VESTAL, N.Y. – After finishing the regular season with its most wins since the 2018-19 campaign, the Binghamton wrestling team will look to carry that momentum into the EIWA Championships. The two-day tournament takes place from Friday through Saturday at Bucknell University's Sojka Pavilion in Lewisburg, Pa.
 
The Bearcats went 9-4 in dual competition this season, with a 7-3 mark against EIWA opponents. Among the highlights for Binghamton was its first win against a top 20 team since joining Division I in 2001, when the Bearcats defeated No. 18 Navy 18-17 on Jan. 21. Also, the Bearcats won their first match against a Big Ten opponent since 2017 when they beat Northwestern 21-15 on Feb. 16.
 
Several Bearcat wrestlers are getting national recognition. Brevin Cassella, Cory Day, Jacob Nolan and Lou DePrez were each ranked in both the latest coaches and RPI rankings from the NCAA. Micah Roes also made the cut in the RPI rankings. Both rankings are among the criteria that will be used to determine at-large selections and seeding for the NCAA Wrestling Championships along with head-to-head competition, quality wins, conference tournament placement, results versus common opponents and win percentage.
 
The rankings break down as follows:

• Lou DePrez – No. 5 RPI, No. 7 Coaches
• Cory Day – No. 10 RPI, No. 14 Coaches
• Brevin Cassella – No. 14 RPI, No. 15 Coaches
• Jacob Nolan – No. 20 RPI, No. 13 Coaches
• Micah Roes – No. 24 RPI

 
With that success on the mat, Binghamton is looking to finish in the top five at the EIWA Championships for the first time since joining the conference in 2013-14. The Bearcats' previous best finish in the tournament is sixth, which happened three times (2019, 2020, and 2022). The program has crowned four individual champions, with DePrez winning three of them from 2020-22. Tyler Deuel won the first individual EIWA championship in program history in 2015 at 285 lbs.
 
There will be several opportunities this weekend for Bearcat wrestlers to punch their ticket to nationals in Kansas City, Mo. The EIWA was awarded 53 pre-allocation spots for the national tournament, the third-most among conferences in the country. The number of spots for each tournament is based on a sliding scale of three standards: win percentage, coaches ranking and RPI ranking. That also includes never going below the base of a winning percentage of .700, the top 30 in the coaches' ranking or the top 30 in the RPI rankings until reaching the maximum of 29 wrestlers per weight class.
 
For the EIWA, the number of spots in each weight class is as follows:

• 125: Five
• 133: Five
• 141: Four
• 149: Four
• 157: Three
• 165: Five
• 174: Six
• 184: Seven
• 197: Six
• 285: Eight

 
There will also be 47 at-large bids available for wrestlers who do not qualify through their conference tournament. After being selected by the NCAA Division I Wrestling Committee, the at-large bids will be announced on Tuesday, March 12. The brackets and seeding will be announced on Wednesday, March 13.
 
120^th EIWA Championships
Date | Time: Friday, March 8 (Preliminaries and Consolation Rounds at 10:30 a.m., Quarterfinals and Consolation Rounds at 4:30 p.m.)
 
Saturday, March 9 (Semifinals, Consolation Matches and 7th Place Matches at 10:30 a.m., Finals, 3rd and 5th place matches at 4:45 p.m.)
Location: Sojka Pavilion – Lewisburg, Pa.
Live Results: Twitter - @BearcatsWrestle, FloArena
Watch: FloWrestling
 
Binghamton Starting Lineup (Overall Record, Projected Record)
125 | No. 12 Carson Wagner (17-15, 5-8) – Wagner will attempt to become the fourth true freshman in program history to qualify for the NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships.
133 | No. 9 Micah Roes (18-9, 9-3) – Roes will try to qualify for the NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships for the first time since 2021, when he became the third true freshman in program history to qualify.
141 | No. 11 Nate Lucier (14-11, 6-4) – This weekend will be the second time Lucier will compete at the EIWA Championships. He went 1-2 in his first appearance in 2023.
149 | No. 13 Michael Zarif (7-8, 1-3) – Zarif's best finish at the tournament was sixth in 2021.
157 | No. 13 Carter Baer (14-15, 2-9) – Baer will compete in the EIWA Championships for the first time in his career.
165 | No. 2 Brevin Cassella (24-6, 12-1) – The two-time national qualifier has reached the podium at the EIWA Championships in every season he has competed at Binghamton, with 2023 being his highest finish at fourth.
174 | No. 11 Dimitri Gamkrelidze (16-12, 5-6) – Gamkrelidze went 1-2 at the EIWA Championships in 2023, his first appearance at the tournament.
184 | No. 6 Jacob Nolan (20-4, 9-3) – Nolan's second place finish at the 2023 EIWA Championships was the highest of his three podium finishes at the event in his career. Nolan is aiming to secure his fourth appearance at nationals.
197 | No. 3 Lou DePrez (19-1, 10-1) – The only three-time EIWA champion in program history enters the tournament on a 10-match winning streak, defeating defending 197 lbs. champion Jacob Cardenas of Cornell 7-3 in his last bout on Feb. 25. DePrez, who is also the program's only two-time Division I All-American, will try to qualify for nationals for the fifth time in his career.
285 | No. 2 Cory Day (23-5, 10-1) – Day reached nationals for the first time in his career in 2023 after finishing fifth at the EIWA Championships.
*Rankings are EIWA Championship Seeds