Notebook: Three '99 EIWA champs MIA from Westling

Yoshi nakamura, Jason Nagle and Justin Bravo have all been sidelined. Half of the 10 EIWA wrestling champions last season wore Penn's red and blue. And four of those five champions had at least another year of eligibility left. But of those four, only senior Brett Matter has wrestled this season. For various reasons, senior Jason Nagle and juniors Justin Bravo and Yoshi Nakamura have been conspicuously absent from the Quakers' first two meets. Nagle is taking a leave of absence this semester but is expected to return to his regular 133-pound spot in the lineup for the Midlands Open in late December. Bravo, meanwhile, is taking time off to focus on academics. Penn coach Roger Reina does not know at this point when the 125-pound All-American from a year ago will rejoin the team. "I expect him to take care of academic needs and be a leader and a future star on our team," Reina said. Nakamura's return date is also in question. The 157-pound junior was injured earlier this fall and has been in street clothes at the last two matches. Reina says that Nakamura will be evaluated on a "day-to-day basis," and would not make any predictions on how long he would be sidelined. · The lone returning EIWA Champion, Matter, has picked up right where he left off last year. The 157-pound co-captain has won all eight of his matches, including three by pin and three by technical falls. Matter has been dominant this season, using a fast and furious style to overwhelm opponents. He is on pace to break the Penn single-season record of seven falls, but another record looms larger for Matter. The Delran, N.J., native passed the 100-victory plateau last weekend and now stands second on Penn's all-time victory list with 102. Matter, who posted a 30-6 record last season, now only needs nine more wins to break 1998 graduate Brandon Slay's record of 110. · Freshman Jody Giuricich nearly became the second Penn freshman in as many meets to earn an individual title last weekend. Chris Hanlon captured the 141-pound championship last week in the Ivy League Kickoff Classic, and on Sunday Giuricich had a chance to repeat the feat. But the Blairstown, N.J., native could not, as he lost by a rather mundane 4-0 score to Rider's Derek Jenkins in the 149-pound finals. The score, however, did not come close to capturing the essence of the anything-but-mundane match. Jenkins and Giuricich both started out conservative in the first period, as neither scored in the first three minutes. The match proceeded much the same in the second period, as Jenkins, starting on top, rode Giuricich for the whole two minutes. But, key to the outcome of match, both wrestlers were called for stalling and given a warning. So now another stalling call would result in a one-point penalty. Giuricich started on top in the third period and rode Jenkins for the first minute, but the Penn freshman was called for a controversial stalling penalty that gave Jenkins a one-point lead. "[The penalty] completely changed the match," Reina said. Following the penalty, Reina let Giuricich try to continue to work on top to turn Jenkins and score back points at first, but Penn would have to amend that strategy. "When it looked like that wasn't developing, we went to the second strategy, which was to give [Jenkins] the escape and then go for the takedown," Reina said. Reina could have also let Giuricich continue to ride Jenkins and hope to get a stalling call on the Rider wrestler, but the Penn coach quickly dismissed that option. "If we choose the second option, you're relying on the official to do something for you," Reina said. So at that point, Jenkins had a 2-0 lead. A takedown by Giuricich -- worth two points -- could knot the match up, but it was Jenkins who ultimately scored the only takedown of the day to pull out a slightly tainted 4-0 win. "Most people don't like to see the official become a factor in the match," Reina said. "The official by ultimately awarding that point, I think, definitely became a factor." · Because of the absences of Nagle, Bravo and Nakamura, Reina will have several strategic decisions to make when choosing a lineup against Penn State next month. Kevin Rucci seems to have locked up the 125-pound spot and Keystone Classic champs Matter, Mike Fickell and Bandele Adeniyi-Bada are practically entrenched in their respective spots at 157, 197 and heavyweight. Junior Rick Springman will definitely start, but it is still undecided whether he will fill the 174 or 184 spot. If he wrestles at 184, sophomore Craig Melcher likely takes over the 174 spot. If Springman wrestles at 174, Melcher and senior Mike Gadsby will fight for the 184 spot. Gadsby started there last year but Melcher won a 5-4 decision over him on Sunday. At 133 pounds, freshman Brett Vanderveer is the favorite, but Hanlon could drop down from 141. "It's not confirmed yet but we've been impressed by Vanderveer's work ethic and tenacity and he's making good progress," Reina said. If Hanlon ends up wrestling at 133, Giuricich would take the 141 spot, with junior Martine Apodaca or senior Jonathan Gough taking over at 149. Gough could also potentially move up to 157, with Matter wrestling at 165. If not, senior Tim Ortman would probably start at 165.