Lehigh wins 39th team title, four individual titles at EIWA Championships

BETHLEHEM, Pa. – Powered by four individual champions, the Lehigh wrestling team captured its first EIWA team championship in four years with a triumph in front of the home fans Saturday at Stabler Arena.

Sheldon Seymour (125), Logan Rozynski (157), Michael Beard (197) and Owen Trephan (285) won individual EIWA titles for the Mountain Hawks, who totaled 143.5 points over the two-day tournament to win their league-leading 39th team championship and first since 2021.

Drexel was the runner-up with 122.5 points, while Army West Point and Navy tied for third place with 116.5 points.

Lehigh matched its 2024 total with four individual champions with Brown and White wrestlers now having won 235 individual EIWA titles all-time. All four of Lehigh's individual champions have secured automatic qualification for the NCAA Championships, while Lehigh's five other place winners will need to earn an at-large berth to nationals.

The Mountain Hawks had nine place winners and six finalists. Six of Lehigh's nine place winners were victorious in their final bouts on Saturday's final day of competition.

In addition to winning his second straight EIWA title at 197, Beard shared the Coaches' Trophy as the tournament's Outstanding Wrestler with Binghamton's Brevin Cassella, the champion at 174.

Beard defeated Bucknell's Dillon Bechtold 14-8 in Saturday's final session to win the third of Lehigh's four individual titles. He scored the first four takedowns of the match, giving up a score late in the third that denied him a major decision. Beard enters the NCAA Championships at 20-1 on the season.

Following Saturday morning's consolation semifinals and seventh place matches, Lehigh led Drexel by just 10 points.

Seymour got the finals session off to a fast start with a 6-0 decision over Army's Charlie Farmer to win the title at 125. A first period takedown and second period reversal plus more than two minutes of riding time advantage provided the points for Seymour as Lehigh wins 125 in the EIWA for the second straight year.

Rozynski picked up a key head-to-head win over Drexel's Luke Nichter at 157 to essentially seal the team title for Lehigh while also giving the Mountain Hawks a true first-year EIWA champion for the second straight season. In the finals, Rozynski led 6-0 after two periods behind a takedown, reversal and stalling point. With his lead cut to 6-2 in the third, Rozynski scored a late takedown and added riding time to secure a 10-2 major decision.

Trephan capped Lehigh's tournament with a 7-1 decision over Binghamton's Cory Day in the heavyweight finals. A stalling point and takedown gave Trephan a 4-0 lead after one. Day chose top and rode out the second period, picking up a stalling point along the way, before Trephan secured his title with a late takedown and ride out.

Senior Malyke Hines (149) and sophomore Caden Rogers (184) fell just short of EIWA titles and NCAA qualification with finals bout losses. Hines lost 7-5 to Army's Trae McDonald. After giving up the first takedown, Hines scored a takedown in the second period to tie his match at 4-4. An escape gave Hines a 5-4 lead early in the third period but McDonald was able to lock up a cradle for the takedown to go up 7-5 and eventually win Army's lone individual title.

Rogers dropped an 11-4 decision to Hofstra's Ross McFarland, who won the second of two titles for the Pride on Saturday. McFarland scored the bout's opening takedown and after Rogers answered in the second period with a takedown, McFarland used a locked hands penalty point and reversal to take the lead for good. He added an escape and takedown in the third period plus riding time.

First-year Matty Lopes secured fourth place at 133, beating Binghamton's Micah Roes 5-0 in the consolation semifinals before dropping the third place match 1-0 to Army's Ethan Berginc. In the third place match the only scoring came by way of a second-period Berginc escape. Lopes chose neutral in the third but was unable to secure the takedown needed to take the lead.

Both Lehigh wrestlers who competed in the seventh place matches were victorious Saturday morning. At 141, junior Carter Bailey placed seventh with a 13-4 major decision over Binghamton's Nate Lucier. Sophomore Rylan Rogers won 5-0 over Blake Bahna of LIU to claim seventh place at 174.

Lehigh's qualifiers will move on to the NCAA Championships, Mar. 20-22 at Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia. At-large selections will be announced Tuesday, with the seeds and brackets unveiled Wednesday at 8 p.m.

