Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell University
EIWA Championships
Third-Place Bison Total Six Placewinners and Five NCAA Qualifiers at EIWA Championships
3/6/2016 7:06:00 PM | Wrestling
PRINCETON, N.J. – The Bucknell wrestling team capped a strong EIWA Championships Sunday with six placewinners, five automatic NCAA qualifiers and a second straight third-place finish in the team standings. Second-place showings by Paul Petrov (125) and Joe Stolfi (285) led the squad that had a program-record four semifinalists this year.
Bucknell's third-place showing at last year's EIWA Championships was the best ever for the program and the Bison matched that this weekend. Bucknell finished with 84 points, trailing only 10-time champion Cornell (170.5 pts.) and Lehigh (160).
Petrov (2nd at 125), Victor Lopez (4th at 149), Rustin Barrick (4th at 174), Tom Sleigh (7th at 184), Tyler Greene (8th at 197) and Stolfi (2nd at 285) were the Bison placewinners.
Petrov, Lopez, Barrick, Sleigh and Stolfi also earned automatic berths to the NCAA Championships, the most for Bucknell since a school-record six national qualifiers in 2009. It is the fourth time Stolfi has qualified for NCAAs and the third time for Petrov. Sleigh earned his second straight automatic berth, while Lopez and Barrick will be heading to the national tournament for the first time. Additional at-large qualifiers will be announced later this week.
Petrov, the top seed in the 125-pound bracket, opened his day with a 2-0 victory over Drexel's Zach Fuentes to advance to the finals for the first time in his career. The senior then suffered a crushing 2-1 loss to Lehigh's second-seeded Darien Cruz in the championship bout. Both wrestlers scored an escape during the match, but Cruz earned the victory on the riding time point as he had just over the needed one minute of riding time.
A four-time EIWA placewinner, Petrov had won 11 bouts in a row and had defeated Cruz in overtime in the season-opening dual against Lehigh in Sojka Pavilion. Petrov will enter the NCAA Championships with a 31-5 record this season and a 109-35 career mark to rank sixth on the program's all-time wins list.
Like Petrov, Stolfi was seeded first in his bracket. He advanced to the finals with a 17-2 tech fall against fourth-seeded Jeramy Sweaney from Cornell. It marked Stolfi's third consecutive EIWA finals appearance. He won the title in 2014 and finished second last year.
Stolfi's finals matchup was against Lehigh's second-seeded Max Wessell. The Bison heavyweight led 1-0 entering the third period, but Wessell scored two points on a takedown and then Stolfi ended up losing by injury default, costing him a chance at becoming Bucknell's first two-time EIWA champion.
A fifth-year wrestler, Stolfi finished his EIWA Championships career with a 15-3 record. He ranks third on Bucknell's all-time wins list with 119 victories.
Making his first career appearance in the EIWA semifinals, Lopez, a junior, lost to No. 2 Matt Cimato of Drexel. Lopez battled back and pinned Brown's Steven Galiardo in the consolation bracket to clinch an automatic NCAA berth and advance to the third-place match.
In the third-place match, Lopez faced third-seeded Laike Gardner of Lehigh. Lopez beat Gardner in overtime in Saturday's quarterfinals. They again went to overtime on Sunday, but this time Gardner was victorious, earning the winning point on a stall warning in the tiebreaker round.
Lopez finished with a 3-2 record at the EIWA Championships, including victories over the No. 3 and No. 4 seeds. Lopez, who is a career-best 28-12 this season, entered the weekend as the No. 6 seed and exceeded that by two spots with his final placing. He has now been a placewinner at the EIWA Championships three straight years, having finished seventh at 149 in 2014 and fourth last March.
The seventh-seeded Barrick advanced to the semifinals on Saturday thanks to a victory against No. 2 seed Casey Kent. He matched up against No. 3 seed Brian Harvey of Army in the semifinals and lost by a 6-5 score. Barrick did score a takedown with 16 seconds remaining in the third period, but was unable to close the gap all the way.
Barrick posted his second pin of the tournament in the consolation semifinals and then lost to fifth-seeded Jasden Bernstein of Navy by an 8-6 score in the third-place match. Barrick led the match 6-5 entering the final minute of the third period, but Bernstein scored an escape and a takedown for the victory. It was Barrick's second close loss to Bernstein this season after falling to him by a 7-6 decision at November's Michigan State Open.
Barrick is 17-4 in his last 21 bouts and has won a career-high 27 matches this season. He had won just one career match at the EIWA Championships entering this weekend and went 3-2 the last two days.
Wrestling in arguably the toughest weight class in the EIWA, Sleigh posted a seventh-place finish on Sunday. After dropping an 8-2 decision to Army West Point's Samson Imonode in the consolation quarterfinals, Sleigh came back to beat Sacred Heart's Elliot Antler by tech fall in the seventh-place match. The top seven wrestlers at 184 pounds earned automatic berths to the NCAA Championships.
Sleigh's three wins this weekend were by a combined 34-2 margin as he improved to 26-8 on the season. He finished in fifth place at last year's EIWA Championships.
Greene had a tough draw on Sunday as he lost to the No. 4 seed (Owen Scott of Cornell) and No. 3 seed (Michael Woulfe of Navy) on his way to an eighth-place finish at 197 pounds. A junior, this was Greene's first time wrestling at the EIWA Championships and he is Bucknell's first EIWA palcewinner at 197 pounds since Tyler Lyster in 2013.
There were a total of 51 automatic NCAA qualifiers selected from the EIWA. Fourty-six additional NCAA at-large berths will be announced on Wednesday.
