The Penn wrestling team will be heading to State College, Pa. this weekend to compete in the Nittany Lion Open, but until the Quakers get there, they will have no idea who their opponents will be. Since the tournament is open, there is no limit as to how many teams may show up.
"It's an open tournament, so you could have 30 to 40 schools show up," Penn coach Roger Reina said. "Our main goal right now is to develop quickly and going against this good competition should help us to reach that goal."
The Red and Blue are coming into this weekend's action on a high note, after their first-place finish in the Keystone Classic held two weeks ago at the Palestra.
Penn had three wrestlers win their respective weight classes en route to scoring 132 points and pulling away from the rest of the competition.
Senior co-captain Jody Giuricich led the way with his four wins, all by fall, and a championship at 149 pounds.
Giuricich's performances also earned him Champion of Champions honors for having the best performance of any wrestler in the field.
Paul Velekei and Matt Feast also continued their solid early season efforts.
Feast won his second consecutive championship in last weekend's tourney at 285 pounds.
Velekei won his first Classic title by beating Iowa State's Woodley Milord, 7-3.
"We wrestled pretty well," Giuricich said. "We are pretty confident going into this weekend."
Also contributing for the Red and Blue was Matt Herrington, who finished second in his second collegiate meet. Marcus Schontube, Dan Mousetis and Matt Eveleth all earned third-place honors.
Coming into this season, the Red and Blue had high expectations for their performance. Up to this point, they have lived up to the hype.
After finishing second behind Michigan State to open the year and following that up with the Keystone Classic first place finish, the Quakers are steadily climbing their way up the national rankings.
Currently, Penn is ranked 24th in the nation in the Intermat wrestling poll, and has already competed against quality opponents -- No. 9 MSU and No. 11 ISU.
"We have been working hard all season," Giuricich said. "We have tried to get a lot of experience for the younger guys, really get them acclimated to college wrestling and they've done really well."
The road will not get any easier, however, as the Nittany Lions are currently ranked as high as 20th in some publications.
"We aren't really gearing up for one team in particular," Giuricich said. "The competition [at Penn State] is always pretty tough. You have to be prepared for all the teams."
