American University will welcome 11 other programs to Northwest DC for the 122nd EIWA Wrestling Championships, the oldest collegiate wrestling tournament in the country!

The teams that will be Bender Arena besides the hosts are: Lehigh, Army West Point, Drexel, Binghamton, Bucknell, Navy, Hofstra, American, LIU, Sacred Heart, Franklin & Marshall, and Morgan State.

26 tickets to the 2026 NCAA Championship will be punched at the EIWA Championships (assuming there are no scratches of wrestlers who ‘earned’ those allocations for the conference). 

Below is the schedule for when all that will be taking place. 

Schedule

All times Eastern

Friday March 6

10:00-12:00 pm: Preliminary Round of 12

12:00-2:00 pm: Quarterfinals

2:00-3:00 pm: Lunch Break 

3:30-5:30 pm: Consolation Round One

5:30-6:30 pm: Quarterfinal Consolations

6:30-8:30 pm: Semi-Finals

Saturday March 7

11:00-1:15 pm: Semifinal Consolations & 7th Place matches

1:25-1:55 pm: Hall of Fame Presentations

2:00-4:30 pm: Finals, 3rd & 5th place matches 

4:30 pm: Team & Special Awards 

The tourney will be held in the recently upgraded Bender Arena on American University's main campus in Northwest DC. I highly recommend attending EIWA in person if you have the opportunity. Tickets can be purchased here. 

Preseed Projections

The 120 EIWA competitors will have little margin for error, as each weight class averages less than three bids for the 12 entrants expected in each division. This will be the second year in a row without the six Ivy League schools, as those programs began competing in their own postseason tournament last season after 120 years in the EIWA.

The lack of Ivies has reduced the conference's depth and removed Cornell, one of the more dominant programs in recent memory, as the Big Red won 14 EIWA titles from 2007 to 2024. 

But the lack of Ivies may have also provided a jolt of parity. According to the preseeds, Navy is the chief challenger to unseat the defending champs, the Lehigh Mountain Hawks. The Midshipmen also happen to be the last current EIWA program other than Lehigh to win an EIWA championship. The previous Navy title came back in 1990. The Middies also have the second most EIWA team titles (13) behind Lehigh (39) of programs still competing in the conference. 

But don’t expect either Navy or Lehigh to run away with the title. Based on the preseeds that just came out, Bucknell, Drexel, and Army should all be in the running as well. A breakdown of the projected team points based on the preseeds is below. 

The preseeds contain over two dozen competitors that have made previous trips to the National Championships, as well as three All-Americans (Sheldon Seymour - 6th, and Danny Wask - 8th, both in 2025; and Luke Stanich - 5th in 2024). Below, we’ll break down each weight and see who’s got the best chance to represent the EIWA in Cleveland.

Weight Class Breakdown & Predictions

125 Pounds - 2 Bids

Favorites

1) #3 Sheldon Seymour, Lehigh

Contenders

2) Desmond Pleasant, Drexel

3) Andrew Binni, Navy

4) James Garcia, Franklin & Marshall

5) JJ Peace, American

6) Carson Wagner, Binghamton

7) Charlie Farmer, Army West Point

Darkhorses

8) Kade Davidheiser, Bucknell

9) Teague Strobel, Hofstra

10) Sawyer Ostroff, LIU

11) Julian Dawson, Morgan State

12) Corey Iannucci, Sacred Heart

As one of the few All-Americans in the field this weekend, Seymour will be a heavy favorite to repeat as EIWA champ. With a win over Luke Lilledahl at NCAAs, Seymour certainly proved his potential for a high placement at Nationals. 

The competition will be fierce for the 2nd allocation up for grabs (earned by Desmond Pleasant, the #2 seed who is 4-0 in conference matches this season). Farmer was a national qualifier last season, though he has a loss to Peace this season, and Peace has lost to Binni twice. Binni and Farmer have split matches. 

