Coming off a dramatic 19-18 victory over Bucknell last Friday in its 2020 EIWA opener, the Navy wrestling team (4-3, 1-0 EIWA) will travel to Bethlehem, Pa. to face its longtime rival Lehigh (6-3, 2-1 EIWA). An historic meeting, the two programs will meet for the 100th time when they wrestle at Lehigh's Leeman-Turner Arena on Saturday at 2:00 pm.

Multi-Media Platforms
• The Navy-Lehigh dual will be streamed (free) live via the Patriot League Network on PatriotLeague.TV and NavySports.com.

Navy Notes
• Sixth-year Navy head coach Joel Sharratt has led Navy to a 4-3 record this season, including a 1-0 mark against EIWA competition.
• Behind a 21-12 victory over Maryland on Dec. 6, Navy claimed the program's 900th victory (901-309-26) in its 112-year history.
• The Mids have wins over Fresno State (25-9), California Baptist 27-9), Maryland (21-12) and Bucknell (19-18), while dropping matches to #6 Wisconsin (24-12), #1 Penn State (45-0) and Lock Haven (19-15).
• Returning NCAA qualifiers Tanner Skidgel (165) and Spencer Carey (174) have been ranked among the nation's top 20 in their respective weight classes throughout the season, while first-year starter Logan Treaster (125) entered the top 20 a week ago. Skidgel, who sat out last week's dual against Bucknell, stands #8 in the Intermat rankings and is the highest-ranking EIWA wrestler at 165 pounds. He owns a 13-4 overall mark and a 4-2 dual record.
• Carey, is one of four EIWA wrestlers ranked in the top 20, and with  an 11-4 mark (4-2 in dual competition) he is ranked 20th nationally.
• Logan Treaster, who is ranked 19th, is among one of the strongest weight classes in the EIWA. The conference not only has four wrestlers ranked in the top 20, three of them are in the top 10.
• Treaster has produced a team-best 6-1 record in dual action this season, while rookie Jacob Koser (197) has produced a 5-2 dual record.
• Freshman John Birchmeier (285) has won three consecutive dual matches and seven of his last eight matches overall.
• Junior Cody Trybus (141) pinned his Bucknell foe in last week's dual and then won five matches the next day en route to claiming the individual title at the Shorty Hitchcock Memorial Classic.

Weekly Rewind
• Freshmen Jacob Koser (197) and John Birchmeier (285) won the final two bouts of the night to help Navy rally from a six-point deficit and defeat Bucknell (2-3, 1-1 EIWA), 19-18, last Friday at Alumni Hall in Annapolis, Md.
• After jumping out to a 9-3 advantage, Navy lost three straight matches and found itself in a 15-9 deficit. Team captain Spencer Carey trimmed the deficit to just three following a 7-2 decision over Mitch Hartman. However, Kyle Inlander's 9-3 win over Navy's Andrew Buckley pushed the Bison lead back to six with two matches remaining.
• A 2019 NCAA qualifier and two-time EIWA placewinner, 197-pound Drew Phipps of Bucknell jumped out to a 4-1 advantage over Koser with a pair of takedowns in the opening period. Koser escaped the grasp of Phipps to open the second and after getting himself in an inverted position, he not only shimmied his way free, he quickly turned Phipps for the takedown and four-point near fall to take an 8-4 lead into the final period. He secured the win with a takedown to defeat Phipps, 10-4, and cut Bucknell's lead to just three. Phipps came into Friday night having won 16 consecutive dual matches. His last defeat in dual competition was against the Mids a year ago.
• Birchmeier not only needed a win, he needed a bonus-point win to ensure Navy would capture the win. A simple decision in Birchmeier's favor would force the referee to enlist the help of the rulebook to break the tie.
• Junior Eric Chakonis took the early 7-5 lead, however, Birchmeier paired an escape with a takedown to hoist a narrow 8-7 advantage into the third period. The rookie used the momentum to score two four-point near falls in the third period en route to a 17-7 major decision and the go-ahead point for the Navy victory.

