WASHINGTON – Both Carter Baer and Mikey Squires have punched their ticket to the 2026 NCAA Wrestling Championships, as each wrestler reached the finals of the EIWA Championships Friday at Bender Arena.
 
Baer and Squires each won two matches at 174 and 197 lbs., respectively, on the first day of the conference tournament to secure one of the automatic bids for nationals. It is the first time each wrestler has qualified for the NCAA tournament.
 
This marks the second year in a row that Binghamton has had two automatic qualifiers for the NCAA Wrestling Championships. Current Assistant Coach Brevin Cassella, who won the 174 lb., EIWA title in 2025, and Cory Day (2nd at 2025 EIWAs at 285 lbs.) both made it to nationals last season. The Bearcats have had at least two of their wrestlers qualify for the NCAA tournament in each of the last 17 seasons dating back to 2010. The two bids on Friday bring Binghamton's total of Division I national qualifiers throughout its program's history up to 63.
 
These are also the first two national qualifiers Binghamton has had under first-year Head Coach Ryan LeBlanc.
 
"I'm really excited and happy for both Carter and Mikey," said LeBlanc. "Those guys do everything the right way in how they train and how they live their lives. It was great to see them celebrate with their teammates and families."
 
Baer and Squires will attempt to win their first EIWA championship on Saturday. If both wrestlers take home the title, it will be the first time Binghamton has ever won multiple EIWA individual championships in a single tournament since the program joined the league prior to the start of the 2013-14 season.
 
The two are among six Bearcats who secured a spot on the podium at the EIWAs on Friday. Joining them are Carson Wagner at 125 lbs., Dillon Arrick at 133, Fin Nadeau at 157 and Jordan Brown at 165. Wagner reaches the podium at the EIWAs for the second year in a row, following his third-place finish in 2025. Arrick, Brown, and Nadeau, meanwhile, all have qualified for the podium at the tournament for the first time.
 
The Bearcats have had at least six wrestlers reach the podium at the EIWA Championships in each of the last three seasons. It is the first time Binghamton has had at least six placewinners at the EIWAs in three consecutive seasons since the Bearcats joined the league.
 
Overall, Binghamton finished the first day of the EIWA Championships 7th out of 12 teams with 69 points. Lehigh leads the field with 123.5 points.
 
How it Happened

• Baer's run to the finals started in the quarterfinals with him picking up an 11-2 major decision against American's Hunter Hohman. That set up a matchup for him in the semifinals against 2025 All-American Danny Wask of Navy. It was Wask who Cassella beat in the 174 lb., finals at the EIWAs in 2025. Baer got a takedown early in the first period to move ahead 3-0. Wask, who escaped later in both the first and the start of the second, got a takedown of his own immediately after letting Baer escape at the start of the third to take a 5-4 lead. Baer escaped Wask with just over a minute remaining in the period, leading to both wrestlers going to overtime. After neither wrestler got a point in sudden victory, Baer picked up an escape to take the lead in the first tiebreaker, while Wask collected 12 seconds of riding time. Wask gained a point in the second tiebreaker to tie the bout at six due to Baer being called for stalling for the second time in the match. With Baer still riding Wask, Navy threw a challenge brick with two seconds remaining in the match, arguing that Baer had locked his hands. But the officials upheld the call that Baer did not lock his hands, keeping the match tied. Baer rode Wask for the final two seconds to bring his riding time up to 15 seconds, giving him both the victory and the ticket to nationals.
• Squires opened his day with an 8-1 victory in the quarterfinals against Hofstra's Will Conlon. For his semifinal bout, Squires faced Army West Point's Wolfgang Frable. Following a scoreless first period, Squires took the lead in the second after Frable was called for locked hands. Squires added another point after escaping Frable to hold a 2-0 advantage into the third. Frable chose to start the third neutral, before taking down Squires 20 seconds into the frame to move ahead 3-2. Squires picked up a quick escape afterwards to tie the bout at three. Both wrestlers then looked to make their move to secure a spot at nationals. With 13 seconds remaining, Squires dove forward and took down Frable for the lead, eventually winning the match 6-3 to earn his spot at nationals.
• Wagner opened Binghamton's tournament run with a 9-4 victory against Morgan State's Julian Dawson in the round of 16. The junior was then defeated by Andrew Binni of Navy 16-0. However, Wagner rebounded in the consolation bracket with an 11-1 major decision against Sacred Heart's Corey Iannucci to reach the podium at EIWAs for the second year in a row. The Nazareth, Pa., native completed his day with a 9-4 victory over Bucknell's Kade Davidheiser.
• Arrick's path to the podium started with the redshirt freshman pinning LIU's Chris Betancourt in the second period. In the quarterfinals, Arrick fell to No. 1 seed Maximilian Leete of American 8-0 to drop to the consolation bracket. To secure a spot on the podium, Arrick took down John Sheehy of Sacred Heart with a 17-4 major decision. For his final appearance of the day, Arrick won against No. 4 seed Mason Leiphart of Franklin & Marshall 7-3 to advance.
• Nadeau received a bye into the quarterfinals of the 157 lb., bracket due to him being seeded No. 4. However, he was defeated in his opening match by Yannis Charles of Morgan State 9-7. Nadeau would not be deterred, as he then beat American's Kaden Milheim 7-3 to earn his spot on the podium. For his final match of the day, Nadeau used a takedown in the first period and an escape in the second to defeat Franklin & Marshall's Josh Hillard 4-3.
• Brown advanced to the 165 lb., quarterfinals with a 5-1 victory over Morgan State's Joshua Greenwood. After being defeated by Army West Point's Gunner Filipowicz in a 17-2 technical fall, Brown took down LIU'S Jack Valentin with an 11-3 major decision to get on the podium. That set up a match against American's Austin Craft in the round of four in the consolation bracket. Tied at one against Craft in the third period, Brown got a takedown with 54 seconds remaining to prevail 4-2 and keep his hopes for a trip to the third-place match alive.

