Wrestling 3/7/2026 5:00:00 PM MSU Athletics Communications

Eugene Harney Wins First EIWA Title, Morgan State Place Eighth at Championship

Harney (149) and Yannis Charles (157) have punched their tickets to the NCAA Championships as national qualifiers.

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WASHINGTON, D.C. (March 7, 2026) –Morgan State's Eugene Harney (149) won his first title during Saturday's second day of the 122^nd Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association Championship hosted by American University at Bender Arena.

The Bears totaled 64 points for eighth place in the team standings. Lehigh won the tournament with 163.5 points, and Navy earned second place with 135.5 points.

Morgan State's Eugene Harney made history by becoming the program's first-ever champion at the EIWA Championships and the first conference champion since the return of the Morgan State wrestling program. The redshirt freshman from Cincinnati, Ohio, held off No. 2 seed Riley Bower of Bucknell to record his 28th victory of the season and capture the 149-pound title.

Bower, one of the few wrestlers to defeat Harney earlier this season, struck first in the finals with a first-period pinning combination attempt, scoring a near fall to take a 3–0 lead as the period expired. In the second period, Harney battled back, closing the gap to 4–3 and eventually taking a 5–4 lead.

Late in the match, Bucknell challenged a two-point reversal call that had been waved off, with Harney holding a narrow lead and just 23 seconds remaining. After review, the call stood, and Harney held on down the stretch. His riding-time point proved to be the difference as he secured a 6–5 victory.

In the 157-pound semifinals, Morgan State's No. 12 seed Yannis Charles—who had already pulled off two upsets to reach the round—was tossed on his head out of bounds by Navy's No. 1 seed Jonathan Ley. Charles was awarded a point for Ley's unsportsmanlike conduct, and after he was unable to pass concussion protocol, Charles advanced to the finals.

Unfortunately, Charles was unable to compete in the championship bout after failing concussion protocol and was forced to medically forfeit to Lehigh's Logan Rozynski, finishing as the runner-up at 157 pounds.

With the results, Eugene Harney and Yannis Charles secured bids to the NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships, adding another historic chapter to Morgan State's revived wrestling program.

Consolation Rounds

The EIWA Championships resumed Saturday morning with the consolation semifinals and seventh-place matches, where Morgan State had Treshaun Tecson, Joshua Greenwood, and Cort Vann competing for spots on the podium.

At 133 pounds, Morgan State's No. 11 seed Treshaun Tecson squared off against Franklin & Marshall's No. 4 seed Mason Leiphart in the seventh-place bout. Tecson came out aggressively, scoring a takedown early to take a 3–0 lead. Leiphart responded with an escape to get on the board and cut the deficit to 3–1. Tecson later delivered a strong mat return that resulted in another takedown, extending his advantage to 6–1.

The second period was largely a stalemate, with neither wrestler able to generate scoring opportunities. In the third period, Leiphart earned an escape to make it 6–2, but Tecson maintained control the rest of the way. Leiphart added a late point, but Tecson held on to secure a 6–3 victory and claim seventh place.

At 165 pounds, Morgan State's No. 10 seed Joshua Greenwood squared off against American's No. 11 seed Austin Craft in the seventh-place bout. After a scoreless first period filled with hand fighting and stalemates, Greenwood broke through late in the second period with a takedown with under 15 seconds remaining to take a 3–0 lead. Craft began the third period in the down position and earned an escape to cut the deficit to 3–1. Greenwood responded with another takedown with less than 40 seconds remaining to extend the lead to 6–1. Craft added a late point to make it 6–2, but Greenwood defended a final single-leg attempt in the closing seconds to secure his place on the podium.

In the 174-pound seventh-place match, No. 7 seed Cort Vann faced Army West Point's No. 5 seed, Andrew Christie. The two battled through a scoreless first period with neither wrestler able to gain an advantage. Christie broke the stalemate in the second period with an escape to take a 1–0 lead, then added a single-leg takedown in the center of the mat for three more points with just over a minute remaining. Christie also accumulated 1:24 of riding time and carried a 4–0 lead into the third period. From there, he maintained control down the stretch to secure a 5–0 victory.

In the afternoon, Vann faced No. 4 seed Jasiah Queen of Drexel University in the match for fifth place. The opening period was scoreless. In the second, Queen chose down and recorded an escape to take a 1–0 lead. Vann answered with an escape early in the third period to tie the bout at 1–1.

The match ended in controversial fashion. As the wrestlers went out of bounds, Vann's headgear came off and fell near the center of the mat. When he returned to retrieve it and tossed it toward the Morgan State bench, the official assessed a penalty point, awarding Queen a 2–1 victory to claim fifth place.

The Bears capped the EIWA Championships with historic performances, highlighted by Harney's title, strong top-seven finishes across the lineup, and two NCAA qualifiers in Harney and Yannis Charles, signaling a triumphant return for Morgan State wrestling.

EIWA Championship Standings | Results
1. Lehigh – 163.5
2. Navy – 135.5
3. Bucknell – 126.5
4. Army West Point – 117
5. Drexel – 109
6. American – 86.5
7. Binghamton – 79
8. Morgan State – 64
9. Franklin & Marshall – 56.5
10. Hofstra – 35.5
11. Long Island – 7.5
12. Sacred Heart – 6

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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ABOUT MORGAN
Morgan State University, founded in 1867, is a Carnegie-classified high research (R2) institution offering nearly 140 academic programs leading to degrees from the baccalaureate to the doctorate. As Maryland's Preeminent Public Urban Research University, and the only university to have its entire campus designated as a National Treasure by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, Morgan serves a multiethnic and multiracial student body and seeks to ensure that the doors of higher education are opened as wide as possible to as many as possible. For more information about Morgan State University, visit www.morgan.edu.

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