Lehighsports.com

LANCASTER, Pa. – Senior Dave Nakasone scored a pair of third period takedowns to upset top seed Jordan Leen of Cornell and capture the 157 pound title at the 104th EIWA Championships Sunday night at the Mayser Center. Nakasone entered the third period trailing on riding time but scrambled his way into a takedown, and added a second one late to become Lehigh’s 193rd individual champion. The Mountain Hawks finished in fifth place as a team with six place winners and five NCAA qualifiers.

The opening period of the 157 pound final was scoreless but featured a terrific scramble from Nakasone to thwart a takedown attempt from Leen. Nakasone chose bottom and was ridden for over a minute before escaping to take a 1-0 lead. In the third period, Leen escaped from bottom quickly and maintained his riding time edge, but Nakasone found the backdoor in a scramble for the go-ahead takedown which erased the riding time edge. After Leen escaped, Nakasone converted a takedown in the final seconds to seal the victory.

It was an up and down morning session for the Mountain Hawks, with Nakasone needing a takedown 31 seconds into overtime to defeat Spencer Manley of Navy 3-1. Lehigh’s other two semifinalists, sophomore Seth Ciasulli and junior Trevor Chinn lost tight semifinal bouts, and were also upended in the consolation semis.  Both wrestlers came back to win their fifth place bouts, as Ciasulli pinned Thomas Picarsic of Harvard at 133 and Chinn defeated D.J. Meagher of Cornell 6-2 at 149. Both will learn their NCAA tournament fate following the wild card meeting.

Lehigh qualified three wrestlers for the NCAA Championships in the morning session, with freshman Alex Caruso and sophomore Manuel Schubert joining Nakasone. Caruso won each of his first two matches on Sunday by decision, while Schubert defeated Casey Caldwell of Navy 3-2 in the consolation quarters and then won by medical forfeit in the consolation semis. Both wrestlers had to settle for fourth place, as Caruso lost his rematch with Scott Giffin of Penn 9-6 at 174 and Schubert was upended by Matt Gevelinger of Brown 8-2 at 184.

Sophomore Mike Galante placed sixth at 165, winning his first match of the day, but losing each of his next two bouts in overtime, including a 5-3 setback against Justin Jacobs of Navy in the fifth place match, a bout in which Galante led 3-1 but was penalized twice for stalling in the final seconds.

In one of the tightest team races in recent memory, Cornell held off Penn by half a point, despite winning just one individual title, to win its second straight team title 128-127.5. The Coaches Trophy for outstanding wrestler was awarded to Penn’s Cesar Grajales, who upset top seed and No. 2 ranked J.P. O”Connor of Harvard in the finals at 149.

Lehigh’s five NCAA Qualifiers will next head to St. Louis, Missouri for the NCAA Championships, March 20-22 at Scottrade Center.

Championship Finals

Semifinals

Consolation Quarterfinals       

Consolation Semifinals           

Third place match      

Fifth place match        

Final team scores