Lehigh University’s wrestling team, ranked No. 8 nationally, is set to compete locally this weekend in Bethlehem. The Mountain Hawks will start their dual season Saturday with matches against Duke and Virginia at Liberty High School during the Journeymen WrangleMania event. On Sunday, the team will participate in the Journeymen Collegiate Classic, a round-robin tournament held at Freedom High School.
At the season-opening Princeton Open on November 2, Lehigh had 22 wrestlers compete. Sophomore Matty Lopes (133 pounds) and junior Rylan Rogers (184 pounds) won individual titles; Lopes competed unattached. Six Mountain Hawks placed in the top six at that event.
In his final match at Princeton, Lopes defeated Army’s Ethan Berginc—who beat him twice last season—by a score of 5-4 using a first-period takedown and third-period reversal. Rogers recorded two technical fall victories before beating teammate Jack Wilt in the semifinals and Oregon State’s TJ McDonnell 2-0 in the finals.
Lehigh has eight wrestlers listed in current rankings from InterMat, FloWrestling, and Amateur Wrestling News. Five appear in The Open Mat’s rankings while nine are rated by WrestleStat among the top 33 nationally. Five Mountain Hawks hold top-five positions by both InterMat and FloWrestling: sophomores Ryan Crookham (133) and Luke Stanich (141) are ranked within the top three.
Graduate student Sheldon Seymour and senior Max Brignola represented Lehigh at the NWCA All-Star Classic on November 1 at Rutgers’ Jersey Mike’s Arena. Seymour lost a 4-0 decision to Eddie Ventresca of Virginia Tech at 125 pounds; Brignola dropped a close bout to Hunter Garvin of Stanford at 165 pounds with a score of 4-1. According to Lehigh Athletics, “Seymour and Brignola are the first Mountain Hawks to compete at the annual exhibition since Connor McGonagle in 2023.”
For Saturday’s WrangleMania duals against Duke (1:30 p.m.) and Virginia (3:30 p.m.), Lehigh lists 20 probable starters—15 with prior dual meet experience for Lehigh—and several who could make their first career dual appearances for the program.
The Journeymen Collegiate Classic has been an annual fixture for Lehigh; last year saw three Hammer Awards for “A” bracket wins as well as three additional undefeated performances in lower flights.
This weekend marks Lehigh’s opening dual meet of its 117th season under head coach Pat Santoro. The team holds a record of 12-5 in openers during Santoro’s tenure but has only two wins from its last five openers—a win over Oregon State in November 2022 and another over Morgan State last year.
Duke enters after winning its own opener against Sacred Heart last week by a narrow margin after coming back from an early deficit. Two Blue Devils appear in InterMat’s latest rankings: heavyweight Connor Barket is No. 23; Aidan Wallace is No. 29 at 174 pounds.
Virginia starts its dual campaign this weekend following participation in last week’s Navy Classic where Keyveon Roller went undefeated to win his weight class title at 125 pounds; four other Cavaliers also placed highly or earned national rankings.
Looking ahead, Lehigh will travel to Tulsa for the National Duals Invitational presented by Paycom on November 15–16 at BOK Center—a major event featuring sixteen teams competing for over $1 million total prize money including $200,000 awarded to the champion team.