Lehigh takes the team lead at the EIWA Championships; advance six wrestlers to the finals
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John Fuller (TheMat.com)
03/08/2003
Ithaca, N.Y. - Lehigh has taken control of the team race at the EIWA Championships. The Mountainhawks are in first place with 121 team points and six finalists following all semifinal and consolation action. Lehigh is followed in the standings by Cornell, the host school, which has 114.5 team points and five finalists. Rounding out the top five teams are Pennsylvania (94), Army (64) and Rutgers (61). 133-pound Cory Cooperman, 157-pound Derek Zinck, 165-pound Troy Letters, 174-pound Brad Dillon, 197-pound Jon Trenge and 285-pound Joe Sahl all qualified for the NCAA Tournament for Lehigh by winning their semifinal matches, but those matches didn't come without some flare for the dramatic. Cooperman dominated Pennsylvania's Jeff Eveleth, but leading 6-0 late in the third period, Eveleth appeared to intentionally turn Cooperman's knee against the proper rotation of the joint. After a long break, the official decided not to disqualify Eveleth, but did give him a warning and awarded Cooperman one point. Cooperman won the match 8-1, and even though he is limping noticeably, he confirmed that he will wrestle in the finals against Alejandro Alvarez of Cornell, who defeated Max Meltzer of Harvard 13-8 with a throw for five points at the end of the match. Dillon defeated Pat O'Donnell of Harvard 3-1 in overtime with a takedown to advance to the finals. Dillon will face Andy Roy of Rutgers for the conference title. Roy also won in overtime, but it took a low double-leg takedown at the edge of the match against Matt Herrington of Pennsylvania with one second remaining in the match to keep his title hopes alive. In overtime, Roy scored on a spin-behind to come away with a 5-3 decision. Sahl capped off a strong session for Lehigh with a first-period pin over John Paxton of Army. Sahl will meet up with top-seeded Matt Feast of Pennsylvania in the finals. Feast recorded a second-period pin over Frank Sabatino of Rutgers to advance. Possibly the most anticipated match in the conference this season will happen in the 184-pound final, as top-ranked Clint Wattenberg of Cornell will meet up with 2002 NCAA finalist Greg Parker of Princeton. Parker defeated Wattenberg 2-1 in a tiebreaker earlier this season. Wattenberg held off Travis Frick of Lehigh in the semifinals 4-1. Wattenberg used a second-period escape, a late third-period takedown and riding time to score his points. Parker dominated Nick Ciarcia of Brown with an 8-1 victory to get a crucial rematch with Wattenberg. The match is sure to have major implications on NCAA Tournament seeding. At 125 lbs., top-seeded All-American Travis Lee of Cornell advanced to the finals with a hard-earned 3-1 win over Terrance Clendenin of Lehigh. Lee scored a reversal in the third period and earned a riding time point in the victory. Lee will face Matt Valenti of Pennsylvania for the conference title. Valenti won a 12-3 major decision over Daniel Green of Columbia. Phillip Simpson of the Army will square off with Clint Frease of Brown in the 141-pound final. Simpson recorded a 15-5 major decision over Joe Clarke of Princeton and Frease defeated Doug McGraw of Pennsylvania 7-5 in overtime. All-American Jesse Jantzen moved on to the 149-pound final with a 15-0 technical fall victory over Greg Austin of Rutgers in the semifinals. Jantzen will face Jody Giuricich of Pennsylvania. Giuricich defeated Dustin Manotti of Cornell 7-6. In the match, Giuricich was able to rack up nearly three minutes of riding time, but Manotti took control with a low double-leg takedown with 21 seconds remaining to take a 6-5 lead. Giuricich earned an escape with seven seconds left in the match and the riding time point gave him the victory. At 157 lbs., Gabe Webster of Cornell advanced to the finals with a 4-2 tiebreaker win over Amir Khan of Rutgers. In the tiebreaker, Khan chose bottom, and after some exciting scrambles, Webster was able too turn Khan for a two-count, giving him the points needed to end the match. Webster will meet up with Derek Zinck of Lehigh in the finals, who defeated Dustin Tillman of Columbia 5-3 in the semifinals. Letters will meet up with the up-start Frank Edwards of the U.S. Naval Academy in the 165-pound final. Letters won a 17-2 technical fall over Scott Roth in the semifinals and Edwards dominated talented freshman Matt Palmer of Columbia, 12-4 in the other semifinal. Trenge, a 2002 NCAA finalist, continued to roll through EIWA competition with an 11-2 victory over Paul Velekei of Pennsylvania in the semifinals. Trenge will square off with Matt Greenberg of Cornell for the EIWA title. Greenberg held on for a 2-1 win over Ryan McGrath of Rutgers. The top two wrestlers in each weight class in the EIWA automatically qualify for the NCAA Tournament in Kansas City, Mo., March 20-22. The coaches will also select 16 other wild cards to represent the EIWA in the NCAA Tournament. The EIWA championship matches will take place at approximately 5:30 p.m. (Eastern Time). Continue to log on to TheMat.com for complete coverage of the EIWA Championships.