Bernd finishes fifth in 149-lb. class at EIWAs for wrestling

Tournaments always provide the opportunity for underdog sports teams to shock the world. For the wrestling team, its opportunity to play Cinderella was this weekend at the Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association Championships in Annapolis, Md.

Unfortunately for Princeton, however, the glass slipper did not quite fit.

The Tigers — despite a strong individual performance from junior Jeff Bernd in the 149 lb. weight class — managed to finish just tenth out of 13 teams. Princeton came away from the meet with 25.5 team points — 1.5 points behind ninth-place East Stroudsburg and 131.5 points behind champion Lehigh.

Leading the Tiger effort over the weekend was Bernd, who managed a fifth-place finish in the 149 lb. class.

After a first-round bye, Bernd pinned No. 2 ranked Jon Forster of Rutgers in the quarterfinals — the second time he has accomplished such a feat this season. In the semifinals, however, Bernd did not fare so well. The junior lost a tough match to Penn's Jon Gough by a final score of 11-3.

This loss sent Bernd to the consolation bracket of the tournament, where he once again had difficulty. Bernd lost a close bout to Harvard's Max Odom, 18-10, but rebounded in the fifth-place match to outclass Brown's Jason Mercado by a score of 11-5.

The other seeded Princeton wrestlers did not achieve the same success as Bernd over the course of the weekend. Ranked No. 5 in the 141 lb. class, freshman Joe Clarke lost to Mark Conley of Navy, 6-3. In the second round of consolation, Harvard's Nick Picarsic proved to be too much for Clarke, defeating him by a margin of 10-4.