Wrestling: Frey reaches EIWA finals at Jadwin

Alumni, students and fans, including truckloads from Lehigh, surrounded four orange and black mats and watched four bouts at a time on the main floor of Jadwin, which used to host the EIWA Championships regularly.

“I’ve been looking forward to this day for a long time, and I know our alums and our supporters have been looking forward to it for even longer, so to see these mats on this floor is just amazing,” head coach Chris Ayres told goprincetontigers.com.

Star 125-pounder Frey’s return to the ring on Saturday for the first round of the tournament helped to ease the pain of injuries for the Tigers. Frey, who had been working to get his weight below 125 pounds for the last month, was nothing short of dominant on Saturday. In his first match against Harvard’s Max Mejia, Frey recorded a 16-1 technical fall. In his next two matches, Frey pinned both of his opponents, seventh-seed Tyler Sackett from Navy and third-seed Billy Watterson of Brown.

“Garrett has been on fire,” Ayres said after the semifinals on Saturday, adding that he thought the championship would be “a pretty exciting bout.”

Frey’s opponent was Cornell’s Frank Perrelli, who is ranked seventh in the nation and has only lost once in the last two months. Hoping to become Princeton’s first EIWA champion since 184-pounder Greg Parker ’03 won the tournament back in 2003, Frey took to the mat with vigor but eventually fell to Perrelli 7-4. Despite the loss, by making the EIWA finals, Frey qualified for the NCAA Tournament in two weeks, where he may get another shot at Perrelli.

Kolodzik, meanwhile, earned a bye for the first round and then handily beat Navy’s Bobby Barnhisel in the second round by a score of 11-3. Kolodzik then faced Cornell’s No. 1 Kyle Dake, who is seeking his third national championship in his third college season. Kolodzik did not face Dake in Princeton’s dual meet against Cornell back in January, so this was the pair’s first meeting of the year. Early in the second period, the score was tied 2-2; but Dake, who has not lost a match all year, kept his perfect streak alive in beating Kolodzik 12-4.

“He’s come such a long way ... This year, he put it all together, and it seems like it’s coming all together at the perfect time,” Ayres said.

By placing fourth in the tournament, Kolodzik received one of the six available bids in his weight class for the NCAA Tournament. For the first time in three years, Frey will have company at nationals, joined by his fellow captain.

“I think he’s ready. I’m glad that he had that experience [against Dake] because I think he feels that he’s there and he can beat that type of guy, and that’s the confidence that we need at NCAAs,” Ayres said. “He accomplished the mission here, and now he can go accomplish his goals in about a week and a half.”

Both freshman 133-pounder Chris Perez and sophomore 141-pounder Adam Krop, who entered the tournament ranked 16th in the nation and fourth in the EIWA in his class, wrestled through pain for most of the tournament. Krop, who tore his ACL in a match two weeks ago, advanced to the second round before falling to the eventual champion, Matt Mariacher, by a score of 9-3. Despite being ranked 13th in the nation, Mariacher only held the fifth seed in the EIWA, giving Krop an unlucky draw in the quarterfinals. Late in the match, Krop reinjured his knee and hobbled off of the mat; he was unable to compete in the consolation round, losing his chance at an automatic NCAA Tournament bid.

Perez, who had also injured his knee a month earlier, lost his quarterfinal match and was forced to retire late in his first consolation bout after further aggravating his knee injury. He took eighth place, while junior 149-pounder Zach Bintliff finished seventh in his class.