Wrestling gains 'exposure and experience' over break

The Penn wrestling team entered the winter break trying to prove that they are a national power, rather than merely a very good Ivy League team. While the results show that the Quakers have not yet reached their goal, they are definitely knocking on the door of national success. First up for the Quakers was the Midlands Invitational, held in Evanston, Ill., on Dec. 29 and 30. The Midlands is widely considered the most competitive meet in the country next to the NCAA championships, and this year marked the first time that Penn would be competing as a team at the tournament. The Quakers were able to hold their own against the nation's best, and several wrestlers advanced deep into the tournament. Most prominent was Brian Eveleth, who placed third in a field of over 40 wrestlers in the 126-pound weight class. Eveleth's lone loss was to Donnel Rawls, a non-collegian and the No. 2 seed. Freshman Brett Matter continued his excellent season by coming within one match -- which he lost 5-4 -- of placing in the top eight at 142 pounds. Penn's other top finish came with a price. Brandon Slay, wrestling at 167 pounds, made it to the semifinals, before re-aggravating a foot injury. He proceeded to lose his next three matches and finished sixth overall. Slay's injury is serious enough that he will probably be forced to miss the rest of the season. "Our team wrestled well," Penn coach Roger Reina said. "Some people could've done better, but for the most part we stepped up to the level of competition." Next up for the Quakers was the Millersville Invitational on Jan. 6. The Quakers entered the meet without the services of injured captain Clinton Matter, who had won the 177-pound class the year before. Penn would also miss heavyweight Joey Allen who was competing with the Ivy League football all-stars in Japan. Nonetheless, Penn dominated the tournament, scoring 163.5 points to finish far ahead of second-place finishers George Mason and Rutgers, who each had 96.5 points. Josh Bailer won the 167-pound weight class for Penn, while Eveleth, Mark Piotrowski and Alex Boisvert all finished second in their respective weight classes. Brett Matter also gained first place in the 142-pound class to continue his great freshman season. "He's definitely a blue-chip recruit, so his success is not surprising," Reina said. "But if someone had asked me before the season if he would be 18-2 so far, I would have said that it would be a tremendous level of performance." The Virginia Duals, held Jan. 12 and 13, gave Penn its first chance this season to square off against other teams in a dual meet. Unlike the scored tournaments, Penn could not rely on the strong performances of a few individuals, but would need a solid showing in each of the 10 weight classes. The Virginia duals featured 16 of the top teams in the country. Penn was almost one of the eight seeded teams, but instead was placed in the open draw, and faced Cal State-Bakersfield, the No. 10 team in the country, in the first round. Penn was able to score victories with Sean O'Hara at 134 pounds and Brett Matter at 142 pounds, but lost the match 28-7. The keys were two wins Penn thought it had in hand, but ended up losing. Ben Hatta lost in overtime at 118 pounds, and Josh Bailer lost at 167 pounds after giving up four points in the last 15 seconds. Penn next faced Ivy League foe Brown in the second round. The Bears kept it close, but fell in the end, 20-16. Penn was able to pick up wins from O'Hara, Brett Matter, Ryan Slack, and Allen. Eveleth also won, upping his record to 21-2 and his national ranking to No. 8. Still, the Quakers expected to defeat Brown by a wider margin than just four points. "We weren't able to string together 10 complete matches," Reina said. "I'm disappointed that the score was so close." No. 13 Michigan awaited Penn in the following round. Reina knew that Penn would have to win the first five weight classes to stand a chance against Michigan, an extremely strong team in the heavier weight classes. The Quakers chances were hurt right off the bat as Hatta lost his match at 118 pounds. He had a 6-3 lead before being taken out of his style, and he eventually dropped the match. Penn came back to win the next three matches behind strong performances by Eveleth, O'Hara and Brett Matter, but then lost the remaining six matches. The Quakers were one break away from winning a few of those matches, especially at 190 pounds where Andrei Rodzienko lost 5-4, needing just 17 more seconds to gain a riding-time point. The final score of 26-9 was not indicative of how close the Quakers were to an upset of one of the country's top teams. "In some ways I can take confidence out of the event in realizing that there were less than ten situations that we could have capitalized on to win the two matches." Reina said. "But at the same time I am disappointed with the outcome because an opportunity to defeat a top team has come and gone." Penn is now at a crossroads in its season, as it makes the shift from tournaments to its league schedule. It won the two scored tournaments that it entered, while also performing well against some of the top teams in the country. The Quakers still have to work on putting ten strong matches together as they move into the dual-meet season. "The next two weeks we'll take the lessons we learned into the practice room and build on our strengths," Reina said. "We had a lot of turnover from last year, and many of our wrestlers are in new positions. The exposure and experience is just what they needed." The key date will be Jan. 27, when Cornell faces off against the Quakers in a match that will likely decide the Ivy title. But Reina also considers Cornell good practice for the end-of-the-year tournaments, when Penn will once again have the opportunity to show that it ranks among the nation's best.