ngineer
February 24th, 2006, 08:52 PM
The nation's oldest collegiate wrestling tournament (began 1905) will start a week from tomorrow as Lehigh looks for a 5-peat as defending champion. A '5-peat' was accomplished only once before: 1931-35, and Lehigh pulled the trick. Lehigh has won 32 team titles since joining the Conference in 1911, more than twice the number of the nearest competitor (Cornell-14)
Eight of Lehigh's wrestlers are expected to be seeded, although they will be without Matt Ciasulli at 149 who tore knee ligaments against Penn. Trevor Chinn,(from upstate NY) and redshirt freshman will take his place. Expected lineup for Easterns with EIWA ranking and NCAA ranking in front of name with 2005-06 record and career record following:
Weight EIWA NCAA Name 2005-06 Career
125 2 Matt Fisk (Fr) 11-8 11-8
133 17 Jeff Santo (So) 4-2 16-6
141 1 3 Cory Cooperman(sr) 18-1 91-11
149 5 Trevor Chinn (Fr) 12-9 12-9
157 1 10 Derek Zinck (Sr.) 15-2 86-20
165 1 3 Troy Letters (Sr.) 12-2 111-6
174 1 12 Travis Frick (Sr.) 20-5 88-31
184 16 David Helfrich (Jr.) 18-8 44-23
197 2 16 Matt Cassidy (Jr.) 22-8 49-30
Hwt. 4 Paul Weibel (Jr.) 18-8 61-34
Santo was off to a roaring start this year, losing to the #2 ranked wrestler from Oklahoma State by one point just before he tore his quad. Although he's been wrestling 'in the room' for the past 3 weeks, he hasn't been in a match situation since December.
Based upon 'theoretical' place points based upon current rankings, the team race (without any bonus point consideration) would be:
Lehigh...81
Cornell..73
Penn.....67
Army....47
Navy....47
Harvard.47
So it certainly looks like a three-way shoot-out with the 'second three' having good enough wrestlers to 'bust a bracket open' and create havoc.
Eight of Lehigh's wrestlers are expected to be seeded, although they will be without Matt Ciasulli at 149 who tore knee ligaments against Penn. Trevor Chinn,(from upstate NY) and redshirt freshman will take his place. Expected lineup for Easterns with EIWA ranking and NCAA ranking in front of name with 2005-06 record and career record following:
Weight EIWA NCAA Name 2005-06 Career
125 2 Matt Fisk (Fr) 11-8 11-8
133 17 Jeff Santo (So) 4-2 16-6
141 1 3 Cory Cooperman(sr) 18-1 91-11
149 5 Trevor Chinn (Fr) 12-9 12-9
157 1 10 Derek Zinck (Sr.) 15-2 86-20
165 1 3 Troy Letters (Sr.) 12-2 111-6
174 1 12 Travis Frick (Sr.) 20-5 88-31
184 16 David Helfrich (Jr.) 18-8 44-23
197 2 16 Matt Cassidy (Jr.) 22-8 49-30
Hwt. 4 Paul Weibel (Jr.) 18-8 61-34
Santo was off to a roaring start this year, losing to the #2 ranked wrestler from Oklahoma State by one point just before he tore his quad. Although he's been wrestling 'in the room' for the past 3 weeks, he hasn't been in a match situation since December.
Based upon 'theoretical' place points based upon current rankings, the team race (without any bonus point consideration) would be:
Lehigh...81
Cornell..73
Penn.....67
Army....47
Navy....47
Harvard.47
So it certainly looks like a three-way shoot-out with the 'second three' having good enough wrestlers to 'bust a bracket open' and create havoc.