 
EIWA Championships Results
No. 6 Carson Wagner
125 Round of 16 | No. 6 Carson Wagner (Binghamton) def. No. 11 Julian Dawson (Morgan State) DEC 9-4
125 Quarterfinals | No. 3 Andrew Binni (Navy) def. No. 6 Carson Wagner (Binghamton) TF 16-0 5:48
125 Consi of 8 #2 | No. 6 Carson Wagner (Binghamton) def. No. 12 Corey Iannucci (Sacred Heart) MD 11-1
125 Consi of 4 | No. 6 Carson Wagner (Binghamton) def. No. 8 Kade Davidheiser (Bucknell) DEC 9-4
 
No. 8 Dillon Arrick
133 R16 | No. 8 Dillon Arrick (Binghamton) def. No. 9 Chris Betancourt (LIU) FALL 3-0 4:20
133 Quarterfinals | No. 1 Maximilian Leete (American) def. No. 8 Dillon Arrick (Binghamton) MD 8-0
133 Consi of 8 #2 | No. 8 Dillon Arrick (Binghamton) def. No. 10 John Sheehy (Sacred Heart) MD 17-4
133 Consi of 4 | No. 8 Dillon Arrick (Binghamton) def. No. 4 Mason Leiphart (Franklin & Marshall) DEC 7-3
 
No. 7 Ryan Hartung
141 R16 | No. 10 Chase Liardi (Hofstra) def. No. 7 Ryan Hartung (Binghamton) DEC 5-3
141 Consi of 8 #2 | No. 8 Jack Maida (American) def. No. 7 Ryan Hartung (Binghamton) DEC 2-1 TB2
 
No. 6 Caleb Sweet
149 R16 | No. 11 Carter Bailey (Lehigh) def. No. 6 Caleb Sweet (Binghamton) MD 12-2
149 Consi of 8 #2 | No. 5 Gage Owen (American) def. No. 6 Caleb Sweet (Binghamton) MD 8-0
 
No. 4 Fin Nadeau
157 Quarterfinals | No. 12 Yannis Charles (Morgan State) def. No. 4 Fin Nadeau (Binghamton) DEC 9-7
157 Consi of 8 #2 | No. 4 Fin Nadeau (Binghamton) def. No. 11 Kaden Milheim (American) DEC 7-3
157 Consi of 4 | No. 4 Fin Nadeau (Binghamton) def. No. 10 Josh Hillard (Franklin & Marshall) DEC 4-3
 
No. 7 Jordan Brown
165 R16 | No. 7 Jordan Brown (Binghamton) def. No. 10 Joshua Greenwood (Morgan State) DEC 5-1
165 Quarterfinals | No. 2 Gunner Filipowicz (Army West Point) def. No. 7 Jordan Brown (Binghamton) TF 17-2 3:00
165 Consi of 8 #2 | No. 7 Jordan Brown (Binghamton) def. No. 9 Jack Valentin (LIU) MD 11-3
165 Consi of 4 | No. 7 Jordan Brown (Binghamton) def. No. 11 Austin Craft (American) DEC 4-2
 
No. 3 Carter Baer
174 Quarterfinals | No. 3 Carter Baer (Binghamton) def. No. 11 Hunter Hohman (American) MD 11-2
174 Semifinals | No. 3 Carter Baer (Binghamton) def. No. 2 Danny Wask (Navy) DEC 6-6 TB2
 
No. 6 Will Ebert
184 R16 | No. 6 Will Ebert (Binghamton) def. No. 11 Josh Jorgge (Hofstra) MD 8-0
184 Quarterfinals | No. 3 Caleb Campos (American) def. No. 6 Will Ebert (Binghamton) DEC 5-3
184 Consi of 8 #2 | No. 12 Cooper Haase (Army West Point) def. No. 6 Will Ebert (Binghamton) TF 18-3 7:00
 
No. 2 Mikey Squires
197 Quarterfinals | No. 2 Mikey Squires (Binghamton) def. No. 7 Will Conlon (Hofstra) DEC 8-1
197 Semifinals | No. 2 Mikey Squires (Binghamton) def. No. 3 Wolfgang Frable (Army West Point) DEC 6-3
 
No. 7 Trent Sibble
285 R16 | No. 11 Brendan Gilchrist (Sacred Heart) def. No. 6 Trent Sibble (Binghamton) DEC 3-2
285 Consi of 8 #2 | No. 5 Emmanuel Ulrich (American) def. No. 6 Trent Sibble (Binghamton) DEC 3-2
 
*Rankings are EIWA Championship Seeds
 
Up Next
The Bearcats compete in the final day of the EIWA Championships on Saturday. Arrick, Brown, Nadeau and Wagner will all wrestle in the consolation semifinals in the first session of the day, which begins at 11 a.m.
 
All six remaining Binghamton wrestlers will then compete in the last session of the tournament, which begins at 2 p.m. In the finals, both Baer and Squires face a No. 1 seeded wrestler from Bucknell. Baer goes against Myles Takats, while Squires will wrestle Dillon Bechtold.
 
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