Binghamton's Cassella, Nolan Qualify for Nationals on Final Day of EIWA Championships
SOURCE: bubearcats.com
March 09, 2024

 


Cassella and Lou DePrez finish third, among seven Bearcats on the podium

LEWISBURG, Pa. - Brevin Cassella and Jacob Nolan will be joining Cory Day and Lou DePrez at the NCAA Wrestling Championships after they both earned an automatic bid during the final day of the EIWA Championships Saturday at Sojka Pavilion.

Cassella and DePrez both finished in third place. Day placed fifth, while Nolan took sixth. As a team, the Bearcats sent seven wrestlers to the podium. That is tied for the second-largest amount of Binghamton wrestlers that have made the podium at the EIWA Championships since the team joined the conference back in 2013-14. That feat has also been replicated in 2018 and 2022. The 2017 EIWA Championships had the most Binghamton wrestlers on the podium with eight.

The Bearcats finished tied for eighth out of 17 teams with 68.5 points. Cornell won the tournament for the third straight year after scoring 164.5 points.

"All four of them had a great season and they had good tournaments," said Binghamton Head Coach Kyle Borshoff. "Hopefully, we can make some improvements on our finishes here and put some of these guys on the podium at the NCAA Championships."

Cassella had a chance to make it to the finals for the first time in his career. But Navy's Andrew Cerniglia defeated him in the semifinals 7-0. In the consolation semifinals, Cassella flipped the script by shutting out Lehigh's Jake Logan 7-0. With third place on the line, Cassella would go against Army's Gunner Filipowicz. The two would fight to a 1-1 tie after three periods. In overtime, Cassella took down Filipowicz near the table to claim victory for his best finish ever at the EIWAs.

Nolan opened the third session by pinning LIU's Anthony D'Alesio. But Cornell's Chris Foca would then pin Nolan in the next round to put Nolan in the 5th place match. Against No. 2 James Conway of Franklin & Marshall, Nolan would try to make a comeback in the third period, but to no avail. He would be defeated 10-6.

Day and DePrez, who each earned their automatic bid on Friday, each looked to finish the tournament strong, with the latter trying to win his fourth EIWA Championship. DePrez would start the day with a highly anticipated rematch against defending champion and No. 2 seed Jacob Cardenas of Cornell. The last time both wrestlers met on Feb. 25, DePrez defeated Cardenas 7-3. The second match would be more closely contested. Tied at one with less than a minute to go, Cardenas got a late takedown on DePrez to win 4-1 and advance to the finals.

Now in the consolation bracket, DePrez got back in the win column with a 10-2 major decision in the semifinals against Penn's Cole Urbas. In the third place match against Columbia's Jack Wehmeyer, DePrez dispatched his opponent in an 11-1 major decision.

Day began the third session in the consolation bracket after being defeated in the quarterfinals on Friday. His first match would be against Navy's Grady Griess, whom Day had defeated twice already this season. Once again, Day got the upper hand on Griess by beating him 6-4. In the consolation semifinals, Day would be pinned by Cornell's Lewis Fernandes. In his final match for fifth place against Army's Lucas Stoddard, Day got ahead early and shut out Stoddard 6-0 to earn his second-straight top five finish at the EIWAs.

Dimitri Gamkrelidze, Micah Roes and Nate Lucier each wrestled twice on Saturday. After losing a close 2-1 match to American's Maximillian Leete, Roes finished strong with a 5-2 win over Hunter Adrian of Brown 5-2. It would give him a seventh place finish for his second career podium at the EIWA Championships (4th in 2021 at 125 lbs.) Gamkrelidze and Lucier would each lose both of their matches to finish eighth, each making the podium at the EIWAs for the first time in their career.


After the tournament, DePrez was given the John Fletcher Memorial Award by the EIWA for scoring the most team points in the EIWA Championships during his career. DePrez collected 86 points for the Bearcats throughout his career at the EIWAs.

EIWA Championships Day Two Results
Micah Roes
133 (Consi of 4) | No. 10 Maximillian Leete (American) def. No. 8 Micah Roes (BU) DEC 2-1
133 (7th Place) | No. 8 Micah Roes (BU) def. No. 15 Hunter Adrian (Brown) DEC 5-2

Nate Lucier
141 (Consi of 4) | No. 12 Tyler Vazquez (Princeton) def. No. 11 Nate Lucier (BU) FALL 4-0 6:16
141 (7th Place) | No. 5 Kai Owen (Columbia) def. No. 11 Nate Lucier (BU) MD 17-4

Brevin Cassella
165 (Semifinals) | No. 3 Andrew Cerniglia (Navy) def. No. 2 Brevin Cassella (BU) DEC 7-0
165 (Consi Semis) | No. 2 Brevin Cassella (BU) def. No. 7 Jake Logan (Lehigh) DEC 5-0
165 (3rd Place) | No. 2 Brevin Cassella (BU) def. No. 5 Gunner Filipowicz (Army) DEC 4-1 SV

Dimitri Gamkrelidze
174 (Consi of 4) | No. 7 Myles Takats (Bucknell) def. No. 11 Dimitri Gamkrelidze (BU) DEC 6-1 SV
174 (7th Place) | No. 5 Danny Wask (Navy) def. No. 11 Dimitri Gamkrelidze (BU) DEC 4-2

Jacob Nolan
184 (Consi of 4) | No. 6 Jacob Nolan (BU) def. No. 10 Anthony D'Alesio (LIU) FALL 4-1 6:21
184 (Consi Semis) | No. 1 Chris Foca (Cornell) def. No. 6 Jacob Nolan (BU) FALL 7-0 1:16
184 (5th Place) | No. 2 James Conway (Franklin & Marshall) def. No. 6 Jacob Nolan (BU) DEC 10-6

Lou DePrez
197 (Semifinals) | No. 2 Jacob Cardenas (Cornell) def. No. 3 Lou DePrez (BU) DEC 4-1
197 (Consi Semis) | No. 3 Lou DePrez (BU) def. No. 5 Cole Urbas (Penn) MD 10-2
197 (3rd Place) | No. 3 Lou DePrez (BU) def. No. 7 Jack Wehrmeyer (Columbia) MD 11-1

Cory Day
285 (Consi of 4) | No. 2 Cory Day (BU) def. No. 3 Grady Griess (Navy) DEC 6-4
285 (Consi Semis) | No. 5 Lewis Fernandes (Cornell) def. No. 2 Cory Day (BU) FALL 7-0 3:28
285 (5th Place) | No. 2 Cory Day (BU) def. Lucas Stoddard (Army) DEC 6-0

*Rankings are EIWA Championship Seeds

Up Next
The NCAA will announce its at-large selections for the wrestling championships on Tuesday. There are 47 at-large for the tournament. The brackets and seeding for the tournament will be announced on Wednesday at 8 p.m., on NCAA.com.

The 2024 NCAA Wrestling Championships will take place from March 21-23 at the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Mo.


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