Bucknell's NCAA qualifiers will head to New York City for this year's national tournament, which will take place March 17-19 at Madison Square Garden.
EIWA Placewinners
Paul Petrov (No. 1 seed) – 2nd at 125
Victor Lopez (No. 6 seed) – 4th at 149
Rustin Barrick (No. 7 seed) – 4th at 174
Tom Sleigh (No. 7 seed) – 7th at 184
Tyler Greene (No. 8 seed) – 8th at 197
Joe Stolfi (No. 1 seed) – 2nd at 285
NCAA Qualifiers
Paul Petrov (125) – 3rd NCAA Appearance
Victor Lopez (149) – 1st NCAA Appearance
Rustin Barrick (174) – 1st NCAA Appearance
Tom Sleigh (184) – 2nd NCAA Appearance
Joe Stolfi (285) – 4th NCAA Appearance
Bucknell Wrestler Results
125: Paul Petrov (#1 Seed)
Saturday Results
First Round: W, maj. dec. Brant Leadbeter (Navy), 17-6.
Quarterfinals: W, fall Bryan Damon (Hofstra), 6:05.
Sunday Results
Semifinals: W, dec. #5 Zach Fuentes (Drexel), 2-0.
Championship: L, dec. #2 Darien Cruz (Lehigh), 2-1.
Petrov Places Second at 125 Pounds
133: Grim Gonzalez
Saturday Results
First Round: L, dec. #2 Mason Beckman (Lehigh), 8-2.
Consolation First Round: W, dec. #7 Jacob Nicholson (Binghamton), 6-3.
Consolation Second Round: L, fall #8 Jeffrey Ott (Harvard), 5:46.
Gonzalez Eliminated
141: Tyler Smith (#4 Seed)
Saturday Results
First Round: W, fall Jamel Hudson (Hofstra), 6:31.
Quarterfinals: L, dec. #5 Jordan Laster (Princeton), 9-5.
Consolation Second Round: L, fall Dylan Realbuto (Cornell), 6:21.
Smith Eliminated
149: Victor Lopez (#6 Seed)
Saturday Results
First Round: W, dec. Frankie Garcia (Binghamton), 3-1.
Quarterfinals: W, dec. #3 Laike Gardner (Lehigh), 5-3 (sv1)
Sunday Results
Semifinals: L, maj. dec. #2 Matt Cimato (Drexel), 9-0.
Consolation Semifinals: W, fall #4 Steven Galiardo (Brown), 6:27.
3rd-Place Match: L, dec. #3 Laike Gardner (Lehigh), 6-5 (tb2)
Lopez Places Fourth at 149 Pounds
157: Zach Kelly
Saturday Results
First Round: L, dec. #2 John Boyle (American), 5-2.
Consolation First Round: W, tech fall Michael Marano (Franklin & Marshall), 15-0 (5:39).
Consolation Second Round: L, dec. #8 Adam Krop (Princeton), 6-3.
Kelly Eliminated
165: Robert Schlitt
Saturday Results
First Round: L, dec. #6 Jonathan Viruet (Brown), 7-4.
Consolation First Round:W, dec. Brandon Giovanetti (Franklin & Marshall), 4-0.
Consolation Second Round: L, dec. Andrew Mendel (Army), 8-5.
Schlitt Eliminated
174: Rustin Barrick (#7 Seed)
Saturday Results
First Round: W, dec. Michael Eckhardt (American), 6-0.
Quarterfinals: W, fall #2 Casey Kent (Penn), 1:24.
Sunday Results
Semifinals: L, dec. #3 Brian Harvey (Army), 6-5.
Consolation Semifinals: W, fall Gordon Wold (Lehigh), 0:53.
3rd-Place Match: L, dec. #5 Jasden Bernstein (Navy), 8-6.
Barrick Places Fourth at 174 Pounds
184: Tom Sleigh (#7 Seed)
Saturday Results
First Round: W, maj. dec. Cory Damiana (Hofstra), 11-1.
Quarterfinals: L, dec. #2 Nathaniel Brown (Lehigh), 5-2.
Consolation Second Round: W, dec. #8 Stephen Loiseau (Drexel), 7-0.
Sunday Results
Consolation Quarterfinals: L, dec. Samson Imonode (Army), 8-2.
7th-Place Match: W, tech fall Elliot Antler (Sacred Heart), 16-1 (4:52).
Sleigh Places Seventh at 184 Pounds
197: Tyler Greene (#8 Seed)
Saturday Results
First Round: W, dec. Omar Haddad (Hofstra), 7-3.
Quarterfinals: L, dec. #1 Brett Harner (Princeton), 6-2.
Consolation Second Round: W, dec. Joshua Murphy (Drexel), 5-2.
Sunday Results
Consolation Quarterfinals: L, dec. #4 Owen Scott (Cornell), 13-8.
7th-Place Match: L, maj. dec. #3 Michael Woulfe (Navy), 10-2.
Greene Places Eighth at 197 Pounds
285: Joe Stolfi (#1 Seed)
Saturday Results
First Round: W, fall Ray Sherwood (Sacred Heart), 1:36.
Quarterfinals: W, dec. #8 Joseph Goodhart (Drexel), 5-2.
Sunday Results
Semifinals: W, tech fall #4 Jeramy Sweaney (Cornell), 17-2 (4:51).
Championship: L, inj. def. #2 Max Wessell (Lehigh), 5:32.
Stolfi Places Second at 285 Pounds
Players Mentioned
