Fungus takes the Pride out of Hofstra

After the Penn wrestling team's dominating 37-9 victory over No. 23 Hofstra yesterday, Tom Ryan attempted to justify his team's surprisingly poor performance. "Penn was definitely a quality team to beat," the Hofstra coach said. "But when half of your team has ringworm, it's hard to do." Hofstra was one of the four teams bested by the No. 19 Quakers (7-2, 3-1 Ivy) this weekend. Along with Hofstra, the Red and Blue defeated Brown, Rider and Harvard. "Our goal this week was to be dominant in each of these meets," Penn coach Roger Reina said. "And this weekend, we had more of a team effort, all 10 guys performing well together." Penn's supposedly toughest bout of the weekend failed to materialize when Hofstra forfeited four of its first five matches due to medical conditions. "It's like handing someone a gun, knife, boxing gloves and a flame-thrower and saying, 'Hey, try to hurt me,'" Ryan said. The most important match of the meet involved 19th-ranked freshman Matt Herrington against Hofstra's 15th-ranked Ralph Everett at 174 pounds. Herrington earned his first victory over a top-15 opponent with a 5-2 decision. "This was a big match for me since I stuck to my techniques and gave the ranking officials something to think about next time around," Herrington said. Yesterday's Hofstra meet was the second of three dual meets for the Quakers, who had already competed against the Crimson on Saturday. "We scheduled the three dual meets in a row after Harvard for a reason," Reina said. "We wanted to give our guys practice for the constant weighing in and wrestling that occurs at the championships at the end of the season." Paul Velekei's pin over Harvard's P.J. Jones at 197 pounds broke a 6-6 tie. Velekei had secured a 9-1 lead over Jones before earning the fall in the third period of the match. The Quakers rode Velekei's momentum for the next three matches, including a comeback win by freshman Matt Eveleth. Trailing 4-2 in the final period, Eveleth gained an escape and scored the winning takedown with 13 seconds remaining against Harvard's Max Meltzer at 133 pounds. The Quakers went on to win, 25-11. The marquee matchup of the Crimson meet, featuring Penn senior captain Jody Giuricich against his high school rival and No. 4 Jesse Jantzen, never took place. Giuricich's knee injury kept him out of the entire weekend and postponed his rival match until at least the Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association championships. The Quakers jumped out to an auspicious beginning yesterday against Brown, as 20th-ranked freshman Matt Valenti scored his seventh pinfall of the season, over Lucas Magnani at 125 pounds. Seventeenth-ranked junior Doug McGraw earned a 13-0 major decision over Greg Pace at 141 pounds. The Quakers won a total of six bouts in their 27-11 victory, including a 9-6 heavyweight victory by sixth-ranked sophomore Matt Feast. "He's starting to wrestle at a really fast pace that by the Easterns and the NCAAs, there may not be a heavyweight in the country that can keep up with him," Reina said. The final match yesterday against Rider was a chance for several Quaker wrestlers to complete a perfect 4-0 weekend. Valenti, Eveleth, McGraw and Feast all finished 4-0 with victories over Rider in their respective weight classes. Velekei improved to 3-0 on the weekend with a 3-2 win over Rider's nationally-ranked Greg Sawyer. "We were able to go right from one match to the next all the way through Rider without suffering a letdown," Penn senior Brett Vanderveer said. "That's very important for our confidence heading into the end of the season."

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