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Six Ivy League schools leaving EIWA to form own league in 2024-25

Cornell and five other Ivy League schools will be leaving the EIWA next season. (Eldon Lindsay photo courtesy Cornell Athletics)

Beginning next season in 2024-25, six Ivy League schools with wrestling programs will be leaving the Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association (EIWA) and holding their own post-season tournament.

No. 5 Cornell, Princeton, Harvard, Brown, Columbia and Penn will hold their own post-season tournament with to determine automatic bids to the NCAA Division I tournament.

Sacred Heart is one of the 11 schools remaining in the EIWA along with No. 23 Lehigh, American, Army, Binghamton, Bucknell, Drexel, Franklin & Marshall, Hofstra, Long Island University and Navy.

A year ago, the EIWA had 35 automatic qualifiers for the NCAA tournament including at least the top four finishers in the league tournament in eight of 10 weight classes. Will it remain similar when the Ivy League schools leave? Probably not but the qualifiers are based on who is ranked individually.

“This is an exciting day for the Ivy League and, most importantly, for our league’s wrestling student-athletes and coaches,” said Robin Harris, the Ivy League’s executive director. “This new postseason event will provide an unforgettable experience for our student-athletes and is a terrific way to further showcase the sustained national strength of Ivy League athletics.”

Three Ivy League wrestlers won national championships a year ago — Cornell’s Vito Arujau and Yianni Diakomihalis and Princeton’s Patrick Glory – and five Ivy League wrestlers made it to the semifinal round.

In the last 10 years, 10 Ivy League wrestlers have won national titles and 50 have earned All-American honors with the majority from Cornell. Nine national champions are from Cornell along with 32 of the 50 All-American wrestlers.

The six Ivy League schools will wrestle in their final EIWA tournament on March 8-9 at Bucknell University.

Ivy League teams have been part of the EIWA, the oldest wrestling conference in the nation, since its founding in 1905. Yale won the first five EIWA titles and Cornell won their first championship in 1910. The Big Red have won 12 of the last 16 EIWA titles.

“We want to acknowledge the EIWA membership and the long history of success that our programs have benefited from over the many decades of their affiliation,” said Harris.

Gerry deSimas, Jr., is the editor and founder of Connecticut Wrestling Online. He is an award-winning writer and has been covering sports in Connecticut and New England for more than 40 years. He was inducted into the New England High School Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2018.

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