The 2024 EIWA Postseason - By the Numbers
These are just some random tidbits, stats, and miscellaneous items from NCAAs. They are in no particular order. As a bonus, we will dive into the numbers of the Ivy League compared to the remainder of the EIWA.
Ivy League vs EIWA
It’s been mentioned already, but the EIWA qualified 62 participants. With an injury withdrawal the day before action began, the final count of participants was 61. This broke down to 28 Ivy League wrestlers (46%) and 33 for other EIWA schools (54%). If we look at the All-Americans for each – we see an almost even split. The Ivies had 4 AAs – which is 14% of the wrestlers competing for Ivy schools. The EIWA saw 5 AAs, good for 15% of their competitors. The math shows the split between Ivies and the EIWA was somewhat even across the board in terms of qualifiers and place finishers – although the number of Ivy schools is 6 – while the remainder of the EIWA has 11 schools.
Diving a little deeper, we can see the Ivy’s four All-Americans came from two schools. Cornell had 3, while Columbia had 1. The EIWA’s 5 AAs were from 3 schools. Lehigh claimed three AAs, while Navy and Army each had one. Lehigh and Cornell each claimed 33% of the AAs in the conference. Cornell’s output was higher with one champion, and a 3rd and 4th place finish. Lehigh’s finishes were 3rd, 5th, and 8th.
Below is a countdown (… or count-up?) of some random accomplishments, facts, and other occurrences associated with each number. We look at some historical data, and some potential future statistics to help align with the numbers. I know it’s a few weeks after NCAAs, but it’s a great reminder of the historical season the EIWA had.
1. James Conway wins Elite 90 Award for Men’s Wrestling
James Conway of Franklin & Marshall may not have achieved his goal of becoming an All-American. The 184lber walked away with hardware anyway. He was the recipient of the Elite 90 Award at this year’s NCAA Tournament. This is an incredible achievement, as the wrestler with the highest GPA is awarded the honor. His 3.98 GPA is more impressive as he is a Biochemistry major, with a minor in Spanish. He finished the year with 30 wins – making his career number of wins 73.
2. All Americans seeded outside the top 16
Two of this year’s All-Americans may have been surprising when looking at the seeds they received before the event began. Army’s Ben Pasuik was the 18th seed – which was the 5th lowest seed to All-American in the entire tournament. David Key of Navy was the 25th-seeded wrestler in his bracket. Both wrestlers walked away with an 8th-place finish. Key’s seed was the second lowest to place. Minnesota’s Vombur was the 26th seed at 141 lbs. This is why this tournament is so great – anyone can earn it!
On the flip side of this topic, there were nine wrestlers with top 5 seeds who failed to place. Unfortunately, the EIWA also had a three seed that missed the podium - Julian Ramirez of Cornell and two wrestlers seeded fifth that failed to place – Phil Conigliaro of Harvard and Nathan Taylor of Lehigh.
3. Head Coaches who coached All-Americans for the first time as head coaches at their program.
There was quite some history achieved at this season’s NCAA tournament. Columbia, Army, and Navy each had All-Americans for the first time in a while. To recap - Lennox Wolak from Columbia University was the first AA since Steve Santos in 2013. Ben Pasiuk of Army was the first to represent Army on the podium since Matt Kyler in 2008. Navy’s David Key was the first Midshipman since Mathew Miller in 2016 to be named an All-American.
Coincidentally, all three of these school’s head coaches had the privilege to coach their first All-American while at the helm. To give an idea of how long it took each coach to achieve this – Zach Tanelli took over at Columbia in 2016, Kevin Ward was named head coach at Army in 2014, and Cary Kolat took control of Navy in 2020. Congratulations to all three coaches! We all know this is the first of many All-Americans they will coach.
4. EIWA teams with 1 qualifier
Hofstra, Brown, American, and LIU each had one NCAA qualifier this season. Hofstra’s Keaton Kluever made his NCAA championship debut for the Pride after transferring into the program this off-season. American's Max Leete was a first-time qualifier for the event as well at 133 lbs. Brown’s Michael Joyce was the first qualifier for the program since 2019. Interestingly, no current wrestlers on the roster were on the team the last time this happened. And, as we already know, LIU’s first qualifier at the D1 level was Anthony D’Alesio at 184lbs. D’Alesio was the only wrestler mentioned to earn a win at NCAAs. This makes him the first LIU Shark to win a DI match at nationals in history. It’s great to see more history being made!
5. “Bloodround” finishers return next year
The EIWA had a total of six losses in the infamous round of 12, or Bloodround. This is the round in the consolation bracket where a win makes you an All-American, and a loss sends you home empty-handed. It is the quintessential “all or nothing” round in the NCAA wrestling tournament. The five returning wrestlers fitting this category are Kurt Phipps (Bucknell), Josh Koderhandt (Navy), Julian Ramirez (Cornell), Chris Foca (Cornell), and Nathan Taylor (Lehigh). They will return next season to earn a shot at making the podium.
