Penn and Navy share the team lead after the first round of the EIWA Championships
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John Fuller (TheMat.com)
03/07/2003
Ithaca, N.Y. - Pennsylvania and the U.S. Naval Academy are tied for the team lead with 15.5 points after the first round of wrestling at the EIWA Championships on the campus of Cornell Univ. Lehigh is in third place with 13 points, followed by Cornell (12.5) and Rutgers (10.0) to round out the top five team scores. Cornell was the only school to put all 10 of its wrestlers in this evening's quarterfinal round. Pennsylvania, Navy and Lehigh all have nine wrestlers in the championship round and one other in the consolation round. Navy was dominant in the first round in its surprising surge to the top of the team standings. They received pins from Sam Gray at 125 lbs., Michael Carbonaro at 157 lbs. and Frank Edwards at 165 lbs. The Midshipmen also won one match by technical fall and two others by major decision. Pennsylvania was also strong in the first round, winning twice by pin, once by technical fall and three times by major decision. Winning by fall were Jody Giuricich at 149 lbs. and Matt Feast at 285 lbs. Lehigh was led by Terrance Clendenin at 125 lbs. and freshman Troy Letters at 165 lbs., both of whom earned pins for the Mountainhawks. Scoring technical falls for Lehigh were Cory Cooperman at 133 lbs. and Derek Zinck at 157 lbs. The Big Red received technical fall victories from Midlands champion Dustin Manotti at 149 lbs., Scott Roth at 165 lbs. and top-ranked All-American Clint Wattenberg at 184 lbs. All-American Travis Lee won by injury default over Jon Anderson of the Army at 125 lbs. to advance as well. In the first round of competition, Cornell and Lehigh both received four byes, Navy received three and Pennsylvania received two. NCAA finalists Greg Parker of Princeton and Jon Trenge of Lehigh also received first-round byes. Parker will face Rudy Medini of Rutgers in the 184-pound quarterfinals and Trenge will meet up with Mike Gerstle of Columbia. All-American Jesse Jantzen of Harvard advanced to the quarterfinal round at 149 lbs. He will face Michael Parziale of Franklin & Marshall who received a bye in the first round. The EIWA quarterfinals will begin at 5:00 p.m. (Eastern Time). Coverage of the EIWA Championships and the entire postseason will be provided by TheMat.com.