The Eastern Wrestling League is an NCAA Division I wrestling-only conference. It is made up mostly of schools from the northeastern United States whose primary conferences do not sponsor wrestling as an NCAA-qualifying event. The league was founded in 1976 and had a charter group led by Penn State, Pittsburgh, Buffalo and three Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) schools in Bloomsburg, Clarion and Lock Haven. In 1978, Buffalo left the league, but West Virginia and Cleveland State were added, growing the league to seven teams. In 1989, the PSAC's Edinboro joined to form an eight-team league.
After the 1992 season, Penn State left the league when the university joined the Big Ten Conference, which holds its own NCAA Division I Championships qualifying tournament. In 1999, Virginia Tech joined the league as it worked to upgrade its program, and the Hokies left following the 2004 season and joined the Atlantic Coast Conference. In the fall of 2011, Pittsburgh announced their acceptance into the Atlantic Coast Conference for all sports. West Virginia left the EWL for the Big 12 Conference in July 2012 after West Virginia and the Big East reached an agreement. The teams have traditionally rotated as hosts of the qualifying tournament. The 2012 championship was held on Saturday March 4, 2012 in Clarion's Waldo S. Tippin Gym and was won by Pittsburgh.
Read more about Eastern Wrestling League: Teams, Former Teams, Team Dual Meet Champions, Team Tournament Champions
Famous quotes containing the words eastern, wrestling and/or league:
“Your Beauty, ripe, and calm, and fresh,
As Eastern Summers are,
Must now, forsaking Time and Flesh,
Add light to some small Star.”
—Sir William Davenant (1606–1668)
“There are people who think that wrestling is an ignoble sport. Wrestling is not sport, it is a spectacle, and it is no more ignoble to attend a wrestled performance of suffering than a performance of the sorrows of Arnolphe or Andromaque.”
—Roland Barthes (1915–1980)
“He will deliver you from six troubles; in seven no harm shall touch you. In famine he will redeem you from death, and in war from the power of the sword. You shall be hidden from the scourge of the tongue, and shall not fear destruction when it comes. At destruction and famine you shall laugh, and shall not fear the wild animals of the earth. For you shall be in league with the stones of the field, and the wild animals shall be at peace with you.”
—Bible: Hebrew, Job 5:19-23.