WASHINGTON - A historic weekend awaits the American University wrestling team, as 10 AU wrestlers will compete in the EIWA Championships at home for the first time in program history. The 12 EIWA programs will fill Bender Arena this Friday and Saturday, March 6-7, and wrestle to determine who will earn allocated spots at each weight class for the NCAA Championships.
Championships Information.
- Bender Arena on American's campus is the site of this year's tournament, which begins with Session 1 on Friday, March 6 at 10:00 a.m.
- The second session on Friday begins at 3:30 p.m., and Saturday's action begins again at 10:00 a.m.
- The EIWA field consists of 12 Division I institutions in the northeast, separated into the Patriot League division and Independent division.
- The host school Lehigh won the 2025 EIWA team title in 2025, becoming the conference's new champion after Cornell won the three team titles before the Ivy League separated from the EIWA.
- American finished eighth in the team scoring last year, while putting six wrestlers on the podium.
- The EIWA is the oldest collegiate athletic conference in the nation.
American Notes
- The Eagles went 8-9 in dual meets this season, and 3-4 against EIWA opponents. It was the fourth straight season with at least eight wins under head coach Jason Borrelli, turning the program around since the team went 1-12 in his first year at the helm in 2021.
- AU comes into the tournament with four wrestlers ranked on either the NCAA coaches' rankings or RPI: Maximilian Leete at 133 pounds (#14 NCAA/#8 RPI), Caleb Campos at 184 (#27 NCAA/#15 RPI), Emmanuel Ulrich at 285 (#28 RPI), and JJ Peace at 125 (#32 RPI).
- Leete headlines the group as the 133-pound #1 seed in the tournament, coming in with a 13-6 record, winning seven of his final 10 matches of the season. He defeated four ranked wrestlers on the year, including Cornell's Tyler Ferrara when he was #15.
- The graduate senior also comes in as one of AU's most experienced wrestlers, both in age and in competition stage. Leete wrestled at the NCAA Championships as a junior in 2024, having placed fifth at EIWAs to earn an automatic qualification. This year, he'll have to finish in the championship round to fill one of the EIWA's two allocated spots at 133.
- Campos is having a stellar season, and the redshirt junior enters his third EIWA tournament showing serious promise for an NCAA berth as the #3 seed at 184. He leads AU in wins with a 22-6 record, holding six pins and five major decisions to his name.
- After finishing sixth in last year's tournament, Campos will need to land in the top three to earn an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament this year.
- JJ Peace has had a breakout sophomore year, going 21-6 and earning a spot in the RPI rankings for the first time in his career. He's won eight of his last 10 matches, and heads into his first conference tournament as the #5 seed at 125.
- Similar to Peace, Ulrich has opened eyes in just his second full collegiate season. The redshirt sophomore is the 285-pound #5 seed after going 18-12 on the year, recently earning an impressive win over #26 Lucas Lawler of Bucknell just three weeks ago.
- In addition to Leete, Jack Maida is AU's only other wrestler to have previously qualified for the NCAA Championships and only wrestler to have won a match at NCAAs. He finished fifth at EIWAs as a sophomore at 125 in 2023, earning an automatic NCAA bid and upsetting Oregon State's Jason Shaner in the consolation first round. A year later at 133 pounds, Maida finished eighth and was a second alternate for NCAAs.
- Now a graduate senior wrestling at 141 pounds, Maida is the #8 seed.
- Redshirt sophomores Kaden Milheim (157) and Gage Owen (149) are representing AU at their second straight conference tournament. Milheim was American's highest finisher last year, taking fifth place after going 4-2 at 165.
- Austin Craft (165), Hunter Hohman (174), and Liam Packer (197) are wrestling in their first EIWA Championships.
Starters for American / Seed (Rankings are NCAA coaches' from Feb. 26)
NCAA Championships
- Each weight class has an allocation of spots from the NCAA, and a wrestler who finishes among that group earns a berth to the Nationals, to be held March 19-21 in Cleveland, Ohio.
- Once the automatic-qualifying spots have been determined over each conference tournament nationally this weekend, the NCAA will announce at-large invitations and final brackets early next week.
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