Wood is deferring his final year of eligibility for the Mountain Hawks to focus on training for the U.S. Olympic team. He will use his final season of eligibility in 2021-22.
The opportunity for an Olympic deferral year arose from the postponement of the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo until the summer of 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Wood is eligible for an Olympic redshirt due to his status as a Cadet world silver medalist in 2014.
In his first three seasons of eligibility, Wood has amassed a 64-17 record with 23 bonus point victories. He will enter the 2021-22 season with a chance to become Lehigh's fifth four-time EIWA champion and its first since Darryl Burley in 1983. Wood is also a two-time All-American, earning a fourth place finish at the 2019 NCAA Tournament and earning second team honors from the NWCA after the 2020 tournament was cancelled due to the pandemic. Wood was 17-5 as a junior and was slated to be the No. 9 seed at the 2020 NCAA Tournament.
Wood was a cadet national champion in freestyle and competed in two Cadet World Championships, with a silver medal and fifth place finish to his credit. He also represented the United States at the junior level, competing at the UWW Junior World Champions in Macon, France during September of his 2016-17 true freshman campaign.
Cruz has been busy on the freestyle circuit since wrapping up a stellar career for the Mountain Hawks in 2018. He was a three-time EIWA champion at 125 lbs. and a three-time All-American with seventh and fifth place finishes in addition to winning Lehigh's 27th and most recent individual national championship in 2017. In freestyle, Cruz earned national team status with a runner-up finish at the 2019 World Team Trials challenge tournament and was third on the USA's ladder at 57 kg.
Seeds were announced earlier this week with Cruz grabbing the No. 2 seed at 57 kg and Wood earning the No. 7 seed at 125 kg.
Both Mountain Hawks recently competed at an event hosted by the Nittany Lion Wrestling Club, Sept. 19 in University Park, Pa. Wood used a late charge to defeat Nick Nevills 6-4, while Cruz dropped a 14-4 match to longtime rival Thomas Gilman.
Men's freestyle action at Senior Nationals will begin Saturday at 10 a.m. (CT). Placement matches will begin Sunday at 10 a.m. (CT) while championship finals will be contested at 12:30 p.m. (CT). Streaming video coverage will be available on FloWrestling.org.
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"wood" - Google News
October 08, 2020 at 09:07PM
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Cruz, Wood to return to mats at USA Wrestling Senior Nationals - Lehigh University Athletics
"wood" - Google News
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