Lou DePrez of Binghamton ended his career with a loss in this round. He was a victim of this once before as well. He ends his career as a two-time All-American. Cornell’s Julian Ramirez has lost in this round three years in a row now – putting him in rare, but unfortunate company. Another interesting tidbit is that the EIWA had three former All-Americans who did not repeat as AAs this year. Foca and DePrez were two of them and the third one was CJ Composto of Penn. Composto will have two more seasons to return to the podium.
6. Vito Arujau becomes the 6th multiple-time NCAA Champion in Cornell history
With the rich history of Cornell wrestling over many decades, Vito joins elite company. We all know Kyle Dake and Yianni Diakomihalis each won four NCAA titles. Vito joins Dave Auble, Gabe Dean, and Travis Lee as two-time NCAA Champions. Vito’s efforts helped contribute to a 3rd and 2nd place team finish for the Big Red during his two championship seasons. Of the 6 names listed, only Dake and Auble have competed at the Olympic games after college. Yianni and perhaps Vito, in the future, will look to join these two with that accomplishment.
7. Crookham and Stanich on pace to be 4X EIWA champs – 6th and 7th in Lehigh history
With Luke Stanich and Ryan Crookham winning EIWA titles as freshmen, they are on pace to win four conference titles. They would become the 6th and 7th wrestlers in Lehigh history to achieve this. Mark Lieberman (’79), Mike Brown (’80), Colin Kilrain (82’), and Darryl Burley (’83) were the first to achieve this feat. Interestingly, they were all on the same team at one point. The latest wrestler to earn 4 EIWA titles was Jordan Wood when he won in 2021. Due to COVID, he earned another shot at a title in 2022 and became the only 5X EIWA champ in history – a record that may never be broken. For what it’s worth – there have been 14 total wrestlers to claim four EIWA titles.
Stanich and Crookham can join an even smaller group of wrestlers who earned NCAA All-American status four times at Lehigh. Only Burley and Brown have done this as Mountain Hawks.
Another historical statistic using the number 7 is that 7 current EIWA teams have claimed an EIWA team title in the conference’s history. These teams (and number of titles) are Lehigh (38), Cornell (28), Navy (13), Penn (4), Princeton (3), Army (1), and Harvard (1).
8. 4X national qualifiers
This was already briefly discussed But a noteworthy achievement is worth mentioning again. The EIWA saw eight wrestlers who have qualified for NCAAs at least 4 times compete in Kansas City. Vito Arujau, Malyke Hines, Phil Conigliaro, Jacob Nolan, Ben Pasiuk, Cole Urbas, and Michael Colaiocco all qualified to compete at NCAAs for the fourth time. Lou DePrez was one of the handful of wrestlers in the country to compete at his 5th NCAA Championships. This season, only Vito and Pasiuk achieved All-American status from this group. DePrez has been an AA in the past but fell one win short this season. Malyke Hines is the lone wrestler on this list with another year of eligibility to also become a 5X qualifier.
9. All Americans from the EIWA
The 9 All-Americans this season are more than in previous years. During the 2022 and 2023 seasons, the conference walked away with 7 All-Americans. Looking back over the past decade, the conference saw more AAs in 2019 and 2016 when there were 10 total. The most conference All-Americans since 2000 occurred in 2011 when the EIWA had 15. During that year, Cornell Head Coach, Mike Grey, was 6th at 133lbs. Also, current assistant at Lehigh, Zach Rey, won a title at Heavyweight for them.
Crookham, Shapiro, Stanich, and Beard all return next year to the EIWA. Wolak and Cardenas are both out of eligibility in the Ivy League and will find homes elsewhere. Wolak has already committed to Virginia Tech while Cardenas is headed to Michigan.
Congratulations to the 9 EIWA All-Americans below.
Vito Arujau, Cornell – Champion @ 133lbs
Ryan Crookham, Lehigh – 3rd @ 133lbs
Meyer Shapiro, Cornell – 3rd @ 157lbs
Jacob Cardenas, Cornell – 4th @ 197lbs
Luke Stanich, Lehigh – 5th @ 125lbs
Lennox Wolak, Columbia, 6th @ 174lbs
Ben Pasuik, Army – 8th @ 174lbs
David Key, Navy – 8th @ 184lbs
Michael Beard, Lehigh – 8th @ 197lbs
10 NCAA Qualifiers for Cornell
Cornell qualified all 10 wrestlers. As we know, Vince Cornella had to withdraw the night before due to injury. With nine competing, The Big Red walked away with a second-place trophy with only three All-Americans. It’s a rare feat to achieve with a handful of AAs, so Cornell’s bonus points pushed them into the top two. 19.5 of the team’s 72.5 points were from bonus. If the team would not have had any bonus victories, they would have earned just 11th place. Even one less pin would have dropped them into 3rd place. The team showed up this year and proved that sometimes quality is better than quantity. Next year’s line-up will need to replace Vito Arujau and Jacob Cardenas’s combined 39.5 points in order to match this year’s total. Meyer Shapiro’s 21 points is the highest total to return to the line-up next season.