The tiers I've used to separate each weight class are best guesses and should not be taken as gospel. That said, if anyone in the darkhorse categories ends up qualifying for NCAAs, I will be surprised, though I will simultaneously be pumped for the wrestler that proved me wrong. 

Predictions

1) Seymour; 2) Binni; 3) Peace

Just predicting who earns the NCAA bids this year + first one out. Don't worry, I'll ask ChatGPT to give us their best guess for top 8 finishes at each weight class. 

Watch highlights of Seymour of Lilledahl:

133 Pounds - 2 Bids

Favorites

1) #21 Maximilian Leete, American

2) #12 Ethan Berginc, Army West Point

Contenders

3) Kyle Waterman, Drexel

4) Mason Leiphart, Franklin & Marshall

5) Gauge Shipp, Hofstra

6) Bryce Manera, Bucknell

7) Brendan Ferretti, Navy

8) Dillon Arrick, Binghamton

Darkhorses

9) Chris Betancourt, LIU

10) John Sheehy, Sacred Heart

11) Treshaun Tecson, Morgan State

12) Ethan Smith, Lehigh

Berginc (aka Silent C) and Leete are seeded to hog both qualification bids at the only ranked wrestlers in the bracket. Those two veterans have been the most consistent performers in the conference at this weight, and those top 2 seeds were well deserved. 

Though there are no more automatic bids available after the two finalists are known, finishing third will be helpful in earning a wild card, and there is a large cadre of contenders who will vie for that honor. 

Ferretti was a qualifier in 2023 as a freshman but has not been a consistent top 33 guy since (though that does not mean he won't be able to find a way back to Nationals in 2026). Leiphart, Ship, Manera, Waterman and Arrick all have at least one win over someone else in that contender group, and all can make a claim to being that third best wrestler in the conference at 133, though we'll have to wait until Saturday afternoon to find out who will officially be able to make that boast. 

Predictions

1) Berginc; 2) Leete; 3) Leiphart

Watch Leete make the Southern Scuffle semifinals with a win over Ferrera of Cornell:

141 Pounds - 3 Bids

Favorites

1) #5 Luke Stanich, Lehigh

2) #20 Caedyn Ricciardi, Navy

3) #21 Braden Basile, Army West Point

4) #27 Dylan Chappell, Bucknell

Contenders

5) Bryce Kresho, Franklin & Marshall

6) Jordan Soriano, Drexel

7) Ryan Hartung, Binghamton

8) Jack Maida, American

Darkhorses

9) John Hildebrandt, Sacred Heart

10) Chase Liardi, Hofstra

11) Shawn Ryncarz, Morgan State

12) Branden Rozanski, LIU

This could be the most contentious of all the weight classes at the 122nd EIWAs. Luke Stanich possesses the highest credentials of anyone in the tournament, with a fifth-place step on the 2024 NCAA podium and a world gold medal at the U20 World Championships from the summer of 2025. Injuries have hampered the New Jersey native, however, and the undefeated redshirt sophomore wrestled in just 10 bouts this season and hasn't been on the mat since February 6th. 

That may provide an opening for Ricciardi, Basile, or Chappell, a trio of top 30-ranked wrestlers who will share the bracket with Stanich. Ricciardi represents the leading challenger, as he has wins over Basile and Chappell and only dropped a decision to Stanich.

Still, there are but three bids, so expect a dogfight in the 3rd place bout, and the consolation semifinals for that matter. 

That will also make it very unlikely that Kresho, Soriano, Hartunk, or Maida will receive a wildcard, unless they can at least finish in the fourth-place slot, though all are NCAA-caliber competitors, as Jack Maida provided when he qualified for the 2023 Championship.

