Wrestling finishes second to No. 12 ASU

The Penn wrestling team was unable to topple Arizona State. Heading into this festive week, the Penn wrestling team has plenty to be thankful for, but they still have plenty to prove. The Quakers welcomed six top-caliber programs to the Palestra yesterday to compete in the Fourth Annual Keystone Classic. A well-prepared Penn squad, ranked No. 17 in the preseason, edged out No. 11 Rider by 3.5 points but fell to an outstanding No. 12 Arizona State team by nearly 30 points. "It's a bittersweet victory for us," Penn coach Roger Reina said. "We had hoped to beat Arizona State, but we did beat a nationally-ranked Rider team." The Quakers managed to garner four of the ten individual titles yesterday before their home fans. Brett Matter (149), junior tri-captain and last week's Ivy League Kickoff Classic Champ put on a show for the crowd at the Palestra. Matter was the top seed in his weight class and proved why. His semi-final match against Seton Hall's John Perna was a 20-6 trouncing. "I'm really excited about Matter's performance," Reina said. Matter overcame ASU's Quinn Foster 12-7 in the finals on his way to capturing the tournament's Most Outstanding Wrestler Award. "I faltered in a couple of spots, like the early points I gave up, but I fought hard out there," Matter said. Also fighting hard on Sunday was Bandele Adeniyi-Bada (285). The Penn big man was apprehensive going into his final against Sun Devil Randy Leydecker. "That was my hardest match of the year," Adeniyi-Bada said. "I was nervous going in. But I talked to my mother, and she calmed me down. She told me to pray to God and everything will work out." His 7-5 squeaker was indicative of the fortitude displayed by the heavier members of the Penn team. "Our upperweights really came together," Reina said. "We struggled in the early rounds and with the lesser weights, but we got stronger as the day progressed." Junior Mike Fickell (197), his weight class's No. 2 seed, pulled out a 12-9 win against ASU's Micah Daggy in the finals. Fickell's late victory helped close the gap with the Pac-10 team and, more importantly, pushed the Quakers ahead of Rider. "I knew I could beat those guys. It was just a matter of getting the job done," Fickell said. Sophomore Yoshi Nakamura's 7-3 championship victory did more to secure Penn's margin over Rider, however. "I knew going into the finals that I had to win," Nakamura (157) said. "I was in a head-to-head match with a Rider guy. Coach tells us that these match-ups are big, so I guess it was important that I came through." Last week at Cornell, the Quakers had particular trouble with their performances in consolation matches. It looks as if they learned their lesson quickly. Yesterday saw Penn win seven of nine championships or consolation matches. More impressive is the fact that one of these two losses was by Joe Chandler of Penn to sophomore Rick Springman in the 165 pound contest for third place honors. "Springman wrestled extremely well," Reina said. "The two wrestlers that beat him were nationally-ranked stars." Even with the absence of senior tri-captain Mark Piotrowsky from the varsity lineup, the Quakers may still have more seriously challenged ASU's supremacy if things had gone differently in the lower weight classes. Sophomore Justin Bravo (125), a victor last weekend and the No.4 seeded competitor in his division, lost his first round match to Virginia's Bob Seidel. Although he fought on and finished fifth, he failed to do much to advance the Penn cause. Junior James Brennan's loss in the 133-pound final was also a tough pill to swallow. Sun Devil Eric Larkin pinned Brennan with 16 seconds left in the first period and did further damage to the Quakers' chances against the team from the other coast. Despite the loss to ASU, the Quakers showed signs of excellence yesterday. Their Thanksgiving feasts could use an extra helping of consistency, but they have no reason to eat humble pie.