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Brackets

Archived Matches

Team Standings

1          Lehigh, 143.5 points

2          Drexel, 122.5 points

3          Army West Point, 116.5 points

3          Navy, 116.5 points

5          Bucknell, 113 points

6          Binghamton, 105.5 points

7          Hofstra, 79.5 points

8          American, 61 points

9          LIU, 52 points

10        Franklin & Marshall, 31 points

11        Morgan State, 25.5 points

12        Sacred Heart, 25 points

Final Results

125 pounds (2 NCAA Automatic Qualifiers)

1^st – Sheldon Seymour (Lehigh) dec. Charlie Farmer (Army West Point), 6-0

3^rd – Carson Wagner (Binghamton) dec. Robert Sagaris (LIU), 8-5 SV

5^th – Desmond Pleasant (Drexel) maj. dec. Coen Bainey (American), 11-2

7^th – Nick Treaster (Navy) tech. fall Julian Dawson (Morgan State), 15-0 2:27

133 pounds (1 NCAA Automatic Qualifiers)

1^st – Kurt Phipps (Bucknell) dec. Kyle Waterman (Drexel), 7-5

3^rd – Ethan Berginc (Army West Point) dec. Matthew Lopes (Lehigh), 1-0

5^th – Micah Roes (Binghamton) dec. Raymond Lopez (American), 14-9

7^th – Brendan Ferretti (Navy) pin Braxton Fries-appello (Sacred Heart), 1:08

141 pounds (3 NCAA Automatic Qualifiers)

1^st – Josh Koderhandt (Navy) pin Dylan Chappell (Bucknell), 1:56

3^rd – Jordan Soriano (Drexel) dec. Bryce Kresho (Franklin & Marshall), 8-7

5^th – Rich Treanor (Army West Point) dec. Justin Hoyle (Hofstra), 10-5

7^th – Carter Bailey (Lehigh) maj. dec. Nate Lucier (Binghamton), 13-4

149 pounds (1 NCAA Automatic Qualifiers)

1^st – Trae Mcdaniel (Army West Point) dec. Malyke Hines (Lehigh), 7-5

3^rd – Kaemen Smith (Navy) dec. Noah Tapia (Hofstra), 8-5 SV

5^th – Braden Bower (Bucknell) forf. Ivan Garcia (Binghamton), 0-0

7^th – Dominic Findora (Drexel) maj. dec. Josh Hillard (Franklin & Marshall), 11-0

157 pounds (1 NCAA Automatic Qualifiers)

1^st – Logan Rozynski (Lehigh) maj. dec. Luke Nichter (Drexel), 10-2

3^rd – Jonathan Ley (Navy) dec. Cade Wirnsberger (Bucknell), 2-1

5^th – Brayden Roberts (LIU) maj. dec. Jack Nies (American), 10-0

7^th – Jurius Clark (Hofstra) dec. Felix Lettini (Sacred Heart), 7-6

165 pounds (2 NCAA Automatic Qualifiers)

1^st – Kyle Mosher (Hofstra) med. forf. Noah Mulvaney (Bucknell), 0-0 0:00

3^rd – Dylan Elmore (Navy) dec. Carter Baer (Binghamton), 4-3

5^th – Kaden Milheim (American) forf. Gunner Filipowicz (Army West Point), 0-0

7^th – Cody Walsh (Drexel) pin Cooper Lockhart (Morgan State), 2:00

174 pounds (4 NCAA Automatic Qualifiers)

1^st – Brevin Cassella (Binghamton) dec. Danny Wask (Navy), 4-1 TB2

3^rd – Dalton Harkins (Army West Point) maj. dec. Jasiah Queen (Drexel), 9-0

5^th – Myles Takats (Bucknell) dec. Caleb Campos (American), 9-5

7^th – Rylan Rogers (Lehigh) dec. Blake Bahna (LIU), 5-0

184 pounds (1 NCAA Automatic Qualifiers)

1^st – Ross Mcfarland (Hofstra) dec. Caden Rogers (Lehigh), 11-4

3^rd – Anthony D`alesio (LIU) dec. Giuseppe Hoose (Drexel), 4-2

5^th – Daniel Williams (Navy) dec. Will Ebert (Binghamton), 7-1

7^th – Hunter Perez (Sacred Heart) forf. Jakob Gilfoil (Army West Point), 0-0

197 pounds (4 NCAA Automatic Qualifiers)

1^st – Michael Beard (Lehigh) dec. Dillon Bechtold (Bucknell), 14-8

3^rd – Mickey O`malley (Drexel) pin Payton Thomas (Navy), 0:53

5^th – Wolfgang Frable (Army West Point) maj. dec. Cayden Bevis (Binghamton), 11-1

7^th – Nikolas Miller (Hofstra) tech. fall Rj Moore (Franklin & Marshall), 17-2 6:46

285 pounds (3 NCAA Automatic Qualifiers)

1^st – Owen Trephan (Lehigh) dec. Cory Day (Binghamton), 7-1

3^rd – Brady Colbert (Army West Point) dec. Xavier Doolin (Morgan State), 10-4

5^th – Logan Shephard (Bucknell) dec. Christopher Powell (LIU), 8-5 SV

7^th – Ibrahim Ameer (Drexel) maj. dec. William Jarrell (American), 13-4