Cornell Claims Two Champions at EIWA Championships, Finishes Second
SOURCE: cornellbigred.com
March 07, 2020

 


BETHLEHEM, Pa. - Cornell wrestling took second place at the 2020 EIWA Championships on Saturday, March 6, finishing with 120 team points and nine total placewinners. Chas Tucker and Ben Darmstadt earned EIWA titles, while six total wrestlers earned automatics bids into the NCAA Championships in Minneapolis, Minn on March 19-21.

Going to the NCAA Championships will be Dom LaJoie, Chas Tucker, Noah Baughman, Hunter Richard, Ben Darmstadt and Brendan Furman. Other Cornell wrestlers will aim for an at-large bid into the tournament field.

Lehigh was the overall team champion for the third straight season, finishing with 154 team points. Army took third with 112 team points. Princeton was the closest Ivy League finisher to the Big Red, claiming fifth with 100.5 points.

Tucker defeated Navy's Casey Cobb with ease in the semifinals, dropping the Midshipmen to the consolation bracket with an 8-2 win. In the finals, Tucker defeated Lehigh's Nick Farro by decision, 3-1, in sudden victory. It was the second time Tucker and Farro went to extra time this season, with Tucker coming away on top on both occasions. Tucker will take a perfect 31-0 record into the NCAA Championships, having not lost since Dec. 30, 2018. It's the second EIWA title of Tucker's career.

Darmstadt opened his day with a 6-1 win over his former high school teammate, J.T. Brown of Army. Top position was key to the bout as Darmstadt collected over four minutes of riding time. In the finals, Darmstadt defeated Bucknell's Drew Phipps, 11-0. Darmstadt picked up the only takedown of the first period, taking a 2-0 lead into the second period. The Elyria, Ohio native reversed Phipps in the second period, adding two sets of two near-fall points in the process to lead 8-0 going to period three. Darmstadt added a takedown and nearly four minutes of riding time to become a two-time EIWA champion.

Richard clinched his spot in Minneapolis with a gritty 7-5 decision over second-seeded Jimmy Hoffman of Lehigh. Hoffman was in on Richard's leg, but the Big Red junior turned it into a turn of his own to score two for a takedown and four for near-fall in the third period. In the finals, Richard met Princeton's Matt Kolodzik for the second time this season. Richard did well to scramble out of a number of takedown attempts in the first period to keep the score to 0-0 through one period. Kolodzik scored the only takedown of the bout though as Richard was defeated, 4-3, to finish in second place.

Noah Baughman opened his day with a narrow victory over Franklin & Marshall's Wil Gil. Baughman defeated Gil, 12-11, after a challenge from the Big Red corner negated a Gil escape at the buzzer. Baughman kept the theatrics going in the consolation semifinals, going to sudden victory with Lehigh's Ryan Pomrinca for a bid to NCAA's. Baughman came through in the final seconds of overtime to punch his ticket and defeat Pomrinca, 3-1. The Doylestown, Ohio native continued to wrestle well in his final match of the day, avenging an earlier loss to Penn's Doug Zapf, 3-1, to claim third place.

Brendan Furman was unsuccessful in his bid to the EIWA finals, losing a semifinal bout to Lehigh's Jordan Wood, 5-0. In the consolation semifinals, Furman bounced back to defeat Binghamton's Joe Doyle, 10-3, giving himself a shot at the EIWA's third automatic bid at heavyweight. In the third-place bout, Furman was too much to handle for Hofstra's Zach Knighton-Ward as he rode the fourth-seeded heavyweight for nearly five minutes in a 7-2 victory. With a win, Furman becomes Cornell's sixth NCAA qualifier of the season.

Jonathan Loew came close to a major decision in his first wrestle-back of the day, defeating Bucknell's Kyle Inlander, 12-6. Loew was outmatched by Army's Noah Stewart in his consolation semifinal match, losing by major decision, 14-4. Wrestling back for fifth, Loew avenged a dual season loss to Princeton's Travis Stefanik to claim fifth place by decision, 4-3. Loew scored via the first takedown of the bout and again on a pair of escapes.

After a close start to his semifinal, Dom LaJoie was defeated by Columbia's Joe Manchio, 9-7. Manchio found four near-fall in the first period to take a 6-0 lead over LaJoie. The rest of the match was all LaJoie however, scoring three takedowns. In the consolation semifinals, LaJoie was defeated by American's Gage Curry, 9-4. Wrestling for fifth place, LaJoie was defeated by Army's Trey Chalifoux, 10-4, to place sixth at his first EIWA Championships.

Adam Santoro earned his third win of the weekend in the first consolation round of four, taking down Navy's Jack Stanton-Taddeo, 6-1. Santoro was unable to keep the momentum going in the consolation semifinals, losing to Army's Markus Hartman by major decision, 8-0. In the fifth-place bout, Santoro was defeated by Harvard's Hunter Ladnier, 8-1, to place sixth.

Milik Dawkins was defeated in his first wrestle-back of the day, losing to Hofstra's Ricky Stamm, 6-2, to fall to the seventh-place bout. In the match for seventh, Dawkins ended his Big Red career on a high note with a 3-2 win over American's Tim Fitzpatrick. Dawkins tied the bout at 1-1 with a third period escape before finding the match-winning takedown.

Up Next: Wrestlers who qualified for the 2020 NCAA DI Wrestling Championships will head to Minneapolis, Minn. on Tuesday, March 17. The first session of wrestling in US Bank Stadium takes place at 11 a.m. CT on Thursday, March 19. Session I gates open to spectators at 9:30 a.m. CT. Matches throughout the championship weekend will be broadcast on ESPN and ESPNU.


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