South Mountaineer Volume 40, Issue 23

              FOR MORE INFORMATION
Website: http://www.lehigh.edu
Hotline: (610) 758-LULU
BASEBALL:
Defense has team looking up
SOFTBAL:
Lehigh looks to recapture crown
MEN'S LACROSSE:Expectations are high as team destroys St. Joe's
South Mountaineer
Volume     11,     Issue     23
Wrestling
Lehigh University Athletics Weekly
March     11,     1998
Three Easterns Titles for Lehigh
John Van Doren Named Outstanding Wrestler
With all three number one seeds
winning titles lor the Brown and
White, including All-American John
Van Doren's impressive performance
and Outstanding Wrestler Award at
177, the Engineers placed second in
the 94th Annual EIWA Tournament
and will send six grapplers on to the
National Championships.
Including Van Doren, Chris Ayres
at 150 and Ryan Bernholz at 142 also
won titles from the top spot on the
bracket sheet.
"Things went generally as
expected," head coach Greg Strobel
said. "Penn was expected to win the
team title and we were expected to
have three champions. Last year, we
only had two make the finals."
Senior heavyweight Bill Closson,
seeded second, dropped a thrilling 10-
5 sudden death decision to nemisis
Jason Gleasman of Syracuse. It was
that something
unexpected didn't
happen," Strobel
continued. "I'm
happy that we
have the most
champions and are
sending the most
on to Nationals."
Lehigh's
other placewinner
was 167-pounder
Mark Dufresne,-
who placed sixth.
The team
rankings were set
at the top as Penn
had the championship in grasp
* _;
--#Jl  ' ■']
iiili«tti»>ifiiittfi[ii                                               ■■■'£&&■'                     &tf^M
John Van Doren was Lehigh's first OW since Pete Yozzo in 1986.
before the finals and Lehigh had second
wrapped up.
Individually, Bernholz, the top seed at
142, became the first Lehigh freshman since
Ryan Bernholz is the first LU freshman since Jim Reilly won the award in 1980.
apiece heading into overtime. In sudden
death, Gleasman took Closson to his back
for a five point move and the victory.
Two other Lehigh placewinners will
advance to the National Championships as
Esposito's third-place finish and national
ranking entering the tournament proved
enough to earn a wild card berth at 134.
Esposito also was the only grappler in the
tournament to claim three falls.
The fourth seed at 158, Doto, finished
fourth after losing his second bout of the
tournament to Army's Maurice Worthy.
Doto then advanced through the consolation bracket to the finals where he lost to
Worthy again. In arguably the toughest
weight class in the tournament, the top four
wrestlers will advance with both Doto and
Worthy receiving wild card selections.
The NCAA Championships will take
place in at Cleveland State on March 19-21
in Cleveland, OH as the "Lehigh 6" will look
to place the team amongst the nation's best
and improve upon last year's finish of 19th.
the 12th meeting between the two
during their illustrious careers.
Following the tournament, six wild
cards were selected also to represent
the league in Cleveland. Two of those
were third-place finisher Dave
Esposito at 134 and fourth-place
finisherTravisDotoat 158. The 158
pound weight class will send four on
as Army's Maurice Worthy, who beat
Doto twice in the tournament, also was
awarded a bid.
"The only unexpected thing that
didn't happen in this tournament is
Hear Nationals
WLVR (91.3 FM) will
broadcast all Lehigh matches
at the NCAA Tournament
March 19-21.
Jim Reilly in 1980 to claim an EIWA title. He
has now set himself up to become the fifth
Engineer ever to win four Eastern titles.
As Ayres claimed his title, he set
Lehigh's all-time season mark with his 38th
victory of the season. Ayres also remained
unbeaten in tournaments this year with a 20-
0 mark and five tournament titles.
The tournament's Outstanding Wrestler
Award went to Van Doren, who posted an
impressive pin at the 2:40 mark over top-15
Greg Gingeleskie of Navy. It was Van Doren's
second pin of the tournament and it followed
his 14-8 win over 16th-ranked Francis Volpe
of Harvard in the semi's.
In a classic battle in the heavyweight
finals between two All-Americans, Jason
Gleasman won his second straight EIWA title
with a 10-5 sudden death win over Closson.
Closson's takedown with a minute left and
Gleasman's escape left the match tied at five
94th EIWA Championships
Finals
118: Jeremy Sluyter (ESU) 12-5
James Butera (Harvard)
126: Steve Walker (Penn) 6-4 sd
Nate Rupp (Cornell)
134: Dustin DeNunzio (Harv) 5-3
Mark Piotrowsky (Penn)
142: Ryan Bernholz (LU) 4-2
Arkee Allen (Colum)
150: Chris Ayres (LU) 3-1
Brendan James (F&M)
158: Tivon Abel (Brown) 6-3
Rick Springman (Penn)
167: Brandon Slay (Penn) 6-5
Ed Mosley (Harv)
177: John Van Doren (LU) WBF
Greg Gingeleskie (Navy), 2:45
190: Joel Holman (Penn) 3-2
Andrei-Rodzianko (Penn)
275: Jason Gleasman (Syra) 10-5 sd
Bill Closson (LU)
Team Standings
1. Penn
2. Lehigh
3. Cornell
4. Harvard
5. Army
6. Navy
7. Rutgers
8. Brown
9. Syracuse
10. Columbia
ll.E.S.U.
12. F&M
13. Princeton
136.5
118.0
96.0
91.5
72.0
66.0
53.0
51.0
49.5
32.5
32.0
22.5
0.5
Lehigh Qualifiers
134 -Dave Esposito (19-6)
Ryan Bernholz (33-6)
Chris Ayres (38-3)
Travis Doto (24-12)
John Van Doren (29-4)
142
150
158
177
hwt-Bill Closson (31-4)
■3rd
■1st
■1st
■4th
■1st
■2nd
Chris Ayres broke Matt Ruppel's season win mark of 37 with his finals victory.