March 5, 2016 • 2016 EIWA Championship - Day 1 Results
PRINCETON, N.J. - Semifinalists Zack Davis (Granger, Ind.), Jadaen Bernstein (Glen Gardner, N.J.) and Mathew Miller (Edgewood, Md.) are among the six Navy wrestlers who will advance to Sunday's competition as the opening day of the 112th EIWA Championship held at Jadwin Gym in Princeton, N.J. came to a close Saturday evening. The Midshipmen stand fifth in the team standings with 47.0 points, just a half-point behind fourth-place American.

Five of Navy's six seeded wrestlers remain in the competition, while unseeded 165-pound Michael Coleman (Hudson, Ohio) fought his way back through the consolation bracket after dropping his opening-round match.

After placing seventh a year ago, sixth-seeded Davis finds himself vying for a championship at 133 pounds following two big wins on the day. He opened the tournament with a 5-4 decision over American's Esteban Gomez-Rivera followed by an 8-3 upset victory over third-seeded Angelo Amenta of Columbia. Now 25-13 on the year, Davis will face second-seeded Mason Beckman in Sunday's semifinals. Beckman pinned Davis in the January dual.

Although Bernstein is the reigning EIWA Champion at 174 pounds, he entered this year's competition as the #5 seed and will have to get past third-ranked Brian Realbuto of Cornell if he wants to repeat. Bernstein scored a 4-2 win over Hofstra's Frank Affronti in his opening bout before earning a decisive 21-10 victory against Drexel's Nick Elmer in the quarters. Bernstein, who is now 6-0 at the EIWA Championship, became the 45th different Navy wrestler to reach 30 wins in a season thanks to his pair of wins on Saturday. He stands 30-10 on the year and in his first two seasons he is 54-25. The 54 wins are the fifth-most wins by a Navy wrestler in his first two seasons. Meanwhile, Bernstein's semifinals foe, Brian Realbuto, dealt him his first loss of the season in a 5-0 decision at the Bearcat Open.

Third-seeded Miller not only continued to add to his win column on Saturday, he add a pair of falls to push his wins by fall to 18 this season and 41 for his career. It's the third-most pins by a Navy wrestler in a single season and the second-most career falls. Miller, who now stands 8-1 all-time at the EIWA Championship, pinned Franklin & Marshall's Anthony Mancini at 3:38 before winning by fall against sixth-seeded Abe Ayala (4:57). Miller will now face the only wrestler to beat him at the EIWA Championship - Lehigh's Nathaniel Brown - in the 184-pound semifinals. Brown edged Miller, 3-2, for the 174-pound title two years ago when Miller failed to be awarded back points late in the match and Brown was given a point for an escape as time expired for the win.

The Mids have three wrestlers who remain active within the consolation bracket, as well. Freshman 141-pound Nicholas Gil (Crystal Lake, Ill.) dropped his opening-round matchup against Penn's Marc Mastropietro, 7-4, but won back-to-back matches in the wrestlebacks. Gil, who is seeded #7, dealt Columbia's Joe Moita a 5-3 loss and clipped eighth-seeded Kevin Devoy of Drexel, 3-2. Gil will face unseeded Dylan Realbuto of Cornell in the consolation quarters.

Although a sophomore, Coleman made his debut at the EIWA Championship where he dropped a 5-2 decision to second-seeded Ryan Preisch at 165 pounds. Coleman regrouped, however, and scored a 5-3 decision over Anthony DePrez and an 8-2 victory over eighth-seeded Ray Bethea of Penn. He will now face Army West Point's Andrew Mendel in the consolation quarters.

Senior 197-pound Michael Woulfe (Oak Park, Ill.) came into the tournament as the #3 seed, but will have to fight his way through the consolations to finish third. Woulfe looked strong in his opening match against Brown's Augustus Marker who he defeated by tech fall, 22-5. But just two weeks after beating Army West Point's Bryce Barnes (6-3) in dual action, Barnes dealt Woulfe a crushing blow in the quarters with a 9-8 defeat. Woulfe answered the call, however, by pinning Sacred Heart's Sasha Oliinyk (2:17) for his 17th win by fall this season. He stands tied for fourth on the Mids' single-season pins list after coming into the season leading the country in wins by fall over DI opponents. Woulfe will face second-seeded John Bolich in Sunday's consolation quarters. Woulfe dropped a tough 3-2 decision to Bolich in dual action.

Despite their best efforts, bowing out of the tournament on Saturday were 125-pound Brant Leadbeter (Owings, Md.), 149-pound Corey Wilding (Pittsburgh, Pa.), 157-pound Drew Daniels (Overland Park, Kan.) and heavyweight Nick Mabry (New Braunfels, Texas).

Cornell is atop the team standings with a nine-point (91.5-82.5) advantage over second-place Lehigh. Bucknell is in second place with 55 points, followed by American (47.5) and Navy (47). Cornell and Lehigh are the only two teams to place all 10 wrestlers. The Big Red have seven semifinalists and three in the consolations, while the Mountain Hawks have six and four.

Sunday's action begins at 10:00 AM and will feature the championship semifinals and the consolation quarterfinals, consolation semifinals and seventh place matches. The finals session, featuring matches for first, third and fifth, will begin at 3:30 p.m.

FloWrestling.org will provide a live video stream of Sunday's action by way of its subscription-based Flo Pro service.

### Go Navy ###