The Princeton University wrestling team sent half of its lineup to the NCAA Wrestling Championships in two weeks and Quincy Monday won the 157-pound individual title at the EIWA Tournament at Cornell on Sunday.
Monday, the No. 2 seed, was dominant in his weight, defeating the No. 4 seed Andrew Cerniglia of Navy, 9-4, in the championship bout.
Penn’s Michael Colaiocco, a Blair graduate, was the 133-pound champion with an 8-4 win over Navy’s Josh Koderhandt, and Drexel’s Mickey O’Malley, a former state champion at Hasbrouck Heights, won at 174 with a tiebreaker win over Penn’s Nick Incontrera.
Other Princeton qualifiers were finalists Pat Glory (125), Travis Stefanik (184) and Luke Stout (197) and fourth-place finisher Marshall Keller (149). Keller started the tournament as the No. 16 seed and won his consolation quarterfinal bout against Drexel’s Luke Nichter when Nichter had to default with an 8-0 lead despite an apparent head injury.
Overall, Keller was 5-2 at the tournament.
Glory fell to Cornell’s Vito Arujau, 19-6, after winning the first matchup between the two, 11-9, in a dual meet. The loss denied the former Delbarton standout and two-time All-American the chance to be the No. 1 seed at the NCAA Tournament and he will likely be seeded third behind Michigan’s Nick Suriano – a former Bergen Catholic and Rutgers wrestler – and Arujau.
Stefanik fell to Cornell’s Jonathan Loew, 12-5, and Stout lost to Binghamton’s Lou DePrez, 10-4, after avenging a loss to Cornell’s Jacob Cardenas, a Bergen Catholic graduate, with a semifinal win in sudden victory.
Other wrestlers with New Jersey ties to clinch NCAA bids were Ryan Miller (125, Penn, Blair); CJ Composto (141, Penn, Westfield); Wil Gil (141, Franklin and Marshall, Ramapo); Julian Ramirez (165, Cornell Blair); Lucas Revano (165, Penn, Camden Catholic), Cardenas and Lewis Fernandes (285, Cornell, Voorhees).
Fernandes lost to Lehigh’s Jordan Wood, 2-1, as Wood became the conference’s first and likely only ever five-time champion. Wrestlers did not use a year of eligibility in last year’s pandemic-shortened season.
Seeds will be announced on Wednesday night and the tournament will be held March 17-19 in Detroit.
Bill Evans can be reached at bevans@njadvancemedia.com. Thank you for relying on us to provide the journalism you can trust. Please consider supporting NJ.com with a subscription.
