Four Match Homestand For Lehigh Wrestling Begins With Visits From Binghamton, Cornell

BETHLEHEM, Pa. – No. 23 Lehigh returns to dual competition with four consecutive home matches to kick off 2024, beginning this weekend when the Mountain Hawks welcome Binghamton Friday on Youth Night and then No. 9 Cornell in a White Out on Saturday afternoon. The Mountain Hawks hosted a successful Sheridan Tournament on Dec. 22 with Sheldon Seymour, Max Brignola and Nathan Taylor winning individual titles. Lehigh sent six wrestlers to the Midlands Championships and came home with two individual champions (Luke Stanich and Michael Beard). Last weekend, Lehigh opened the new year with 12 wrestlers in action at the David H. Lehman F&M Open. The Mountain Hawks are looking for their first dual win of the 2023-24 season after dropping all three first-semester duals against nationally-ranked opponents.
 
Lehigh Probable Starters (Rankings FloWrestling/InterMat 1/9/24)
125 Sheldon Seymour (So., Troy, Pa.)  
       No. 6/NR Luke Stanich (Fy., Roxbury, N.J.)
133 No. 1/1 Ryan Crookham (Fy., Hellertown, Pa.)        
141 No. 13/16 Malyke Hines (Jr., Kissimmee, Fla.)        
149 Kelvin Griffin (Fy., Berwick, Maine)
       Drew Munch (Jr., East Stroudsburg, Pa.)    
157 No. 25/24 Max Brignola (Jr., Fair Haven, N.J.)         
165 No. 27/NR Jake Logan (Jr., New Rochelle, N.Y.)     
174 Thayne Lawrence (So., Perryopolis, Pa.)    
184 Jack Wilt (So., Madison, N.J.)
197 No. 10/9 Michael Beard (Jr., Reading, Pa.)  
285 No. 11/10 Nathan Taylor (So., Brookville, Pa.)
 
As part of Friday night’s Youth Night, local youth teams can purchase discounted group tickets and will be recognized at the match. There will also be a post-match autograph session.
 
On Saturday, fans are encouraged to wear white. All fans in attendance will receive a Lehigh wrestling foam finger.
 
In Lehigh’s last official competition date, three Lehigh wrestlers won individual titles as the Mountain Hawks hosted the Sheridan Tournament, presented by Joshi Hotel Group Dec. 22 at Stabler Arena. The Lehigh trio of Sheldon Seymour (125), Max Brignola (157) and Nathan Taylor (285) came out on top of their respective weight classes. In all, the Mountain Hawks had six finalists on the day and placed 10 wrestlers in the top four in their respective weights. A total of 23 wrestlers competed in a field that also featured wrestlers from Army West Point, Binghamton, Brown, Central Michigan, Cornell, Franklin & Marshall, Indiana, Rider and Rutgers. In addition to its three champions, Lehigh had three runners-up: Malyke Hines (141), Drew Munch (149) and JT Davis (197). Carter Bailey (141), Kelvin Griffin (149) and Jack Wilt (184) all finished third in their respective weight classes, while TJ Moore finished fourth at 285.
 
First-year Luke Stanich (125) and junior Michael Beard (197) won individual titles at the 59th Ken Kraft Midlands Championships, Dec. 29-30 in Hoffman Estates, Ill. The duo won Lehigh’s seventh and eighth all-time undergraduate Midlands titles with Stanich, who competed unattached, became the first Lehigh true first-year to win a Midlands title. The wins for Stanich and Beard also marked the first time that Lehigh crowned two champions at a single Midlands tournament. Sophomore JT Davis claimed fourth place at 197, while first-years Kelvin Griffin (149), Matt Repos (149) and sophomore Hunter Mays (165) also competed. Repos and Mays were also unattached. Stanich defeated three ranked opponents and posted wins over the second, third, fourth and fifth place finishers. He was named EIWA Wrestler of the Week on Jan. 1.
 
