Seven of the Mids' nine wrestlers placed among the top three in their respective weight classes, including 2021 EIWA Champion Cody Trybus (141 / Sr / Elkton, Md.), to lead the Navy wrestling team to a second-place finish at the 117th EIWA Championship held Friday at Spooky Nook Sports Complex in Manheim, Pa. In addition to Trybus, Logan Treaster (125 / Sr / Newton, Kan.), Jacob Allen (133 / Sr / Poway, Calif.), Andrew Cerniglia (157 / Fr / Nazareth, Pa.), Tanner Skidgel (165 / Sr / Tulsa, Okla.), David Key (184 / Fr / Norcross, Ga) and Jacob Koser (197 / So / Dillsburg, Pa.) earned automatic bids to the 2021 NCAA Championship (March 18-20 at Enterprise Center / St. Louis, Mo.).

Lehigh, who claimed its fourth consecutive team title and 37th overall, led the way with four individual champions (125, 133, 197, 285), while Army (149, 174), Navy (141), Hofstra (157), Bucknell (165) and Binghamton (184) accounted for the remaining winners. The Mountain Hawks paced the field with 158.5 points, while Navy followed in second with 129. Army fell in at third with 119.5 points, followed by Hofstra in fourth with 106.5 points and Drexel in fifth with 89.5 points. It was Navy's best EIWA showing since Bruce Burnett led the Mids to a second-place finish in his final season in 2013.

Navy placed seven wrestlers in the semifinals, while five competed in the finals of their respective weight classes. Trybus became the program's 33rd different wrestler to earn multiple EIWA titles after winning his first a year ago. He opened the tournament with a 17-1 tech fall over Binghamton's Dane Heberlein, scored a 2-1 decision over Lehigh's Connor Mcgonagle in the semis and closed out his final appearance at the conference championship with a 4-0 shutout against second-seeded Lane Peters of Army. Trybus joins Mark Conley as the only two Navy wrestlers to win titles at 141 pounds.

Though coming up short, Treaster, Allen, Skidgel and Key all earned a spot in the finals. Treaster entered the tournament as the No. 2 seed and needed to finish in the top three to earn his first-collegiate NCAA Championship berth. He did so by holding his first two foes scoreless before dropping a 5-0 decision to top-seeded Jaret Lane of Lehigh.

Allen was perhaps the EIWA's biggest underdog to secure a tournament berth after coming in as the No. 7 seed and placing second. Allen not only upset the No. 2 seed Darren Miller of Bucknell in the opening match, he dominated Miller en route to a 10-1 major decision. He also took down sixth-seeded Mark Montgomery with a takedown in sudden victory to earn a 3-1 win and a spot in the finals. The win was especially sweet for Allen who lost a 6-3 decision to Montgomery in the Star Match just two weeks earlier. This will be Allen's first trip to the NCAA Championship.

Though Skidgel was the two-time defending EIWA Champion at 165 pounds, he was seeded No. 2 behind Bucknell's Zach Hartman. Skidgel pinned Sacred Heart's Will Schmidt in his opening match and shut out Lehigh's Brian Meyer in the semis 3-0. Hartman, however, lived up to his No. 1 seed and stopped Skidgel from becoming the first Navy wrestler since Dan Hicks (1992, '94, '95) to win three EIWA crowns. A three-time EIWA finalist, Skidgel earned his third-consecutive NCAA Championship berth.

Key wrestled his way to a second-place finish and his first NCAA Championship berth. An escape with 1:28 remaining in his opener against seventh-seeded James Langan of Long Island U. advanced Key to the semis where he would score a 7-2 win over Army's Taylor Brown, the No. 3 seed. The freshman faced the highest-ranked wrestler in the tournament in fourth-ranked Lou DePrez of Binghamton, coming up short in an 8-3 loss in the finals. He will make his first trip to the NCAA Championship.

Cerniglia and Koser both placed third to earn invitations to the NCAA Championship. Fourth-seeded Cerniglia was upset in the opening round by fifth-seeded Jaden Fisher of Bucknell 9-4. That loss, however, sparked the rookie as Cerniglia went on to win his final three bouts with all three earning bonus points - fall, tech fall, major decision. He, too, earned the right to represent Navy at the NCAA Championship.

Koser, meanwhile, dropped a heartbreaker in the second tiebreaker to second-seeded JT Brown of Army in the semifinals, forcing him to fight his way back through the consolation bracket. Koser came back to post a 4-2 decision over Hofstra's Trey Rogers and was awarded third place after Drexel's Bryan McLaughlin was unable to compete in the match. This will mark Koser's first NCAA Championship berth after being selected as the alternate a year ago.

Sophomore 285-pound John Birchmeier (Ashburn, Va.) and senior 174-pound Dean Caravela (West Caldwell, N.J.) placed fifth and seventh, respectively. Meanwhile, Navy was without the services of 149-pound Casey Cobb (Sr / Kuna, Idaho) or any 149-pound wrestler for that matter. Navy could not replace Cobb in the lineup or it would have eliminated Cobb from consideration of receiving an at-large berth. Cobb, who has a solid resume, stands 19th in the NCAA Coaches Panel Rankings that were released on Thursday. A year ago he received an at-large berth to the NCAA Championship at 133 pounds.

While 45 automatic bids to the NCAA Championship were claimed by EIWA wrestlers this evening, wrestlers who failed to qualify will be eligible for an at-large berth. The at-large announcement will be made on March 9, while brackets and seeding will be announced at 6:00 pm on March 10 via ncaa.com(.)  


