Bucknell University
EIWA Championships
Four Advance to Semifinals, Six Bison Wrestlers Alive After Day One of EIWA Championships
3/8/2024 9:26:00 PM | Wrestling
LEWISBURG, Pa. – Dorian Crosby (285), who was one of four Bucknell wrestlers to advance to the semifinals, punched his ticket to the 2024 NCAA Championships, and six Bison are still alive after the opening day of the EIWA Championships in Sojka Pavilion. Bucknell sits in sixth place out of the 17-team field and is one of only four schools with four or more wrestlers still competing in the championship bracket.
Joining Crosby in the semifinals when the tournament resumes Saturday morning will be Kurt Phipps (133), Dylan Chappell (141) and Noah Mulvaney (165). Meanwhile, Myles Takats (174) and Logan Deacetis (197) advanced past the blood round in the consolation bracket on Friday to guarantee their spots on the podium when the championships wrap up Saturday evening.
Seventh-seeded Crosby secured an automatic bid to the NCAA Championships, happening in Kansas City, Mo. in two weeks, by defeating 10th-seeded William Jarrell of American by a 12-3 major decision in the round of 16, and then upsetting second-seeded Cory Day of Binghamton with an 8-2 decision. Day, who was ranked 17th in the country in the latest Intermat poll, defeated Crosby twice at last year's EIWA Championships.
Dorian Crosby, 𝒀𝑶𝑼'𝑹𝑬 𝑯𝑬𝑨𝑫𝑬𝑫 𝑻𝑶 𝑲𝑪!!! After losing to Cory Day twice at last year's EIWAs, Crosby defeats the #2 seed heavyweight to advance to the semis and punch his ticket to the NCAA Tournament! #OurWay | #rayBucknell@FloWrestling https://t.co/Ont6bSycVD pic.twitter.com/nFSXAZ2JbX
— Bucknell Wrestling (@Bucknell_WRST) March 9, 2024
It's Crosby's second season in a row earning an automatic qualification to the NCAA Championships, as the EIWA had eight allocations for the 285-pound weight class this year. Crosby is now set to face Army's Lucas Stoddard in Saturday's semifinal round. Stoddard is seeded sixth at the tournament and ranked 27th nationally – one spot ahead of Crosby. The two faced each other in a dual back in January, and Stoddard came out on top with a 4-2 decision.
Chappell's path to the semifinals involved arguably the largest upset of the day for the Bison, as he knocked off the reigning EIWA 141-pound champion Vince Cornella of Cornell. Cornella was seeded second at the tournament and ranks 12th nationally, and seventh-seeded Chappell earned the win in sudden victory to reach the semifinal round for a second season in a row. Chappell was one of three Bison to go to overtime in the quarterfinals.
141: UPSET ALERT!!! 🚨 Dylan Chappell defeats the reigning EIWA Champ, No. 2 seed and 12th-ranked Vince Cornella in sudden victory!! He's headed back to the semifinals! #OurWay@FloWrestling https://t.co/Ont6bSycVD pic.twitter.com/TFkyiE5Ocv
— Bucknell Wrestling (@Bucknell_WRST) March 8, 2024
After a scoreless first period, Chappell registered an escape to grab a 1-0 lead, but he and Cornella entered overtime after Cornella secured the riding time point. Chappell scored the winning takedown 1:17 into the extra frame. It was reminiscent of Chappell's underdog run to the finals in the 149-pound bracket at last year's championship tournament. Earlier in the day, Chappell defeated 10th-seeded Logan Brown of Army with a 4-2 decision.
Chappell will face Malyke Hines of Lehigh in the semifinals on Saturday. Hines is seeded third and ranks 17th in the nation. Hines defeated Chappell by tech fall in February.
Phipps heads to the semifinal round for the first time in his four EIWA Championship appearances, and he earned his spot in dramatic comeback fashion. Phipps faced No. 5 seed and 30th-ranked Mason Leiphart of Franklin & Marshall in the quarterfinals, and his run in the championship bracket was in peril as he trailed 3-0 and had 2:30 of riding time going against him in the second period. Phipps got the tying takedown with 24 second left in the second, and he crushed Leiphart on top the rest of regulation to nullify the riding time. Just six seconds into the extra frame, Phipps countered a shot and scored the winning takedown.
133: Kurt Phipps to the semifinals!! After falling behind 3-0 and giving up over 2 minutes of riding time to 30th-ranked Mason Leiphart, he comes back and takes the sudden victory! #OurWay@FloWrestling https://t.co/Ont6bSycVD pic.twitter.com/FSH9f5OK2e
— Bucknell Wrestling (@Bucknell_WRST) March 8, 2024
Phipps blanked Harvard's Coleman Nogle 5-0 in the round of 16 earlier in the day. He's set to face No. 1 seed Ryan Crookham of Lehigh in the semifinals. Crookham is the top-ranked 133-pound wrestler in country and is 16-0 on the season as well as 24-1 in his career. The two grapplers have yet to face.
