The inaugural Ivy League Wrestling Tournament was held at Jadwin Gymnasium last Sunday. Finishing fourth overall, the Princeton wrestling team (8–9 overall, 3–2 Ivy League) crowned two champions and had one second-place finish and two third-place finishes. The Tigers also received five automatic bids to the NCAA Championships, two more than last year.
“It was truly amazing, and I’m happy that Princeton was able to host it,” wrestling Head Coach Joe Dubuque told The Daily Princetonian.
“It’s special because these guys work really hard, and our athletes are different,” he added. “Our athletes are not only busting their butt in the wrestling room, working out for, in my opinion, the hardest sport in college sports, but also, they go to the number one school in the country that requires them to be beyond that.”
Before this season, Princeton and its fellow Ivy Leaguers competed for NCAA berths at the Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association (EIWA) Tournament, a two-day competition among 17 schools. Princeton had participated in every EIWA tournament since its founding in 1905, but with the growing success of Ivy League wrestling over the last decade, the Ivy League announced in December 2023 that it would be splitting from the EIWA to form its own one-day tournament.
Two years later, this plan was realized, with 26 NCAA tickets allocated to the 2025 Ivy League Tournament, all on the line on Sunday.
McGowan and Stout make history as first-ever Princeton Ivy League champions
In the 125-pound class, first-year Marc-Anthony McGowan became the tournament’s first-ever champion. Entering as the No. 1 seed after an impressive 13–2 season, McGowan dominated the No. 5 seed, Columbia’s Sulayman Bah, in the semifinals. McGowan pinned down Bah within six minutes, proceeding to face the No. 2 seed, Penn’s Max Gallagher, for the title.
McGowan took down Gallagher twice for six points. The determined Gallagher fought back with reversals to get six of his own, but McGowan added another two-point reversal and held onto his 8–6 lead until time.
“I think we do a good job in the room of making sure that we’re staying composed in those tough situations,” McGowan told the ‘Prince.’ “I think coach Dubuque and our coaching staff has done a good job of pushing us through those tough moments, finding that wall, and then pushing past it.”
Princeton’s other champion was senior and captain Luke Stout, who also entered as a No. 1 seed in the 197-pound division. Unanimously selected for First Team All-Ivy, Stout pinned down Harvard’s No. 4 Max Agresti within four minutes in the semifinals. He then extended his dominance in the finals, where Cornell’s No. 2 Michael Dellagatta had no response for Stout’s persistent takedowns. Stout won 20–5 by technical fall.
“It was really cool to be part of history,” Stout said to the ‘Prince.’ “It was a home crowd too, so a lot of our families were able to come out, lots of local New Jersey wrestling fans. I thought Jadwin was a great place for it — we had a great turnout.”
Although McGowan will be competing in his first NCAAs, Stout is no stranger to the competition, having qualified each of his last three years.
“The theme of this season for me was just having no regrets with the way I’m competing and going out with a bang,” Stout commented. “So I really want this to be the tournament that I remember once everything’s said and done.”
Rivera wins silver after highly competitive matchup
In the 141-pound class, sophomore Eligh Rivera entered as the No. 3 seed and breezed past his quarterfinal against Harvard’s No. 6 Dante Frinzi, 15–2. But his semifinal against Cornell’s No. 2 Josh Saunders became one of the most intense battles of the day, going into overtime. Rivera completed the upset with a sudden-victory takedown, setting the Orange and Black crowd ablaze.
“I love those moments,” Rivera told the ‘Prince.’ “I’ve been in those moments a lot, so I’m pretty confident when a match goes to [overtime].”
“As far as what it’s like in Jadwin, I mean, there’s nothing better [than] … to just put on a show for them and get[ting] that done in front of the home crowd is something special,” he added.
Although Rivera fell in the final to Penn’s CJ Composto, the No. 1 seed, his silver was more than enough to secure his spot in the NCAAs with four allocated to his division. It will be his first national tournament too.
“I feel good. I feel confident,” Rivera said. “I think every guy here has been in a big match at some point in their career, so you kind of figure out how to zone [the pressure] out.”
Whalen and Mulhauser punch their tickets to nationals
The last two Tigers to get automatic bids to the NCAA tournament were sophomores Ty Whalen and Kole Mulhauser, who each lost their respective semifinals by narrow two-point margins.
Whalen, competing in the 149-pound bracket as the No. 3 seed, struck bronze in a dominant affair against the No. 4 seed, Columbia’s Kai Owen. Whalen achieved a 15-point lead in less than six minutes for a technical fall, 16–1.
“I mean, it definitely doesn’t feel good to lose in the semis, but we had to come back,” Whalen told the ‘Prince.’ “You have to forget a little bit about what happened and just move forward.”
The No. 3 seeded Mulhauser got past Brown’s No. 5 Andrew Reall in the 184-pound consolation bracket. Despite missing out on the podium after being pinned by Columbia’s No. 4 Nick Fine in the third-place match, Mulhauser’s win against Reall booked him the fourth and final NCAA spot allocated to the Ivy League’s 184-pound division.
“It’s kind of just getting your head back in the game, knowing that you’re still able to qualify and just getting your mind ready to compete again,” Mulhauser told the ‘Prince.’ “I just felt confident going into [the consolation bracket] and wanted to punch my ticket to the NCAAs.”
Just like McGowan and Rivera, Whalen and Mulhauser will be debuting at the NCAAs this year.
While the rest of the Tigers fell short in NCAA qualifications, they all took part in a new tradition that celebrated Ivy League wrestling. First-year Daniel Jones earned another bronze medal for Princeton in the 133-pound division, but unfortunately for Princeton, the Ivy League was only granted two NCAA berths in his class. Having settled down from the tournament, the Tigers now look towards their chances at nationals following a tumultuous season in Dubuque’s second year as head coach.
“This year we definitely went through a lot of adversity, dealing with injuries and sickness,” Dubuque said. “It seemed like we were always kind of sending out a different lineup than what our true, best-potential lineup would be.”
“But I think we all kind of grew from that,” he added. “We had guys who stepped up and got some really crucial experience, and then the guys who were in the lineup kind of dealing with that adversity and figuring out how to work through it and still be successful.”
On Wednesday night, the NCAA released official seeding for the tournament to take place from Thursday, March 20 to Saturday, March 22 in Philadelphia’s Wells Fargo Center. Princeton will open the championships with the No. 13 seeded McGowan facing off against Rutgers’ No. 12 seeded Dean Peterson. The entire event will be broadcast on ESPN+.
Bryant Figueroa is an assistant Sports editor for the ‘Prince.’
Please send any corrections to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com.
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