Mids In the Rankings
Intermat // Amateur Wrestling News // FloWrestling // Trackwrestling

125 - Logan Treaster ... 19 // 20 // NR // NR
133 - Casey Cobb ... NR // NR // NR // 31
165 - Tanner Skidgel ... 8 // 8 // 8 // 10
174 - Spencer Carey ... 20 // NR // NR // 22

Projected Navy Lineup
Wt - Wrestler (Cl, 2019-20 overall record, dual record)
• 125 - #19 Logan Treaster (Jr, 14-5, 6-1)
• 133 - Casey Cobb (Jr, 10-9, 2-4)  //  Jacob Allen (So, 9-5, 1-0)
• 141 - Cody Trybus (Jr, 14-7, 4-3)
• 149 - Wyatt Long (Jr, 10-6, 0-2)
• 157 - Scout Skidgel (Jr, 5-9, 2-5)  //  Jack Stanton-Taddeo (Jr, 7-8, 0-0)
• 165 - #8 Tanner Skidgel (Jr, 13-4, 4-2)  //  Henry Hague (Fr, 7-5, 0-1)
• 174 - #20 Spencer Carey (Sr, 11-4, 4-2)  //  Dean Caravela (Jr, 5-6, 0-1)
• 184 - Andrew Buckley (Jr, 5-9, 1-5)  //  Hunter Johns (Fr, 0-4, 0-1)
• 197 - Jacob Koser (Fr, 10-5, 5-2)
• 285 - John Birchmeier (Fr, 11-6, 4-3)

Lehigh Notebook
• Under the direction of 12th-year head coach Pat Santoro, Lehigh has produced a 6-3 record and stands 12th in the NWCA Div I Coaches Poll.
• The Mountain Hawks opened the year with a 21-20 victory (won by 3rd criteria of tie-breakers) over #4 Oklahoma State at home before dropping three in a row to #14 Princeton (18-14), #12 Pitt (19-18 (3rd criteria of tie-breakers) and to #3 Penn State (23-10).
• Lehigh, however, has won five consecutive dual matches dating back to Dec. 29, defeating Minnesotra (29-10), Duke (47-4), #19 Missouri (22-9), Binghamton (36-3) and #19 Cornell (19-14) along the way.
• Lehigh will play host to American Friday evening before welcoming the Mids to Leeman-Turner Arena at Grace Hall on Saturday afternoon.
• Five Lehigh wrestlers are currently ranked among the top 20 in this week's Intermat rankings, including four in the top 10 and two in the top five.

Projected Lehigh Lineup
Wt - Wrestler (Cl, 2019-20 overall record, dual record)
• 125 - #5 Brandon Paetzell (Jr, 10-2, 8-1)
• 133 - Nick Farro (Jr, 8-4, 6-2)  //  Jaret Lane (So, 11-5, 0-1)
• 141 - Ryan Pomrinca (Sr, 6-5, 2-3)  //  Dan Moran (So, 10-2, 3-0)
• 149 - Luke Karam (Jr, 8-2, 1-1)  //  JT Cooley (So, 4-7, 0-2)
• 157 - #9 Josh Humphreys (So, 10-4, 6-3)
• 165 - Brian Meyer (Fr, 7-11, 3-6)
• 174 - #3 Jordan Kutler (Sr, 11-1, 7-1)
• 184 - #20 Chris Weiler (Jr, 10-6, 5-4)
• 197 - Jake Jakobsen (Jr, 9-5, 6-3)
• 285 - #9 Jordan Wood (Jr, 8-4, 6-3)

The Series
• The Midshipmen and Mountain Hawks have squared off against one another in each of the last 69 years in a series that dates back to 1910.  
• Saturday's match marks the 100th meeting between the two programs with Lehigh holding a 52-47 advantage.
• This is the longest series in Navy wrestling history with the next closest being Penn State, who the Mids faced earlier this season for the first time since 2005.
• Lehigh has won 21 of the last 23 matches in the series with the Mids earning wins in two of the last 13 meetings.
• Navy's last win in the series came on Jan. 15, 2011, when it took a 19-15 victory in Annapolis.  
• The Mountain Hawks, meanwhile, own a 28-10 series advantage in matches wrestled in Bethlehem.  Lehigh has won 11 consecutive home duals against Navy with the Mids' last win in Bethlehem coming on Jan. 28, 1995, in a 22-9 rout.

What's Ahead
• The Midshipmen will step away from dual competition next weekend to compete against seven military institutions - Air Force, Army, The Citadel, Coast Guard, Merchant Marine Academy, Norwich and VMI -  in the hopes of capturing its 16th overall All-Academy Championship crown.  
• Air Force will play host to the 26th annual event which will begin with the preliminary rounds at 10:00 am (ET) next Saturday.  


### Go Navy ###