
No. 1 Nahshon Garrett (Cornell) dec. No. 4. David Terao (American), 3-1
No. 2 Mark Rappo (Penn) dec. No. 6 Billy Waterson (Brown), 7-3

133 pounds
No. 8 Matt Brystol (Columbia) dec. No. 5 Jordan Thome (Army), 7-0
No. 2 Randy Cruz (Lehigh) pin No. 6 Paul Petrov (Bucknell), 2:51

141 pounds
No. 5 Richard Durso (F&M) dec. No. 1 Mike Nevinger (Cornell), 4-3
No. 3 Charles Cobb (Penn) dec. No. 2 Steven Keith (Harvard), 6-3

149 pounds
No. 1 Steve Santos (Columbia) dec. No. 4 Chris Villalonga (Cornell), 4-2
No. 3 Daniel Young (Army) dec. No. 7 Raymond Borja (Navy), 6-3

157 pounds
No. 1 Walter Peppelman (Harvard) dec. No. 5 Jake O’Hara (Columbia), 1-0
No. 2 Joseph Napoli (Lehigh) pin No. 3 Bobby Barnhisel (Navy), 6:06

165 pounds
No. 1 Kyle Dake (Cornell) maj. dec. No. 5 Peyton Walsh (Navy), 10-2
No. 7 Josh Houldsworth (Columbia) dec. No. 6 Nick Visicaro (Rutgers), 6-2

174 pounds
No. 1 Nate Brown (Lehigh) dec. No. 5 Ian Korb (Penn), 3-1
No. 2 Mathew Miller (Navy) vs. No. 6 Coleman Gracey (Army), 6-4

184 pounds
No. 4 Mason Bailey (Navy) inj. dft. over No. 1 Robert Hamlin (Lehigh), 2:12
No. 2 Steve Bosak (Cornell) dec. No. 3 Dan Rinaldi (Rutgers), 3-0

197 pounds
No. 1 Micah Burak (Penn) dec. No. 5 John Bolich (Lehigh), 4-1
No. 2 James Fox (Harvard) inj. dft  No. 3 Peter Huntley (Navy), 3:27

285 pounds
No 4 Daniel Miller (Navy) dec. No. 1 Billy Smith (Rutgers), 3-1
No. 2 Blake Herrin (American) dec. No. 6 Steven Graziano (Penn), 8-4

FINALS PAIRINGS

125 pounds
No. 1 Nahshon Garrett (Cornell) vs. No. 2 Mark Rappo (Penn)3

133 pounds
No. 2 Randy Cruz (Lehigh) vs. No. 8 Matt Brystol (Columbia)

141 pounds
No. 3 Charles Cobb (Penn) vs. No. 5 Richard Durso (F&M)

149 pounds
No. 1 Steve Santos (Columbia) vs. No. 3 Daniel Young (Army)

157 pounds
No. 1 Walter Peppelman (Harvard) vs. No. 2 Joseph Napoli (Lehigh)

165 pounds
No. 1 Kyle Dake (Cornell) vs. No. 7 Josh Houldsworth (Columbia)

174 pounds
No. 1 Nate Brown (Lehigh) vs. No. 2 Mathew Miller (Navy)

184 pounds
No. 2 Steve Bosak (Cornell) vs. No. 4 Mason Bailey (Navy)

197 pounds
No. 1 Micah Burak (Penn) vs. No. 2 James Fox (Harvard) 

285 pounds
No. 2 Blake Herrin (American) vs. No. 4 Daniel Miller (Navy)