Predictions

1) Stanich; 2) Ricciardi; 3) Basile; 4) Chappell

Watch Stanich win a 2024 EIWA title down at 125lbs:

149 Pounds - 1 bid

Favorites

1) #31 Eugene Harney, Morgan State

Contenders

2) Riley Bower, Bucknell

3) Deon Pleasant, Drexel

4) Kaemen Smith, Navy

5) Gage Owen, American

6) Caleb Sweet, Binghamton

7) Dakota Asuncion, Sacred Heart

8) Pat Phillips, Franklin & Marshall

9) Alex Turley, Hofstra

Darkhorses

10) Tommy Bonasera, LIU

11) Carter Bailey, Lehigh

12) Conor Collins, Army West Point

Eugene Harney is in pole position to become the first D1 NCAA Championship qualifier for Morgan State, a school that reinstated their program in 2023 after a multi-decade absence. There's little margin for error for the MSU Bear from Ohio, as there is just one automatic bid available at 149 for all 12 EIWA programs. 

Harney has the best record in the field, at 24-4, and is the only wrestler in Flo's national ranking (and the coaches' poll), but he is not invincible, as he did drop a bout via pinfall to Bucknell's Riley Bower. That win earned Bower the number 2 seed, but Bower himself has just a 7-9 record on the season (though he is undefeated in the conference).

Besides Harney and Bower, everyone else in the bracket will have double-digit losses on the season, with Dakota Asuncion being the exception at 10-5 and 1-2 in the conference. 

The darkhorse to be on the lookout for is Carter Bailey, a fifth-year senior who spent the last three seasons at 141 until he bumped up to 149 in late January of this year. He did hit the top two EIWA seeds at this weight before the season ended, dropping a 4-1 bout to Bower and a sudden victory loss to Harney. Though just the 11 seed, Bailey has the ability to turn this entire bracket on its head. 

Predictions

1) Harney; 2) Bower

Watch Harney place 7th at the 2026 Southern Scuffle:

157 Pounds - 2 bids

Favorites

1) #25 Jonathan Ley, Navy

2) #14 Logan Rozynski, Lehigh

Contenders

3) Joe Antonio, Army West Point

4) Fin Nadeau, Binghamton

5) Luke Nichter, Drexel

6) Brayden Roberts, LIU

7) Cade Wirnsberger, Bucknell

8) Felix Lettini, Sacred Heart

9) Frank Volpe, Hofstra

10) Josh Hillard, Franklin & Marshall

11) Kaden Milheim, American

12) Yannis Charles, Morgan State

Ley and Rozynski will be favored to meet in the finals and secure their trips to Cleveland before we find out who wins the conference title. Rozynski has been limited this season, with just 13 bouts under his belt and a 10-3 record, but he was a national qualifier last season, and all his losses this season were to top 13 wrestlers. 

Ley is a third-year Midshipman who also spent a season at the Naval Academy Prep School (NAPS) after graduating high school. He's yet to make it to the big dance, but is on the cusp of a breakout season. 

Antonio and Nadeau only have losses to either Ley or Rozynski this season and represent the toughest competition for the rest of the field. Nichter is a former qualifier from back in 2021 (and now taking full advantage of that extra year of eligibility). From there, the line between Contenders and Darkhorses is effectively meaningless, so I just took it out completely. 

Predictions

1) Ley; 2) Rozynski; 3) Antonio

Watch Ley advance to the 2026 Scuffle semifinals with a win over NDSU's Drexler:

165 Pounds - 4 bids

Favorites

1) #11 Max Brignola, Lehigh

2) #19 Gunner Filipowicz, Army West Point

3) #15 Noah Mulvaney, Bucknell

4) #28 Dylan Elmore, Navy

Contenders

5) Cody Walsh, Drexel

6) Jake Slotnick, Hofstra

7) Jordan Brown, Binghamton

8) Josh Palmucci, Franklin & Marshall

Darkhorses

9) Jack Valentin, LIU

10) Joshua Greenwood, Morgan State

11) Austin Craft, American

12) AJ Falcone, Sacred Heart

Perhaps the strongest and deepest weight class in the EIWA, with four nationally ranked wrestlers. Three of those competitors have NCAA Championship experience: Brignola in 2024 and Filipowicz and Mulvaney in 2025. Elmore has 28 bouts on the season already (rare for a D1 wrestler these days), including a first-period pin over #17 Cesar Alvan, demonstrating just how dangerous he can be. 

