Wrestling awaits winter competition

The Penn wrestling team closes out 1998 at the Midlands Open in Chicago before heading to Hawaii. On New Year's Day, the Penn wrestling team will be enjoying the Hawaiian atmosphere on the island of Oahu -- but this is hardly an ordinary winter vacation. The relaxation on the Hawaiian beaches will be but a pleasant interlude in a five-day flurry of wrestling and traveling for Penn. Before heading to the Aloha State, the Quakers start by traveling to Chicago for the 36th annual Midlands Open on December 29-30. Then they fly to Honolulu on New Year's Eve, where they will compete in the Aloha Classic on January 2. Although Penn will not take the Aloha Classic lightly, clearly the focus of its winter break competition is on the Midlands Open. "Midlands is a showcase of the best athletes," Penn senior Bandele Adeniyi-Bada (275 lbs.) said. "It's probably the most competitive tournament other than Nationals." With more than 50 teams and a handful of unaffiliated wrestlers, it is no surprise that the Midlands historically sees two-thirds of the eventual All-Americans. This provides an excellent opportunity for wrestlers of the Red and Blue to improve their national rankings. "The rankings are important because they seed the top 12 in the NCAA Championships," Penn coach Roger Reina said. "We have several athletes in the 13th to 16th range that can use this tournament as a way to move up a few places." Among those in that 13th-16th range are No. 13 Adeniyi-Bada, senior No. 16 Mark Piotrowsky (141 lbs.) and sophomore No. 16 Yoshi Nakamura (157 lbs.). Nakamura is the highest returning finisher for the Quakers at the Midlands. He placed fifth at Northwestern's Welsh-Ryan Arena as a freshman, helping Penn to an eighth-place finish. No. 3 Brett Matter (149 lbs.) may have the best chance of bringing home a first-place finish for the Quakers. Though the Delran, N.J., native suffered his first loss of the season on Sunday to No. 2 Jamar Billman of Penn State, he hopes to rebound at the Midlands. "Losing always stings," Matter said. "But you've got to take it the right way, learn from it. It's not ever fun to lose, but it's not necessarily a bad thing." The return of Andrei Rodzianko (197 lbs.) means the Quakers must do some line-up reshuffling. After a semester abroad in Russia, the senior captain will step right into the lineup at 197 pounds, according to Reina. Junior Mike Fickell, who has wrestled extremely well in Rodzianko's absence, is the odd man out unless he moves down to 184 pounds. "Andrei and I form what I like to call a one-two punch," Adeniyi-Bada said. "Since I wrestle after him, I watch his matches and get fired up. When he wins I get a big edge in confidence. And when he loses -- which is rare -- I try to make amends for his loss." With only a week of practice under his belt before his first competition in nearly nine months, Rodzianko may not be at peak form for the holiday tournaments. Reina, however, would not speculate on the physical condition of the '98 first team All-Ivy selection. Rodzianko, like the rest of the team, will not have much time to recover for the Aloha Classic after leaving Chicago. With No. 16 Purdue and No. 22 Harvard slated to battle the No. 17 Quakers for the top spot in Honolulu, Penn can not afford a slow recovery from Midlands. Individually, many of the Quakers will have their hands full. Piotrowsky should face rival Dustin DeNunzio from Harvard again. DeNunzio won 5-3 in the Ivy Kickoff Classic earlier this season. Nakamura might also see tough competition from the Crimson with No. 12 Kevin Kurtz. And Rick Springman (165 lbs.), coming off a first place finish in the Penn State Open, should match up against No. 2 Rangi Smart of Brigham Young. With three weeks between the Aloha Classic and the team's next meet, the Quakers can afford to push themselves to the brink. And to Reina, that all-out effort could mean unprecedented Quakers success. "I'm very excited about our team's progress," Reina said. "If we keep on track and make the corrections we need to, we can become the best Penn wrestling team in history." And along the way, they can relax in Hawaii -- a far cry from the often-bleak winter climate of Philadelphia. "This is the first time I'll get to go somewhere nice -- other than like Iowa or Minnesota," Matter said.

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