BETHLEHEM, Pa. - Eren Civan's fourth place finish highlighted Columbia's run at the 106th Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association Championship held at Lehigh University.  Columbia finished with 65 team points, tying with Army for eighth place.

"After a day like yesterday, when we pinned eight guys and knocked off several high seeds, anything short of those type of results may seem like a letdown," said Brendan Buckley, the Andrew F. Barth Head Coach of Wrestling.  "However, we wrestled hard today and came up just short.  I am proud of the way our team wrestled this weekend, and the young returners have a good experience to build on for next season. In the meantime, we will prepare Civan for the national stage in Omaha."

In his first match, Civan led 2-0 after the first, and expanded his lead to 5-0 by escaping to begin the second and scoring another takedown.  Neill escaped before the period was over and escaped once again to begin the third, but Civan held on for a 5-2 win, advancing him to the consolation finals.

Next up for Civan was Justin Kerber of Cornell.  After a scoreless first, Civan took a 1-0 lead by escaping to begin the second, but Kerber escaped himself in the third to knot the score at 1-1 and force overtime.  Kerber struck first 35 seconds into the sudden victory overtime to take third, while Civan placed fourth.  He received an automatic bid to the NCAA Championships at 165 pounds.

At heavyweight, Kevin Lester dropped a 6-1 decision to Josh Arnone of Cornell in the consolation semifinals, and ultimately took fifth on a medical forfeit by Scott Steele of Navy.

Andrew Grabfelder (133) and Steve Santos (149) both placed sixth in their respective weightclasses.

Grabfelder dropped his first match of the day 6-5 to Cortlandt Choate of Brown. Trailing 6-1 after two periods, Choate started on bottom and Grabfelder went to work on top. Choate got hit for four penalty points for stalling on bottom and time ran out as Grabfelder suffered a one point loss.  The sophomore ultimately placed sixth after dropping his final match to Bryan Ortenzio of Penn.

Santos found himself tied 2-2 with Penn's Cesar Grajales after two periods.   Grajales took a 5-2 lead with an escape and takedown, but Santos came back to tie it at 5-5 with an escape and takedown of his own.  Grajales tacked on two more points for an escape and riding time to defeat the first-year 7-5.  Santos also dropped his second match 9-1 to Kyle Borshoff of American to finish sixth at 149.

Two other Lions placed eighth, Lou Miller at 197 pounds and Stephen West at 174 pounds. 

Miller led 1-0 after escaping to begin the second period, but Brandon Stearns of Brown responded with a takedown to go ahead 2-1.  Miller tied it on another escape before the period ended, but Stearns reclaimed the lead with a reversal in third.  Miller cut the lead to one on an escape, but his opponent scored one final takedown to hold on for a 6-3 win over Miller.

West took to the mat against Michael Erdman of Princeton.  The first-year trailed by two (7-5) late in the third, but Erdman escaped once again to take an 8-5 win over West.

Senior co-captain Matt Dunn also placed for the Lions, taking eighth at 157 after a medical forfeit.

Civan will represent Columbia at the NCAA Championships March 18-20 in Omaha, Neb.