Lehigh University will compete for its second consecutive Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association (EIWA) team title this weekend at Bender Arena in Washington, D.C. The 122nd EIWA Championships are being hosted by American University for the first time. Lehigh has historically led the conference, having secured 39 team titles and 235 individual championships, both league records.
The Mountain Hawks finished their dual meet season with an 11-7 record, including an eight-match winning streak to start 2026 before a loss to Arizona State ended their regular season. Nine of Lehigh’s ten probable entrants have previous EIWA Tournament experience. This includes past champions Luke Stanich (141 lbs.), Nathan Taylor (285 lbs.), Sheldon Seymour (125 lbs.), and Logan Rozynski (157 lbs.).
Lehigh’s lineup features several nationally ranked wrestlers. Graduate student Sheldon Seymour is ranked No. 3 at 125 pounds in the NCAA coaches’ poll from February 26 and is the highest-ranked Mountain Hawk across all major outlets. Sophomore Luke Stanich holds a No. 5 ranking at 141 pounds, while senior Nathan Taylor is ranked No. 9 at heavyweight.
Six Lehigh wrestlers appeared in the third NCAA coaches’ ranking announced on February 26, with Seymour, Stanich, and Taylor all placed in the top ten of their respective weight classes. Four wrestlers also appear in the top 33 of the latest RPI standings—both metrics that factor into NCAA Championship selection criteria.
The EIWA received an allocation of 26 automatic bids to this year’s NCAA Championships based on current-year data such as Division I winning percentage, RPI, and coaches’ rankings. Wrestlers who do not qualify automatically this weekend may be considered for one of forty-two at-large berths to be announced March 10.
In their final dual meet of the season on February 21, Lehigh lost to Arizona State by a score of 24-11 after initially leading early in the matchups.
During their eight-match win streak earlier this year, Lehigh recorded key victories over Cornell, Navy, Bucknell, American University, Army West Point, Morgan State, Princeton and Penn. The win against Morgan State marked head coach Pat Santoro’s milestone: his 200th career dual victory with Lehigh.
Last year four Mountain Hawks won individual EIWA titles: Sheldon Seymour (125), Logan Rozynski (157), Michael Beard (197), and Owen Trephan (285). This year nine out of ten entrants have prior tournament experience; Ethan Smith at 133 pounds is making his EIWA debut.
Lehigh has also seen recent success in major individual awards at EIWAs. In recent years Ryan Crookham captured the Coaches’ Trophy while Nathan Taylor won the Sheridan Award in 2024; last year Michael Beard shared the Coaches’ Trophy.
Tournament pre-seeds released Tuesday list Seymour, Stanich and Max Brignola as top seeds in their weight classes; Rozynski, Rylan Rogers and Taylor are seeded second.
Wrestling begins Friday at Bender Arena starting at 10 a.m., continuing through championship semifinals scheduled for approximately 6:30 p.m., with finals taking place Saturday afternoon beginning around 2 p.m.
Fans can watch live streaming coverage via FloWrestling.org with a subscription or listen to radio coverage of Saturday’s finals session on FOX Sports Radio stations or LVFOXSports.com starting at 1:45 p.m.
Qualifiers from this tournament will advance to compete at the NCAA Championships set for March 19-21 in Cleveland.