Cameron Pollack / Sun Senior Photographer

Cornell is searching for a 12th-straight title at the event, with its rival Lehigh looking to take down the perennial champs.

March 4, 2018

Wrestling Trails Lehigh Entering Second Day of EIWA Championships, Advances 8 to Semifinals

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After day one at the EIWA Championships, Cornell wrestling has eight wrestlers moving on to the semifinal round, finding itself in second place behind perennial rival Lehigh in the team standings. The Red is searching for its 12th-straight EIWA title.

Entering Sunday, the Red trails the Mountain Hawks by 8.5 points. With only a couple semifinal matches against Lehigh — at 174 and 197 pounds — this year’s tournament is likely to be decided in the tournament’s final matches.

Grapplers moving on to day two include freshmen No. 3 Yianni Diakomihalis (141), No. 12 Max Dean (184) and No. 2 Ben Darmstadt (197). Also advancing are sophomore Noah Baughman (125) and juniors No. 20 Chaz Tucker (133), No. 18 Jon Jay Chavez (165), Brandon Womack (174) and Jeramy Sweany (285).

Top seeds Diakomihalis, Chavez and Darmstadt posted promising first day results, each completing a fall on their first round opponents. Freshman standout Darmstadt went on to pin his next opponent, Steban Cervantes of Navy, in the quarterfinals.

Baughman, the sixth seed, wrestled to a dominant 6-1 decision over American’s Gage Curry, who was the third seed, to find himself in the semifinal round.