Walsh leads the rest of the contenders that will need to 'steal' a bid from the group of four ranked wrestlers (of course, 'stealing a bid' is just an expression, and all invites to the NCAAs are earned). Slotnick, Brown, and Palmucci all have winning records on the season.

Predictions

1) Brignola; 2) Filipowicz; 3) Mulvaney; 4) Elmore; 5) Walsh

Watch Brignola defeat Nicco Ruiz at the National Duals Invitational:

174 Pounds - 3 bids

Favorites

1) #18 Myles Takats, Bucknell

2) #11 Danny Wask, Navy

3) #16 Carter Baer, Binghamton

4) #17 Jasiah Queen, Drexel

Contenders

5) Andrew Christie, Army West Point

6) Matt Waddell, Hofstra

7) Cort Vann, Morgan State

8) Richie Grungo, Lehigh

9) Brandon Carr, Franklin & Marshall

10) Aidan Zarrella, Sacred Heart

Darkhorses

11) Hunter Hohman, American

12) Greyson Catlow-Sidler, LIU

Like 165, 174 in the EIWA is quite strong and features four nationally ranked wrestlers. That group can all lay claim to being the favorite, with Takats beating Baer and Wask, Queen beating Takats, and Baer and Wask having wins over Queen. 

Wask has the distinction of being one of the three All-Americans in the brackets this weekend. The third year Middie will look to improve on his 8th place finish last season and his round of 16 finish in 2024. Besides the loss to Takats, Wask has just dropped just two other bouts this season, both to top 10 opponents, and has a win over Gabe Arnold of Iowa. 

Andrew Christie is the most likely candidate to crash the auto-bid party, having amassed a 19-11 record with his only two conference losses coming to Takats and Wask. 

Predictions

1) Wask; 2) Takats; 3) Baer; 4) Queen; 5) Christie

Watch Takats defeat Caleb Campos in last year's EIWA quarterfinals:

184 Pounds - 3 bids

Favorites

1) #5 James Conway, Franklin & Marshall

2) #16 Rylan Rogers, Lehigh

3) #30 Caleb Campos, American

4) #32 Tyler Bienus, Bucknell

5) #29 Daniel Williams, Navy

6) Will Ebert, Binghamton

Contenders

7) Ethan Wilson, Drexel

8) Anthony D'Alesio, LIU

Darkhorses

9) Bryce Phillips, Morgan State

10) Hunter Perez, Sacred Heart

11) Josh Jorgge, Hofstra

12) Cooper Haase, Army West Point

This was one of the toughest brackets to consider in light of the conference securing a mere three NCAA allocations. With five nationally ranked wrestlers, and Will Ebert right on the bubble, there will be more than one deserving candidate left on the outside looking in once all the wild card bids are delivered. 

James Conway has been the standard-bearer for the Diplomats and one of the most consistently ranked wrestlers in the conference. The senior from Towson, Maryland, has just a single blemish on his record this season, a 7-4 loss to All-American Jaxon Smith of Maryland (who had to cut his season short due to injury). With wins over #7 Brock Mantanona and #11 Isaac Dean, Conway will be favored to win the EIWA and contend for a podium spot in March, trying to become the first F&M AA since Rick Durso in 2014. 

Conway will have plenty of competition in Bender Arena. Rogers, Campos, and Beinus all have 15+ wins on the season, and while Williams is just 4-2, however, that includes a win over Campos and Beinus. Ebert is right behind them with a 7-7 record and a win over Bienus as well. 

Wilson and D'Alesio are also dangerous and are to be underestimated at your own peril. 

