Wrestling falls to Ivy rival Harvard

For the second straight season, the Penn wrestling team, No. 17 in the nation in the pre-season Intermat rankings, entered the Ivy League Kickoff Classic a consensus favorite. Just like 1997, however, the Quakers came away with only a hard-fought second-place finish in the season opener. "We took second when we came in as the team-to-beat," Penn senior Bandele Adeniyi-Bada said. "I don't think that anybody from top to bottom should feel satisfied about Saturday." Last year the Quakers were bridesmaids to the Big Red of Cornell. This year it was Harvard who narrowly defeated the Red and Blue, 159.5 to 145. The predictions that Cornell and Harvard would emerge as Quakers toughest competition on Saturday. proved well-founded. "Harvard didn't really surprise me," Reina said. "They are a team that's going to be gunning for us all year. We were in a position to win, but we just didn't perform like we could have at the end." A 19-point lead over Cornell helped the Quakers' cause, but losing to Harvard has to be disheartening. "They're a good team," Adeniya-Bada said. "I think that later in the year, when we have a chance to focus in on them, we'll beat them." Penn may not have proved all that they wanted to, but the Kickoff Classic did provide its share of individual highlights for the Penn squad. Penn junior Brett Matter , Adeniya-Bada, sophomore Justin Bravo (125) and 1997-'98 Ivy Rookie of the Year Rick Springman all walked out of Cornell's Teagle Hall with individual titles. Penn had the exact same number of champions and finalists as Harvard did -- four and two respectively. The depth just was not there on Saturday. "What really hurt us was our performance in the consolation matches for third and fifth," Penn coach Roger Reina said. "We went zero-for-six." Matter, a two-time NCAA qualifier and EIWA champion, showed why he is touted as America's sixth best wrestler in his weight class. He catapulted past the rest of the 149 pounders to a final match 12-4 domination of Harvard's Joel Friedman "Brett did exactly what we needed to see from him," Reina said. "He showed that he's really above and beyond the competition." The sole Quaker to repeat as Kickoff Classic champion was heavyweight Adeniya-Bada. He also faced a Crimson wrestler, James Lewis, in his final match winning by a score of 5-3. "He was a good wrestler, but I came in with the goals of pushing myself and blowing everybody out," Adeniya-Bada said. "I was able to do that in my first two matches. I was able to score on them whenever I needed to. In my final match I just closed down on myself." Justin Bravo (125) finished atop his weight class and beat some excellent competitors along the way. Most importantly, he seems to have matured and shows no sign of a sophomore slump. "In his semi-final match, he avenged a loss to Aaron Taylor that he suffered in last year's dual meet," Reina said. "That's definitely a sign of maturity." Bravo battled with Brown's Pete Porcetta in his championship match, falling behind by six before edging-out the junior by a slim margin of 10 to nine. Porcetta was ranked just behind Bravo in the pre-season EIWA poll. Rounding out the list of Penn victors was sophomore Rick Springman (174). The 1997-'98 Ivy League Rookie of the Year got the better of Cornell's Joe Tucceri in the final by three points, 7-4. "Rick wasn't as aggressive as he should have been in his final, but he was pretty much always in control," Reina said. Senior tri-captain Mark Piotrowsky (141) managed to finish second in a field which boasted Dustin DeNunzio, Harvard's top wrestler and the nation's No. 3. "We've wrestled a bunch of times," Piotrowsky said. "I know that he's going to be there." Yoshi Nakamura, another member of last year's illustrious recruiting class, lost to a Crimson wrestler in the championship.