Wrestling coach Reina demands attitude of champions

The coach's latest triumph was leading Penn into last weekend's National Duals, a first for an Ivy team. In a sport that holds so much tradition and honor at Penn -- the school hosted the first intercollegiate wrestling competition ever in 1905 -- the reins that held the Quakers wrestling program in 1986 were handed to a 24-year-old Penn graduate by the name of Roger Reina. Fresh out of Penn with an American History degree, Reina served as assistant coach to the Red and Blue, who were then led by Larry Lauchle, who was in his 18th year as head coach of an exceptionally strong team. Who ever believed that young Reina would head the program two years later? "Being so young, I had no fear at all," Reina said. "But I look back now and I wonder how that could have been." Reina was first exposed to wrestling at age eight by his older brother, who wrestled in high school. At a very young age, he was fascinated by the sport. "I find it highly intriguing," Reina said. "It's very personal." In the continuing tradition of strong coaching, Reina has successfully made Penn into one of the top teams in the nation. The Quakers are the reigning Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association (EIWA) Champions and were the first Ivy League team ever to be invited to the National Duals, which occurred last weekend, where they lost to the third- ranked team in the nation, Iowa State, by the slimmest of margins. As Penn coach, Reina has brought his team to many firsts. In addition to the outstanding record of 118-51-3 in the past eight years, Reina has made contributions to this program that most do not know about. For the past few years, Reina has organized a number of community outreach clinics for inner city youths in Philadelphia. On February 8th, the Palestra will welcome Kendall Cross, a 1996 Olympic gold medalist, who will help run a youth development clinic with Reina. The National Wrestling Coaches Association elected the Quakers coach president and named him Coach of the Year in the East. "In this position," Reina said, "we can promote amateur wrestling to the nation's youth." Reina encourages his own wrestlers to help young people at camps over the summer. He himself worked with kids at wrestling camps when he was an undergraduate at Penn. "You're expected to give back," Reina said. "Not just take from the sport, but to help other athletes help youth." The prestige of Penn's program has been steadily growing under Reina's leadership. This year, Penn will host the EIWA Championships. In addition, the Olympic Wrestling Trials were held at the Palestra in 1992. Reina's goal for the program is "continued progress." His wrestlers have already proven that they can compete with the nation's best and have broken into the top-20 in the national rankings. In his first season as head coach, his overall record was 6-14. Last year, the Quakers were 10-0 in dual meets. "There's always people who say you can't do something," Reina said. "I never place any limitations on our team or our program. I love that challenge. "The University's mission is excellence in all things. We want to be a place where you can achieve the highest level of academics and athletics." For the past three years, the Penn wrestling team has been ranked in the top-10 academically, a place where no Ivy League wrestling team has ever been before. Many have touted Reina's team as the greatest team the Ivy League has ever seen. "He's had a vision of what he's wanted the program to be and he's successfully fulfilled those goals," Quakers captain Brandon Slay said. "But he's never been completely satisfied. He knows we can still do more." Now in his 11th season as head coach, Reina is only 35 years old. "He always tells us that he's doing things that people say he can't do," senior Sean O'Hara said. "Through hard work we can do anything. He gets his wrestlers to believe that." Competing in the cutthroat world of Division I athletics and against scholarship schools like top-ranked Iowa has been a challenge that Reina and his wrestlers continually look forward to as they gain national recognition. "As a coach, you have to let them know that you believe in them," Reina said. "It's one of the hardest things: not to settle for less than excellence, yet maintain that belief. "We truly can compete. Going into last year's Eastern championships, there was just a feeling where everyone knew that we were gonna win. That 100 percent group confidence to me is one of the most satisfying things in sports."