Prediction

1) Conway; 2) Rogers; 3) Campos; 4) Williams

Watch Conway defeat Dean in the 2025 Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational semifinals:

197 Pounds - 2 bids

Favorites

1) #28 Dillon Bechtold, Bucknell

2) #19 Mikey Squires, Binghamton

Contenders

3) Wolfgang Frable, Army West Point

4) Zyan Hall, Navy

5) JT Davis, Lehigh

6) Ibrahim Ameer, Drexel

7) Will Conlon, Hofstra

Darkhorses

8) RJ Moore, Franklin & Marshall

9) Chris DeLena, Sacred Heart

10) Kaleb Wright, LIU

11) Eric Washington Jr., Morgan State

12) Liam Packer, American

This bracket will likely be less chaotic than the previous three, as the two favorites to collect auto-bids are the two nationally ranked wrestlers who earned those allocations for the conference. 

Squires has just two losses on the year, ironically for a former Princeton Tiger who moved to Binghamton as a grad transfer, as they were to ranked Ivy Leaguers. Bechtold only has four losses on his record, and three of them are to ranked wrestlers. 

The fourth, however, was to Frable, who has a loss this season to Davis, who has a loss this season to Hall, so go figure how that happened. Ameer and Conlon also have winning records on the season, rounding out a deep bench for the conference at 197. 

Prediction

1) Squires; 2) Bechtold; 3) Frable

Watch Bechtold defeat Mickey O'Malley in the 2025 EIWA semifinals:

285 Pounds - 4 bids

Favorites

1) #14 Brady Colbert, Army West Point

2) #12 Nathan Taylor, Lehigh

3) #16 Spencer Lanosga, Navy

4) #24 Nate Schon, Drexel

Contenders

5) Emmanuel Ulrich, American

6) Lucas Lawler, Bucknell

7) Trent Sibble, Binghamton

Darkhorses

8) Chris Powell, LIU

9) Brody Kline, Franklin & Marshall

10) Adrian Sans, Hofstra

11) Brendan Gilchrist, Sacred Heart

12) Eli Turpin, Morgan State

Lehigh's Nathan Taylor was a sudden victory loss away from securing a spot on the podium at the 2024 NCAAs in both the quarters and the bloodround. Injuries have been his bane ever since, forcing him to take a medical redshirt last season. While he looked to be back on track for the 2026 season, he did drop a bout to Colbert, which earned the Black Knight the number one seed.

Which is not to rule out a title for Taylor, but between Colbert, Navy's Lanosga, and Drexel's Schon, what once looked like a lock for the Mountain Hawks is not very much in the air. 

Ulrich, Lawler, and Sibble are also veritable landmines in the bracket, though without the ranked wins that helped earn the aforementioned quartet a national ranking. 

Prediction

1) Taylor 2) Colbert; 3) Lanosga; 4) Schon; 5) Ulrich

Watch Colbert pick up a win over a nationally ranked wrestler at the 2026 Southern Scuffle:

Let's Give The Machines A Chance

I asked ChatGPT who would finish in the top six at each weight class, given the preseeds that were recently released. 

And I know I said I was going to provide ChatGPT's picks here, but here's the thing, the list it gave me was identical to the top 6 preseeds, in order, in each weight class. And even I am not lazy enough to copy and paste half the preseeds again to make it look like I did more work.

Instead, I asked for a sleeper or dark horse in each weight class, and here's what ChatGPT said. 

125 – Charlie Farmer – Army West Point

133 – Brendan Ferretti – Navy

141 – Ryan Hartung – Binghamton

149 – Carter Bailey – Lehigh

157 – Cade Wirnsberger – Bucknell

165 – Jordan Brown – Binghamton

174 – Richie Grungo – Lehigh

184 – Ethan Wilson – Drexel

197 – JT Davis – Lehigh

285 – Trent Sibble – Binghamton

Okay, not bad. We'll see how the big computer brain does in a week. See you in DC!