Wrestling wants to be seen as a force

At the Penn State Open, Penn wants to assert its national prominence. Penn wrestling coach Roger Reina puts little stock in tournament results. As his 14th-ranked Quakers head into the Penn State Open Sunday, he is not preoccupied with pretournament predictions. Rather, he is worrying about his team's focus and intensity. "More important than the outcome is how the team approaches training following the lessons learned in competition," Reina said. The Quakers have plenty to think about as they prepare for Penn St. First, Penn encounters 10th-ranked Penn St., a team that handed the Quakers a loss at the National Dual Meets last year. Penn came off a hard-fought, 16-16 tie to then-No. 4 Iowa State and performed "flat" against Penn St., according to Reina. Reina, however, is reluctant to over-emphasize one team's wrestlers out of the estimated 300 Sunday. "They're just another rung in the ladder for us," he said. Team captain Brandon Slay, who competes Sunday at 177 pounds in his third Penn St. Open, also downplays the revenge factor. "A lot of guys on the team weren't there for that dual," Slay said. "Because our team is young, I don't think that dual last year is representative of anything." Navy also provides a tough rung in Penn's ladder. Sunday marks one of the only opportunities the Quakers have to face Navy before the Eastern championships, which makes the head-to-head matchups with the Midshipmen all the more important for rankings and seedings. Individually for the Quakers, senior Steve Walker faces important competition at Penn St. He recently broke into the top 12 nationally in the 126-pound division. Walker gets a rematch against Penn St.'s 10th-ranked Jason Betz, to whom Walker lost at last year's National Duals. Senior captain Mark Piotrowsky also entered the national top 12, ranking 11th in the 134-pound division. Impressive showings at Penn St. will help Walker and Piotrowsky in their bids for All-American honors. Heavyweight junior Bandele Adeniyi-Bada runs into stiff competition from Navy's Colin Crickard, who is ranked ahead of Adeniyi-Bada in the East. Overall, Reina hopes his young team gains valuable match experience against more national competition Sunday. "I expect us to grow and have more solid, complete performances than we had two weeks ago [at the Keystone Classic]," Reina said. And, if tradition holds, "We'll grow a lot faster than the competition." Penn hopes that growth will give it a boost as it begins to enter bigger, and more nationally important tournaments, namely the Midlands Tournament and the National Dual Meets. "If we don't take our bumps and bruises now, we're never going to learn," Quakers freshman Yoshi Nakamura said. "I can definitely say I've been taking bumps and bruises along the way -- big ones. But each day I learn from that." After an intense week of practice and what Slay termed a "re-analyzing" of the team's goals of improved conditioning and increased physical competition, the Penn St. Open comes at a crucial point in the season for the young Quakers. They did not assert themselves as the truly dominant, national contender they want to be in their second-place finish at the Ivy Kickoff Classic and their narrow victory at the Keystone Classic.

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.