ITHACA, N.Y. – Seniors Wil Gil and Cenzo Pelusi both punched their tickets to medal round during session II of the 118th EIWA Championships. With those results on Saturday evening, Gil and Pelusi are also alive for NCAA qualifying spots where they will need to win back-to-back matches in the opening session tomorrow to officially lock up a top four spot needed to earn an NCAA bid at their respective weights.
Gil started the evening session in the quarterfinals with a hard-fought 6-3 lost against second-seeded CJ Composto of Penn. However, the senior bounced right back and became a three-time EIWA place winner with a commanding 15-5 victory during his wrestleback match against Cornell's J.J. Wilson. Gil secured four takedowns and two reversals during his victory. He will take on eighth-seeded Danny Coles of Princeton in the fourth round consolations when wrestling resumes on Sunday morning.
Pelusi earned his first career EIWA medal with a 3-2 win against sixth-seeded Ryan Catka of Navy. Tied 1-1 in the third period after the two traded escapes, Pelusi scored a third period takedown and used a strong defense to hold on for the 3-2 victory. That match came after he fell by a 9-0 score to four-time EIWA Champion and top-seeded Jordan Wood of Lehigh. Pelusi returns to action tomorrow morning against the No. 5 seed Joe Doyle of Binghamton.
The Diplomats had chances to put even more on the medal stand before heart-breaking setbacks. Gio Diaz fell by a major decision to nationally-renowned Vito Arujau of Cornell in his quarterfinal, but was up 1-0 in his match against Reese Fry of Brown before a late takedown and backpoints switched the match in favor of the Bear. James Conway was another chance as the Diplomat was winning 6-2 early in the first period of his first wrestleback when he was called for an illegal slam on a mat return. After his opponent was unable to continue, Conway was disqualified and denied a chance to wrestle in the round of 12.
Chase McCollum (157 lbs.) and John Crawford (174 lbs.) both came up just one win shy of the medal round. McCollum avenged a loss from just two weeks ago during the dual against Hofstra with a huge 10-0 major decision versus Joe McGinty before dropping a bout to the ninth-seeded Trevor Tarsi of Harvard. John Crawford used a late throw for back points to emerge a 9-6 winner against Ryan Ferro of LIU, who was an Ohio State postgrad transfer. Crawford fell 16-4 during the following round against Princeton's Nate Dugan.
Session III of the 2022 EIWA Championships is set to begin at 10 a.m. on Sunday morning with consolation and semifinal action. With a win in their first matches tomorrow, Gil and Pelusi would both vie for automatic qualifying positions to the NCAA Division I Championships against losers from the semifinal round. Gil and Pelusi have already secured their spot as a top eight finisher and are guaranteed to be wrestling in the medal round matches which get underway at 3 p.m. That final session will see the first, third, fifth, and seventh place matches at the same weight run concurrently.
Franklin & Marshall Results & Upcoming Opponents
#10 Gio Diaz (125 lbs.)
Round of 16: Won vs. #7 Max Leete (American); 8-7
Quarterfinals: Lost vs. #2 Vito Arujua (Cornell); 12-2
Consolation III: Lost vs. #11 Reese Fry (Brown); 6-1
#12 Pat Phillips (133 lbs.)
Round of 16: Lost vs. #5 Kurt Phipps (Bucknell); 7-1
Consolation II: Lost vs. #13 Anthony Petrillo (Sacred Heart); 4-3
#7 Wil Gil (141 lbs.)
Round of 16: Won vs. #10 Timothy Levine (Brown); Fall: 2:09
Quarterfinals: Lost vs. #2 CJ Composto (Penn); 6-3
Consolation III: Won vs. #13 J.J. Wilson (Cornell); 15-5
Consolation IV: vs. #8 Danny Coles (Princeton) (Session III)
#11 Cristiaan Dailey (149 lbs.)
Round of 16: Lost vs. #6 Luke Nichter (Drexel); 16-4
Consolation II: Lost vs. #14 Drew Witham (LIU); Fall 9:17
#14 Chase McCollum (157 lbs.)
Round of 16: Lost vs. #3 Doug Zapf (Penn); 17-5
Consolation II: Won vs. #11 Joe McGinty (Hofstra); 10-0
Consolation III: Lost vs. #9 Trevor Tarsi (Harvard); 12-5
#17 Noah Fox (165 lbs.)
Pigtail: Won vs. #16 Breon Phifer (American); Fall 2:01
Round of 16: Lost vs. Julian Ramirez (Cornell); Fall: 2:37
Consolation II: Lost vs. #9 Dalton Harkins (Army); Fall: 0:20
#13 John Crawford (174 lbs.)
Round of 16: Lost vs. #4 Nick Fine (Columbia); 3-2
Consolation II: Won vs. #12 Ryan Ferro (LIU); 9-6
Consolation III: Lost vs. #10 Nate Dugan (Princeton); 16-4
#12 James Conway (184 lbs.)
Round of 16: Lost vs. #5 Neil Antrassian (Penn); 7-2
Consolation II: Lost vs. #13 James Araneo (Brown); DQ: 3:00
#14 Mike Waszen (197 lbs.)
Round of 16: Lost vs. #3 Luke Stout (Princeton); TF: 5:00 (21-4)
Consolation II: Lost vs. #11 Cade Wilson (Brown); 12-0
#9 Cenzo Pelusi (285 lbs.)
Round of 16: Won vs. #8 Matt Cover (Princeton); 3-2
Quarterfinals: Lost vs. #1 Jordan Wood (Lehigh); 8-0
Consolation 3: Won vs. #6 Ryan Catka (Navy); 3-2
Consolation IV: vs. #5 Joe Doyle (Binghamton) (Session III)