Mulvaney cruised to his semifinal berth, posting major decisions in both of his wins on Saturday. He won 8-0 over Franklin & Marshall's Josh Palmucci and 11-2 over Princeton's Blaine Bergey. The freshman will face No. 1 seed and No. 3 ranked Julian Ramirez of Cornell Saturday morning. Ramirez has reached the NCAA's round of 12 the last two seasons.
Both Deacetis and Takats suffered quarterfinal losses on Friday after winning in the round of 16. Takats went to sudden victory against second-seeded Nick Incontrera of Penn, but he lost 4-1. He then moved past the blood round by way of injury default. He was leading 5-0 at the time of the injury. Earlier in the day, Takats defeated Hofstra's Ross McFarland in the round of 16.
Deacetis won by a 17-5 major decision over No. 9 seed John Dusza of Hofstra for his first win of the day before running into No. 1 overall seed Michael Beard (Lehigh) in the quarterfinals. He lost by technical fall, but bounced back with a 13-8 decision over Drexel's Ibrahim Ameer in the blood round.
Braden Bower was the other Bison to pick up a win on Friday, defeating Brown's Samuel McMonagle in the pigtail round to start the day. He suffered two straight losses, however, to bring his EIWA stay to an end.
Day two of the 120th EIWA Championships gets underway at Sojka Pavilion at 10:30 a.m. with the semifinals and consolations quarterfinals.
Team Scoring
Cornell 91.5, Lehigh 80.5, Army 62.5, Penn 62.5, Columbia 51, Bucknell 49, Binghamton 46.5, Navy 44.5, Princeton 43, Harvard 38, Drexel 24, Franklin & Marshall 23.5, American 22.5, Brown 21.5, LIU 21, Hofstra 14, Sacred Heart 6
125: #16 Grayson McLellan (0-2)
Round of 16: L, fall to #1 Luke Stanich (Lehigh), 2:17
Consolation Round of 8 #1: L, tech fall to #9 Desmond Pleasant (Drexel), 21-5 (3:14)
133: #4 Kurt Phipps (2-0)
Round of 16: W, dec. over #13 Coleman Nogle (Harvard), 5-0
Quarterfinals: W, dec. over #5 Mason Leiphart (F&M), 6-3 (SV-1)
141: #7 Dylan Chappell (2-0)
Round of 16: W, dec. over #10 Logan Brown (Army), 4-2
Quarterfinals: W, dec. over #2 Vince Cornella (Cornell), 4-1 (SV-1)
149: #17 Braden Bower (1-2)
Round of 32: W, dec. over #16 Samuel McMonagle (Brown), 5-1
Round of 16: L, dec. to #1 Ethan Fernandez (Cornell), 4-1
Consolation Round of 8 #1: L, dec. to #8 Noah Tapia (Hofstra), 6-5
157: #9 Riley Bower (0-2)
Round of 16: L, dec. to #8 Jonathan Ley (Navy), 10-3
Consolation Round of 8 #1: L, dec. to #17 Andy Garr (Columbia), 9-4
165: #4 Noah Mulvaney (2-0)
Round of 16: W, maj. dec. over #13 Josh Palmucci (F&M), 8-0
Quarterfinals: W, maj. dec. over #12 Blaine Bergey (Princeton), 11-2
174: #7 Myles Takats (2-1)
Round of 16: W, maj. dec. over #10 Ross McFarland (Hofstra), 11-2
Quarterfinals: L, dec. to #2 Nick Incontrera (Penn), 4-1 (SV-1)
Consolation Round of 8 #2: W, inj. def. over #13 Lucas White (American)
184: #7 Mikey Bartush (0-2)
Round of 16: L, fall to #10 Anthony D'Alesio (LIU), 4:56
Consolation Round of 8 #1: L, dec. to #15 Justin Griffith (Drexel), 8-3
197: #8 Logan Deacetis (2-1)
Round of 16: W, maj. dec. over #9 John Dusza (LIU), 17-5
Quarterfinals: L, tech fall to #1 Michael Beard (Lehigh), 21-5 (3:18)
Consolation Round of 8 #2: W, dec. over #11 Imbrahim Ameer (Drexel), 13-8
285: #7 Dorian Crosby (2-0)
Round of 16: W, maj. dec. over #10 William Jarrell (American), 12-3
Quarterfinals: W, dec. over #2 Cory Day (Binghamton), 8-2
Players Mentioned
