Eight Penn wrestlers honored by Ivies

After wrapping up a season that saw three Penn wrestlers earn All-American honors, an 11th-place finish in the nation and a fourth-straight Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association Championship, the post-season accolades have now begun to roll in for the Quakers. Penn tri-captain and 197-pounder Andrei Rodzianko picked up first team All-Ivy honors, as did heavyweight Bandele Adeniyi-Bada and 165-pounder Rick Springman. Garnering second-team All-Ivy status were Brett Matter (149 lbs.), Yoshi Nakamura (157 lbs.), Justin Bravo (125 lbs.) and Jason Nagle (133 lbs.). Rounding out the All-Ivy Quakers was senior tri-captain Mark Piotrowsky (141 lbs.), who was named an honorable mention. Although Penn improved from 27th in the nation to 11th and finished well ahead of any other league rival at the NCAA Championships, only three Quakers were selected to the first team -- down one from last year. Dustin DeNunzio of Harvard nabbed the Wrester of the Year Award. The Rookie of the Year Award went to Brown heavyweight Bronson Lingamfelter, who was also an honorable mention pick. Springman earned the award last year for Penn. The Quakers went through the dual meet season undefeated, posting a 10-0-2 (4-0-1 Ivy League) mark, but shared the Ivy League crown with rival Cornell. The Big Red, however, only placed two wrestlers on the first team while third-place Brown tied Penn with three first-team selections. But Penn coach Roger Reina does not feel surprised or slighted. "It's all done through dual meets," Reina said. "If someone loses a dual meet in the Ivy League they're probably not going to be first team." That explains the case of three-time EIWA champ Matter, who took fifth in the nation to earn All-America honors yet was placed behind Cornell's Shawn Bradley, who did not place at the NCAAs. Bradley beat Matter in overtime in the Penn-Cornell dual meet, which left Matter with a 4-1 Ivy League dual match record and Bradley with a 5-0 mark. "The coaches pretty much vote along the dual meet records," Reina said. "This doesn't take into account how people finished at the Eastern championships or national results or anything outside of just Ivy League dual meets." The laurels did not stop there for Rodzianko, who finished the year with a 25-2 match record and ended up ranked fourth in the country. The Management and Technology senior also was named to the GTE Academic All-America First Team. He and Penn State senior Glenn Pritzlaff -- who won the 174-lb. title at Nationals -- were the only wrestlers named to the first team. "I think he works very hard," Reina said. "Anybody that looks at those accomplishments? might be quick to talk about how gifted he must be. "While he is gifted, he works very hard at the sport and he works very hard academically." For Rodzianko, the GTE honor adds another notch to his growing belt of accolades. He has already won championships at the Midlands Open and the EIWA tournament, where he was named Most Outstanding Wrester and given the John Fletcher Memorial Trophy, which is awarded to the wrester who has earned the most team points at the EIWA tournament.

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