Five Mountain Hawks have made their first dual appearances in the Brown and White through three duals. True first-years Luke Stanich (125) and Matt Repos (149) and deferred first-year Caden Rogers (184) made their first career dual appearances against Pittsburgh, while sophomore Jack Wilt wrestled his first career dual when he got the nod at 184 against Penn State. True first-year Ethan Smith bumped up two weight classes to wrestle at 141 at Oklahoma State after Malyke Hines was a late scratch. Deferred first-year Kelvin Griffin could be the sixth if he takes the mat this weekend at 149.
 
Seven Lehigh wrestlers appear in the latest rankings from FloWrestling, while five are ranked by InterMat. Lehigh has six wrestlers ranked by WrestleStat and four ranked by both Amateur Wrestling News and The Open Mat. First-year Luke Stanich moved into the top 10 in FloWrestling’s rankings at 125 with his win at the Midlands Championships. Ryan Crookham continues to lead the way with the No. 1 ranking at 133 in three of the five polls. Crookham owns a pair of top-five wins this season. He joins juniors Malyke Hines (141) and Michael Beard (197) and sophomore Nathan Taylor (285) are Lehigh wrestlers ranked across all five outlets. Junior Max Brignola is ranked by three outlets at 157, while junior Jake Logan remains in the Flo Wrestling rankings at 165.
 
Binghamton wrestles its first dual in nearly two months when the Bearcats visit on Friday. The Bearcats have been busy on the tournament circuit since splitting their season-opening duals against NC State (loss) and LIU (win) on Nov. 17. Most recently, Binghamton sent wrestlers to Lehigh’s Sheridan Tournament and the Jan. 5 David H. Lehman F&M Open. Four Bearcats are currently ranked by InterMat, led by Lou DePrez, who left the coaching staff to use his final year of eligibility. DePrez is ranked 14th at 197. Brevin Cassella (165), Jacob Nolan (184) and Cory Day (285) are also ranked. Kyle Borshoff is in his seventh season as Binghamton’s head coach.
 
Lehigh has won all seven previous meetings with Binghamton, most recently a 26-12 triumph in Vestal, N.Y. last January. The first two duals in the series came at the Journeymen Collegiate Duals in Troy, N.Y. Pat Santoro owns six of Lehigh’s seven wins versus Binghamton. These teams are meeting for the fifth consecutive season.
 
The ninth-ranked Cornell Big Red come to town Saturday with a 4-2 dual record. Cornell bounced back from a one-point loss at Ohio State on Jan. 5 by winning six bouts in a 24-13 triumph over then-No. 11 Virginia Tech on Jan. 7. The Big Red have a nationally ranked wrestler at nine out of 10 weight classes, led by reigning NCAA and world champion Vito Arujau, who is ranked second at 133. Julian Ramirez (165) is ranked in the top five, while Chris Foca (184) and Jacob Cardenas (197) are both top 10 grapplers at the moment. Mike Grey is in his third season as head coach at his alma mater.
 
Cornell serves as Lehigh’s oldest dual opponent as the Brown and White wrestled its first ever dual against the Big Red in 1910. In terms of number of duals, Cornell ranks third behind Penn State and Navy for Lehigh, with Saturday’s dual set to be No. 101 in the series. Lehigh leads 63-34-3. Cornell’s win last January snapped a three-dual Lehigh winning streak in the series.
 
Friday’s Binghamton dual begins at 7 p.m. while Saturday’s match with Cornell is slated for a 2 p.m. start. Tickets for both duals can be purchased at LehighTickets.com or by calling 610-758-4263 during business hours. Only a handful of tickets for the Cornell dual remain with a standing room only crowd expected.
 
Lehigh continues a four-match EIWA homestand next weekend when the Mountain Hawks welcome Penn and Navy to Leeman-Turner Arena at Grace Hall.  The Mountain Hawks will look to avenge a loss to the Quakers last year in Philadelphia when they meet Friday Jan. 19 at 7 p.m. on Take Down Cancer Day, presented by Red Robin in partnership with the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. The following afternoon Lehigh welcomes Navy at 2 p.m. on Salute to Service presented by Weis Markets. The Jan. 20 Navy dual will mark the 104th meeting of Lehigh’s second most-contested dual series.
 
The 2023-24 Lehigh wrestling season is presented by the Historic Hotel Bethlehem.
 

 
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