Wrestling goes after EIWA title

The undefeated Penn wrestling team travels to Army in search of its fourth EIWA title in a row. The Penn wrestling team, ranked 13th in the nation, has compiled a 10-0-2 record en route to a fourth consecutive Ivy League title. Cornell -- right behind Penn at No. 14 -- tied the Quakers 16-16 on January 29 as the two squads finished '99 as Ivy co-champions. And Lehigh, No. 17, barely lost to Penn, 21-18, on February 12. But only one of these three teams will come out on top at the EIWA Championships this weekend at Holleder Center in West Point, N.Y. Which one of those teams is anyone's guess. On paper, Lehigh has the highest expected seeding in the EIWA but the Engineers have lost five meets this season. The Quakers, however, have won the last three EIWA titles. "Penn is balanced and has a stronger team from top to bottom," Harvard coach Jay Weiss said. Then again, three of the 10 Quakers are unseeded, while Cornell has all 10 of its wrestlers in the top six. "At every single weight we have guys capable of going to Nationals," Cornell head coach Rob Kohl said. "So we have as good a chance as anyone." Harvard, meanwhile, has an outside chance to sneak into the top three. The Crimson outlasted Penn and Cornell in the Ivy League Kickoff Classic in November but a recent 23-13 loss to Brown shows how far they have fallen. Besides crowning the EIWA team champion, the tournament also serves as a qualifier for Nationals. The top two wrestlers in each weight class, along with six wild cards, will advance to Penn State on March 18-20. Here is how each of the weight classes stack up: 125 lbs. Defending champion Jeremy Sluyter of East Stroudsberg is the favorite again. Penn's Justin Bravo will likely need to knock off Lehigh's Bruce Kelly in the semifinals to get a crack at Sluyter. This is a beneficial draw for Penn as Bravo pinned Kelly in just 39 seconds three weeks ago. Brown's Pete Poretta could surprise people as he looked strong in a 7-2 victory over Bravo last month. 133 lbs. This is arguably the weakest weight class since it contains no wrestlers ranked nationally. Princeton's Juan Venturi should be the top seed. His toughest competition will come from Brown's Livo DiRubbo and Cornell's Nate Rupp. Venturi beat Rupp 8-6 in a dual meet earlier this year. Penn's Jason Nagle won't be seeded but he wrestled DiRubbo close and upset the likely fifth seed, Harvard's Matt Picarsic. It would be no surprise if the Quakers senior found a way to place in the top six. 141 lbs. Harvard's Dustin DeNunzio, ranked No. 7 in the nation, is the returning champion. Penn's Mark Piotrowsky and Cornell's Ben New will likely battle in the semifinals for the right to face DeNunzio. Both are ranked in the top 15 nationally. Piotrowsky, however, is winless in five meetings with DeNunzio. 149 lbs. This will be the strongest weight class. Penn's Brett Matter, No. 4 in the nation, is the likely top seed. He is looking for a third EIWA championship. Lehigh's Ryan Bernholz, No. 6, and Cornell's Shawn Bradley, No. 9, are seeded second and third, respectively. They have beaten each other up this season, as Bradley defeated Matter, who then defeated Bernholz, who had already beaten Bradley. With these three wrestlers hailing from the top three teams, this weight class is vital in the race for the team championship. 157 lbs. Lehigh's Chris Ayres, No. 9 in the nation, should be the top seed. He defeated likely No. 2 seed Kevin Kurtz of Harvard 5-3 earlier this season and has won two of three matches against the probable No. 3 seed, Penn's Yoshi Nakamura. Nakamura and Kurtz, likely opponents in the semifinals, have wrestled twice this season. Kurtz won both by close margins -- 2-1 in the Kickoff Classic and 6-4 in sudden death at the Palestra. 165 lbs. This weight class is definitely loaded with explosive wrestlers. Penn's Rick Springman and Lehigh's Travis Doto have scored bonus team points -- awarded for major decisions, tech falls and pins -- in more than half of their matches. The wild card is Harvard's Joey Killar. Killar, No. 7 in the country, is 17-2 but has been out since January 5 with a rib injury. Doto will probably be the top seed on account of his 11-4 victory last month over Springman and upset of Killar in last year's EIWA semifinals. But the Lehigh junior is prone to upset losses -- he lost earlier this season to unseeded Nick Almeida of Brown. 174 lbs. Cornell's Joe Tucceri and Lehigh's Mark Dufresne are the top seeds. Penn's Ryan Slack was fifth at the EIWAs in 1997. He could place here in a weak weight class. 184 lbs. Lehigh's John Van Doren, No. 4 in the nation, will be the top seed. Three other wrestlers are ranked in the top 20 nationally, but all will have a tough time against the Engineers senior. Penn's Mike Gadsby is unseeded but could sneak into the top six with a strong tournament. 197 lbs. Penn's Andrei Rodzianko has not lost this season. He should continue his unbeaten ways this weekend. Rodzianko, No. 3 in the nation, will likely face national No. 11 Bob Greenleaf of Cornell in the finals. Rodzianko only won 4-3 when he faced Greenleaf in the dual meet season, but the Penn senior controlled the tempo of the match. On a side note, the Fletcher Award, given to the active wrestler with the most career EIWA points, is within Rodzianko's reach. With 50 points, the Quakers' senior trails only Ayres (54.5) and Van Doren (51). 275 lbs. Penn has not had an EIWA heavyweight champion since Mike Dorizas in 1916, but that could change this year, as senior Bandele Adeniyi-Bada is the likely No. 1 seed. Adeniyi-Bada defeated his probable semifinal opponent, Cornell's Seth Charles, 4-3 in a dual meet. He will likely face either Rutgers' Tom Petko or Lehigh's Shawn Laughlin in the finals. However, Adeniyi-Bada may still be hampered by a hand injury he suffered two weeks ago. · The tournament starts at noon today with the preliminary round. The semifinals begin at 11 a.m. tomorrow, with the finals to be held at 7 p.m.