Team Scores
Pl    Pts - Team (1st / 2nd / 3rd / 4th / 5th / 6th / 7th / 8th)
1.  158.5 - Lehigh (4 / 1 / 2 / 2 / 1 / 0 / 0 / 0)
2.  129.0 - Navy (1 / 4 / 2 / 0 / 1 / 0 / 1 / 0)
3.  119.5 - Army (2 / 3 / 0 / 1 / 1 / 1 / 0 / 1)
4.  106.5 - Hofstra (1 / 0 / 2 / 2 / 4 / 0 / 0 / 1)
5.  89.5 - Drexel (0 / 1 / 1 / 3 / 1 / 2 / 2 / 0)
6.  84.5 - Bucknell (1 / 0 / 1 / 0 / 1 / 3 / 3 / 1)
7.  75.5 - Binghamton (1 / 0 / 0 / 2 / 1 / 1 / 1 / 3)
8.  39.0 - Sacred Heart (0 / 1 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 2 / 0 / 3)
9.  30.5 - American (0 / 0 / 2 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 1)
10.  24.5 - Long Island U. (0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 1 / 3 / 0)

Coaches' Trophy - Outstanding Wrestler of the EIWA Championship - Zach Hartman, Bucknell

John Fletcher Memorial Award - Most cumulative teams points at the EIWA Championship (career) - Jordan Wood, Lehigh

Billy Sheridan Memorial Award - Most falls in least time (championship bracket) - Jake Jakobsen, Lehigh (2 falls in 9:34)

EIWA Coach of the Year - Pat Santoro, Lehigh

Good Sportsmanship Award - Long Island U.

Navy Results at 2021 EIWA Championship
125 - (2) Logan Treaster (2-1 /  2nd Place / NCAA Qualifier)
• Quarterfinals: defeated (7) Bryce Cockrell, LIU / Fall / 2:54
• Semifinals: defeated (3) Gage Curry, American / Dec / 4-0
• Finals: lost to (1) Jaret Lane, Lehigh / Dec / 5-0

133 - (7) Jacob Allen (2-1 /  2nd Place / NCAA Qualifier)
• Quarterfinals: defeated (2) Darren Miller, Bucknell / Major Dec / 10-1
• Semifinals: defeated (6) Mark Montgomery, Army / Dec / 3-1 sv
• Finals: lost to (1) Malyke Hines, Lehigh / Dec / 4-2

141 - (1) Cody Trybus (3-0 / Champion / NCAA Qualifier)
• Quarterfinals: defeated (9) Dane Heberlein, Binghamton / Tech Fall / 17-1 (6:16)
• Semifinals: defeated (6) Connor Mcgonagle, Lehigh / Dec / 2-1
• Finals: defeated (2) Lane Peters, Army / Dec / 4-0

157 - (4) Andrew Cerniglia (3-1 / 3rd Place / NCAA Qualifier)
• Quarterfinals: lost to (5) Jaden Fisher, Bucknell / Dec / 9-4
• Consolation Quarterfinals: defeated (9) Matt Swanson, Binghamton / Fall / 4:51
• Consolation Semifinals: defeated (3) Parker Kropman, Drexel / Tech Fall / 15-0 (5:22)
• 3rd/4th Place: defeated (6) Luca Frinzi, Lehigh / Major Dec / 10-1

165 - (2) Tanner Skidgel (2-1 / 2nd Place / NCAA Qualifier)
• Quarterfinals: defeated (7) Will Schmidt, Sacred Heart / Fall / 2:37
• Semifinals: defeated (6) Brian Meyer, Lehigh / Dec / 3-0
• Finals: lost to (1) Zach Hartman, Bucknell / Major Dec / 9-0

174 - (8) Dean Caravela (3-2 / 7th Place)
• Round of 16: defeated (9) Thomas Digennaro, LIU / Fall / 4:29
• Quarterfinals: lost to (1) Michael O'Malley, Drexel / Dec / 10-3
• Consolation of 8 #2: defeated (10) Pat O'Donnell, Sacred Heart / Major Dec / 16-3
• Consolation Quarterfinals #2: lost to (4) Jacob Nolan, Binghamton / Dec / 3-1
• 7th/8th Place: defeated (2) Ross McFarland, Hofstra / Injury Default / 5-2, 5:03

184 - (2) David Key (2-1 / 2nd Place / NCAA Qualifier)
• Quarterfinals: defeated (7) James Langan, LIU / Dec / 4-3
• Semifinals: defeated (3) Taylor Brown, Army / Dec / 7-2
• Finals: lost to (1) Lou DePrez, Binghamton / Dec / 8-3

197 - (3) Jacob Koser (3-1 / 3rd Place / NCAA Qualifier)
• Quarterfinals: defeated (6) Robert Hetherman, Sacred Heart / Fall / 2:00
• Semifinals: lost to (2) JT Brown, Army / Dec / 3-2 TB1
• Consolation Semifinals: defeated (5) Trey Rogers, Hofstra / Dec / 4-2
• 3rd/4th Place: defeated (4) Bryan McLaughlin, Drexel / Medical Forfeit / ---

285 - (2) John Birchmeier (2-2 / 5th Place)
• Quarterfinals: defeated (7) Sean O'Malley, Drexel / Dec / 8-4
• Semifinals: lost to (3) Bobby Heald, Army / Dec / 5-1
• Consolation Semifinals: lost to (5) Joe Doyle, Binghamton / Dec / 10-6
• 5th/6th Place: defeated (7) Sean O'Malley, Drexel / Dec /3-2

### Go Navy ###