The Hofstra wrestling team finished fourth at the Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association (EIWA) Championship tournament at the Spooky Nook Sports Complex in Manheim, PA. Holden Heller became the 157-pound champion and was one of seven members of the Pride to receive an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. Lehigh University won the tournament as a team for the fourth straight year.
Heller came in as the top seed in his weight class and defeated Sacred Heart University’s Nick Palumbo 6-2 in the final. He also dispatched Bucknell University’s Jaden Fisher via an 11-3 major decision and Binghamton University’s Matt Swanson by an 11-7 decision.
Ricky Stamm dropped the 165-pound quarterfinal 5-1 to Lehigh’s Brian Meyer. The third-seeded Hofstra wrestler bounced back in the consolation quarterfinal with a 5-2 win over Long Island University’s Ryan Ferro. A 3-2 double-tiebreaker loss to Drexel’s Evan Barczak sent Stamm to the fifth-place match where he buckled down and grabbed the last automatic bid to the NCAA tournament, winning a 4-3 nail biter over Army West Point’s Clayton Fielden.
At 174 pounds, Ross McFarland’s only victory came in the consolation primary. He pinned Long Island’s Thomas DiGennaro at 2:03. Another loss found McFarland in the seventh-place match where he lost via medical forfeit to finish eighth.
Charles Small finished third on the podium at 184 pounds. He beat Sacred Heart’s Joe Accousti 3-1 but was pinned in the semifinal by eventual champion Lou DePrez of Binghamton. Small won both of his consolation bouts with 3-2 victories against Lehigh’s Dylan Ammerman and Army West Point’s Taylor Brown. Small’s finish earned him a spot in the NCAA tournament.
Trey Rogers spent most of his time in the consolation bracket at 197 pounds but won two of his three matches there to take fifth place. The Hastings, MN native lost his first match 6-5 to Drexel University’s Bryan McLaughlin but an 11-2 major decision over Binghamton’s Sam DePrez sent him to the consolation semifinals where he lost to Navy’s Jacob Koser 3-2. Rogers took fifth place via medical forfeit and an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.
In the 285-pound division, Zachary Knighton-Ward opened his tournament with a 9-2 win over Binghamton’s Joe Doyle. Knighton-Ward was shut out by eventual champion Jordan Wood of Lehigh 2-0 in the semifinal but bounced back in the consolation bracket. The Hofstra heavyweight took down Drexel’s Sean O’Malley 5-2 and then beat Doyle for a second time, 7-2, to clinch third place and an NCAA tournament berth.
At 125 pounds, Dylan Ryder lost his opening match with Binghamton’s Micah Rose via a 14-4 major decision. An 11-2 major decision over Army West Point’s Ryan Chauvin got him in the win column but a loss in his next match to American’s Gage Curry put Ryder in the fifth-place match which he won 6-2 over Bucknell’s Brandon Seidman.
Garrett Lambert wrestled for Hofstra at 133 pounds but was shut out 2-0 in his opening match against Drexel’s Chandler Olson. Lambert won his next two matches, pinning Sacred Heart’s Kyle Randall at 3:56 and taking a 5-3 decision over Army West Point’s Mark Montgomery. The Hofstra redshirt senior fell 5-0 to Bucknell’s Darren Miller in the third-place match to finish fourth.
Vinny Vespa opened his tournament with an 8-1 victory over Long Island’s Drew Witham. He lost his next two matches, in the semifinal to Army West Point’s Lane Peters via 10-2 major decision and the consolation semifinal to Drexel’s Julian Flores 3-0. With an NCAA tournament spot on the line, Vespa took down Long Island’s Drew Witham 6-1 to clinch the final automatic bid.
Finally, at 149 pounds, Greg Gaxiola went for the Pride. He opened with a 4-1 win over Bucknell’s Matthew Kolonia but was stopped by eventual champion PJ Ogunsanya 10-4. In the consolation bracket, Gaxiola pinned Binghamton’s Michael Zarif just 1:06 into his consolation semifinal match but fell to Drexel’s Luke Nichter 6-2 in the third-place match.
Vespa, Gaxiola, Heller, Stamm, Small, Rogers and Knighton-Ward have punched their tickets to the NCAA tournament while Ryder, Lambert and McFarland will find out on March 9 if they receive an at-large bid. The tournament will take place March 18-20 at Enterprise Center in St. Louis, MO.
Photo Courtesy of Hofstra Athletics
