12 Schools•Division I•Est. 1904
The Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association (EIWA) is the oldest wrestling conference in the nation, founded in 1904 with Columbia, Penn, Princeton, and Yale as charter members — predating the NCAA itself. The EIWA held its first championship tournament in 1905 and has operated continuously ever since, making it one of the most storied conference championships in all of college athletics. The conference currently fields 12 member institutions from the northeastern United States, serving as an automatic qualifier to the NCAA Division I Wrestling Championship. Its members are primarily schools whose main athletic conferences do not sponsor wrestling, including programs from the Patriot League, America East, Northeast Conference, Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference, and Coastal Athletic Association. Franklin & Marshall College is the only Division III school competing in Division I wrestling through the EIWA. Thirty-three different schools have been members across the conference's history, with notable past members including Penn State, Rutgers, Cornell, and the six Ivy League schools, which departed in 2024 to compete under their own Ivy League banner. Lehigh University has been the conference's all-time dominant program with 38 championship titles, followed by Cornell with 27 and Penn State with 16. Cornell claimed three consecutive EIWA championships from 2022 through 2024. The most recent addition to the conference is Morgan State University, which joined in September 2024 as the first HBCU ever admitted to the EIWA. Administrative oversight of the EIWA is provided by the Patriot League, with offices in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.
Official Website
The Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association (EIWA) is the oldest wrestling conference in the nation, founded in 1904 with Columbia, Penn, Princeton, and Yale as charter members — predating the NCAA itself. The EIWA held its first championship tournament in 1905 and has operated continuously ever since, making it one of the most storied conference championships in all of college athletics. The conference currently fields 12 member institutions from the northeastern United States, serving as an automatic qualifier to the NCAA Division I Wrestling Championship. Its members are primarily schools whose main athletic conferences do not sponsor wrestling, including programs from the Patriot League, America East, Northeast Conference, Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference, and Coastal Athletic Association. Franklin & Marshall College is the only Division III school competing in Division I wrestling through the EIWA. Thirty-three different schools have been members across the conference's history, with notable past members including Penn State, Rutgers, Cornell, and the six Ivy League schools, which departed in 2024 to compete under their own Ivy League banner. Lehigh University has been the conference's all-time dominant program with 38 championship titles, followed by Cornell with 27 and Penn State with 16. Cornell claimed three consecutive EIWA championships from 2022 through 2024. The most recent addition to the conference is Morgan State University, which joined in September 2024 as the first HBCU ever admitted to the EIWA. Administrative oversight of the EIWA is provided by the Patriot League, with offices in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.
Official Website