Hempstead, NY - The Hofstra Pride wrestling team will host the 2018 Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association (EIWA) Championships this Saturday and Sunday, March 3-4 at the David S. Mack Sports and Exhibition Complex. It will be Hofstra's fifth EIWA Championship Tournament and the first time that the University has hosted this conference qualifying championship.
 
The 114th EIWA Championships begin at 11 a.m. Saturday and run through 4 p.m. with Championship rounds through the championship first round and one round of the consolations. Saturday night's session two begins at 6 p.m. with the quarterfinal round and the second round of consolations. On Sunday, session three begins at 10 a.m. with the Championship semifinals along with the consolation rounds through the consolation semifinals and the seventh-place matches at 12:35 p.m. Session four, the Championship finals and the third and fifth-place matches, will begin at 3:00 p.m. The finals will be preceded by the EIWA Hall of Fame Reception and Induction Ceremony at 2:30 p.m.

All session adult ticket packages are available for $80 in advance while student ticket passes, for college students with ID and those 18 and under, are priced at $40 in advance. At the door, all-session tickets are priced at $90 and $45. Individual session tickets, purchased in advance, are priced as follows: Session 1 & 2- adults $30 and students $20; Session 3 & 4 – adults $35 and students $25. Tickets can be purchased through the Hofstra Box Office in the Mack Sports Complex, online at HofstraTickets.com or by calling 516-463-8499.
Every match of the 2018 EIWA Championships will be streamed live by FloWrestling as part of its Flo Pro live streaming program. Fans can also follow the action through live brackets on FloWrestling's arena platform at arena.FloWrestling.org

The two-day conference championships will decide the EIWA's team and individual titles as well as who will receive the EIWA's 47 bids to the 2018 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio on March 15-17. The EIWA will receive seven bids at 184, six at 157, 165 and 197, five at 174 and 285, four at 141 and 149, three at 133 and one at 125. The 47 EIWA bids are an increase of four spots over last year's Championships allocation.

The 16-team EIWA received the second-most allocations behind the 80 to the Big Ten Conference. The Big 12 received 45, the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) received 34, the Mid-American Conference (MAC) received 25, the Pac-12 received 22, and the Eastern Wrestling League received 18 and the Southern Conference received 12.

The EIWA released its consensus pre-seeds on March 1 in advance of Friday's coaches seeding meeting. Hofstra senior Michael Hughes (31-2) is the top seed at 285 pounds. Sophomore Sage Heller (13-11) is the seventh seed at 174 pounds. Junior Nezar Haddad (18-12) is the ninth seed at 197.

The rest of the Hofstra line-up for the 2018 EIWA Championships, with their overall and EIWA records, include: sophomore Jacob Martin (10-17, 2-6) at 125; red-shirt freshman Garrett Lambert (5-14, 2-2) at 133; sophomore Vinny Vespa (9-14, 4-3) at 141; junior Ryan Burkert (8-9, 3-3) at 149; red-shirt freshman Chris Mauriello (2-6, 0-3) at 157; red-shirt freshman Ricky Stamm (7-15, 2-5) at 165; and junior Cory Damiana (6-13, 2-3) at 184;
Hofstra placed 14^th in the 2017 EIWA Championships and 13th in 2016 at Princeton and in 2015 at Lehigh. The Pride placed fourth in the 2014 EIWA Championships in The Palestra at the University of Pennsylvania.

After all of the qualifying events have concluded, the NCAA Division I Wrestling Committee will meet in-person to select the remaining 47 at-large qualifiers, which will be announced on March 6.  All weight classes will consist of 33 wrestlers.  The at-large selections will be made based on the following criteria: head-to-head competition; quality wins; coaches' ranking; results against common opponents; RPI; qualifying event placement; and winning percentage.

2018 EIWA Championships Information
Saturday, March 3
Session 1:
      - 11 a.m.: Championship First Round
      - 2:15 p.m.: First Round Wrestlebacks
Session 2:
      - 6 p.m.: Championship Quarterfinals
      - 7:30 p.m.: Wrestleback Quarterfinals
Sunday, March 4
Session 3:
      - 10 a.m.: Semifinals
      - 11:45 p.m.: Wrestleback Semifinals
      - 12:35 p.m.: 7th-Place Matches
Session 4:
      - 3 p.m.: 1st, 3rd, and 5th Place Matches