Off-Season Scuttlebutt
Transfer portals, coaching changes, and all of the off-season chatter has already begun – and it’s only April! Let’s start with the divisive transfer portal.
A vast majority of the transfers below are graduate students looking to complete their final year of eligibility. As a reminder, the Ivy League’s eligibility rules are different from the NCAAs. The extra COVID year all athletes received is why you are seeing many of these “transfers.” In reality, these guys have no more eligibility in the Ivy League. Plus, graduate students are not allowed to compete in athletics at an Ivy League institution. This is why many of these athletes are transferring to larger conferences. And, it is worth mentioning, that NIL had some part to play. Larger schools with more NIL funding can afford to pay athletes handsomely, which is unlike smaller schools in the EIWA.
Jacob Cardenas may be the biggest name to leave the EIWA. The 2X All-American from Cornell will be attending Michigan next season. Michigan has been notorious for reloading via the portal. Cardenas will slide in nicely and help the Wolverines compete for a trophy next season.
Wolak of Columbia was an All-American at 174lbs. The EIWA champion was an NCAA semi-finalist before finishing in 6th place. Next season, he will be at Virginia Tech in the ACC. The Hokies are a solid top-10 tram every season. Wolak will be replacing NCAA Champion, and multiple-time AA, Mekhi Lewis. Wolak will be a great addition to the lineup.
Another Columbia standout will be on the move to the ACC. Josh Ogunsanya will take his talents to North Carolina to pursue his graduate degree. The 165-pound wrestler has placed at EIWAs multiple times. He’s been plagued by injuries, so he may be a little under the radar for some. He’s an uber-talented wrestler with lightning-quick speed. It will be fun to see him compete again once healthy for the Tar Heels.
Connor McGonagle of Lehigh was in the portal. He has visited some Big12 and ACC schools. He ultimately chose Virginia Tech. He will find himself at 133lbs with multiple-time All-American Sam Latona.
One of them will make the move up to 141lbs for the Hokies – which fills a potential hole in the line-up.
Dorian Crosby of Bucknell was looking for another place to call home. The 2024 EIWA runner-up is heading to Gannon, a D2 school in Erie, PA. He was looking to return to his hometown of Erie to further his education and use his last year of eligibility.
There is a list of quality wrestlers in the portal looking for a home.
Max Hale of Penn is in the portal as well. He was an NCAA qualifier this season for the Quakers. He was ranked inside the top 20 and should be a great option at 184lbs for wherever he ends up.
Columbia’s Kyle Mosher came onto the scene later in the season, as he replaced the injured Josh Ogunsanya at 165lbs. He is looking to use his final year of NCAA eligibility.
There were some coaching changes as well. The big news out of the conference was the addition of Matt Valenti to the Penn coaching staff. Valenti was a two-time NCAA champion for the Quakers when he graduated in 2007. He had a few coaching stints at Columbia and Penn before ending his way back into an admin role at Penn in 2015. He has been in various roles since then. He will assume the head coaching role after the 2025-26 season. Roger Reina will retire at that time.
Cody Brewer is another national champion taking a coaching position in the conference. He will join Princeton as the Head Assistant Coach. As a wrestler, he won an NCAA title for Oklahoma in 2015 at 133 lbs while claiming four All-American honors. He spent a few years on staff with Northwestern before playing a key role as an assistant with Virginia Tech. Expect him to make a big impact early.
A familiar face was named to the coaching staff at Binghamton again. Lou DePrez took a coaching role at the beginning of last season. He left that after the first semester to wrestle one more semester due to a medical hardship granting him one more go-around. He wrestled to a top-12 finish, just missing the All-American podium. He remains the best wrestler in Binghamton history when looking at nearly every stat.
Speaking of Binghamton, they do have a head assistant type of position open. This would be a great opportunity for a coach with some recruiting experience. Binghamton is one of the steadily improving programs in the conference. I am anxious to see who lands in this role.
Princeton has some other positions to fill as well, in addition to Brewer. Be on the lookout for at least one announcement this week. But, in total, two positions will be filled this off-season. The likelihood of these hires contributing to the carousel is very high.
BONUS TEASER: There will be a major coaching change announcement early this week. Once this is publicly announced, it will most likely begin a coaching carousel that will keep us entertained for much of the off-season. This is not related to any of the above changes/open positions. Keep your eyes peeled on social media and the forums this week - You will not want to miss it!
