Wrestling: Everin, Brendel reach quarters

Senior 157-prounder and co-captain Marty Everin and freshman 184-pounder Kurt Brendel were Princeton’s only seeded competitors. Both reached the quarterfinals of their championship brackets before being eliminated.

Wrestling in the competitive 157-pound weight bracket, Everin was seeded sixth. He vanquished American University’s Patrick Graham 12-7 in his first match, setting up a rematch with third-seeded Matt Dragon of Penn. Dragon defeated Everin 8-6 when the two met in the regular season.

Everin fell behind early 4-0, but he wasn’t fazed.

“We knew [Dragon] is typically not in very good shape,” head coach Chris Ayres said. “He’s very talented, but we knew if we kept the pressure on, we could make something happen.”

Down two points with seconds remaining, Everin positioned himself for what would have been a score-tying takedown. The buzzer sounded as Dragon was falling to the ground, and Everin lost 10-8.

“[Everin] just kept after him,” Ayres said. “He mounted a really good comeback and really just missed it. He was behind [Dragon], he lifted him, and basically while the kid was in the air, time ran out. That was heartbreaking.”

The loss knocked Everin into the consolation bracket, where he was matched up with Bucknell’s Scott Sechler, who was coming off a near-upset of fifth-seeded Joel Ahern of Navy.

“After that loss, it was hard to come back,” Ayres said. “[Everin] wrestled another really tough match. It just didn’t go the way we needed it to go.”

With time running low, Everin was down two points in the bottom position. He managed to execute a reversal, scoring two points and tying the match. But with a few seconds left in the match, Ahern picked up the pivotal point by managing an escape.

While the tournament left Everin thinking about what could have been, the senior said he had no regrets about the effort he put forth on the mat.

“I certainly felt that I wrestled as hard as I possibly could and left everything out there,” Everin said. “I know that I am definitely as good as some of the guys moving forward, but I just wasn’t on Saturday.”

Brendel secured a bye in the 184-pound quarterfinal, but he was matched up with top-seeded David Craig of Lehigh. Brendel had no answers for Craig and was pinned in one minute, 38 seconds. In his consolation bracket matchup, Brendel faced Eddie Ebewo of East Stroudsburg University. Ebowo came away with a tight 6-5 victory, bouncing Brendel from the tournament.

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Junior 125-pounder Robert Benitez was pinned by Bucknell’s third-seeded Derek Reber in Benitez’ first match. In the consolation bracket, American University’s Thomas Williams defeated the Tiger by a 16-0 technical fall in 6:11.

Freshman 149-pounder Daniel Kolodzik lost his championship bracket match to fourth-seeded Cesar Grajales of Penn 10-1. In his first consolation match, he dominated Brown’s Dave Foxen 8-0. He was then ousted by sixth-seeded Kevin LeValley of Bucknell, who pinned Kolodzik in 3:40.

Sophomore 174-pounder Travis Erdman drew the top-seeded wrestler in his bracket in American’s Mike Cannon. Erdman lost 14-4 but fought back for a 16-10 victory over Columbia’s Mike Wolfer in his first consolation bracket match. Wolfer had defeated Erdman 3-1 in the regular season.

Freshmen Andy Lowy and Stephen Turner also made their EIWA Championships debuts. Wrestling at 165 pounds, Lowy fell 8-4 to sixth-seeded Eren Civan of Columbia before being eliminated 11-5 by Navy’s Matt DeMichiel. Turner had similar fortunes in the heavyweight bracket. He was pinned in 1:48 by top-seeded Ryan Flores of Columbia, and then he fell 3-2 to Navy’s Tyler Moyer.

Though Princeton isn’t sending any wrestlers to the NCAA Championships, there are still positives to take from the season: The Tigers picked up two dual-meet victories, and, led by Brendel and Kolodzik, the freshman class showed promise.

“I was extremely proud of the jumps all the younger guys made,” Everin said. “We should have a very good core in place for the next three years that Coach Ayres can build on.”

While the loss of Everin will be huge, the Tigers will return many key veterans, including Erdman, junior 149-pounder Danny Scotton and junior 165-pounder Mike Alvarez.

Ayres, though, isn’t getting comfortable yet.

“Honestly, we still have a long way to go,” Ayres said. “I talked to the guys after the thing, and that’s what I basically told them. I said that we have to start working this week on getting ready for next year. We’re pretty young, but that’s no excuse. I look at myself, too, and I think I need to change some stuff up. When the results aren’t what you expect, you have to look at yourself first.”

Princeton will welcome eight new freshman wrestlers next season, and all but a few weight brackets will go at least two-deep. Barring excessive injuries, the Tigers should be able to avoid forfeiting matches next season.

“It was both a pleasure and an honor to lead these guys for the past seven months,” Everin said. He added that it was “something that I will never forget.”