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:
“The eastern light our spires touch at morning,
The light that slants upon our western doors at evening,
The twilight over stagnant pools at batflight,
Moon light and star light, owl and moth light,
Glow-worm glowlight on a grassblade.
O Light Invisible, we worship Thee!”
—T.S. (Thomas Stearns)
“We laugh at him who steps out of his room at the very moment when the sun steps out, and says: “I will the sun to rise”; and at him who cannot stop the wheel, and says: “I will it to roll”; and at him who is taken down in a wrestling match, and says: “I lie here, but I will that I lie here!” And yet, all laughter aside, do we ever do anything other than one of these three things when we use the expression, “I will”?”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)
“Stereotypes fall in the face of humanity. You toodle along, thinking that all gay men wear leather after dark and should never, ever be permitted around a Little League field. And then one day your best friend from college, the one your kids adore, comes out to you.”
—Anna Quindlen (b. 1952)