The Penn men's wrestling team may not garner the most attention on campus, but when it comes to national attention, the Quakers are certainly turning some heads.
While the rest of Penn's students relaxed over this winter break, the wrestling team refused rest and instead continued pursuing what it does best -- sticking to the mats.
Only a few short days after finals and the Christmas holidays, the team travelled to Evanston, Ill. to compete in the Midlands Open hosted by Northwestern University.
Penn lived up to the reputation it has been building this season by capturing fifth place amongst a fierce field, including last year's national champions Iowa.
The Red and Blue took fifth in the team competition -- Penn's second-best performance ever -- led by senior co-captain Yoshi Nakumara. He claimed the Midland Championship in the 157-pound weight class.
Nakumara's championship was only the second in the program's history at the Midlands Open. Andrei Rodzianko took home Penn's first title in 1998.
Co-captain Rick Springman was denied the championship in the final round, losing to 2001 World Bronze medalist Joe Williams.
Williams claimed his eighth straight Midlands with a 6-3 win over Springman.
Sophomore Mason Lenhard took a sixth place finish at the 125 pound weight class.
"Midlands is a really tough tournament," Lenhard said. "It's probably the second toughest tournament to the NCAA and we did really good out there. We took a lot away from that meet."
After Midlands, the Quakers were inactive until yesterday's match against Rider. In the interim, the Red and Blue ascended the national rankings, individually and as a team.
The latest Amateur Wrestling News rankings named the Quakers the ninth best team in the nation.
Nakumara, currently undefeated, moved up two spots to claim the No. 2 position in the 157-lbs. weight class.
At 174-lbs., Springman moved up to third in the rankings from fourth.
However, the Quakers are wary of letting the rankings boost their egos too much.
"Rankings are for people to look at," No. 17 ranked Lenhard said. "They do mean something but not too much. We expect to improve on our rankings. I think we could possibly move up."
On Sunday, the Quakers headed to Lawrenceville, N.J. for a dual meet against the Broncs.
In only their second dual meet of the season, Penn -- despite an admittedly substandard performance -- cruised to a decisive victory, winning 27-11.
The Quakers were defeated in only two weight classes.
"As far as [yesterday] we didn't look that good" Lenhard said. "We were kind of sluggish. We only lost two weights, and even though we didn't wrestle that well, we still won."
The Quakers are back in action in two weeks in the NWCA National Duals with a slate of stiff competitors awaiting before Ivy League play begins.
Penn is confident that after a challenging non-conference schedule it will face little competition from its Ancient Eight foes.
"I think we should totally dominate," Lenhard said. "I don't think we should have any close dual meets."
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