Six Penn wrestlers will be aiming to end their season as national champions when they travel to Kansas City, Mo., to compete in the NCAA Championships.
Sophomore Matt Feast will spearhead the Quakers' quest this weekend.
Feast ended his regular season with a first-place finish in the Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association Championships, running his current winning streak to 14 consecutive matches. Feast will enter the tournament ranked No. 6 at 285 pounds.
In the opening round match Feast will be pitted against Wisconsin's Justin Staebler.
As the tournament continues, Feast could face the three highest ranked wrestlers in his weight class.
Air Force's Kevin Hoy (No. 2) and Ohio State's Tommy Rowland (No. 3) are both in the lower half of the bracket with Feast. However, everyone will be gunning for Iowa's Steve Mocco who is currently ranked No. 1 in the nation.
Accompanying Feast will be senior Jody Giuricich. Giuricich came in second place in last weeks EIWA Championships, losing in the 149-pound championship match to Harvard's Jesse Jantzen.
Giuricich will face some stiff competition early in the tournament against Jeremy Spates of Missouri (No. 12) in the opening round.
Should Giuricich pull off the first round upset, he would most likely face another tough match as Oklahoma State's Jerrod Sanders (No. 5) is a possible second round draw.
Junior Doug McGraw will be joining sophomore Paul Velekei and freshmen Matt Valenti and Matt Herrington as first time participants in the season-ending NCAA Championships.
After McGraw finished third at the EIWAs at 141-pounds, he will enter this weekends matches with a difficult draw.
Shane Cunanan of West Virginia will be McGraw's first round opponent. Neither wrestler enters their match ranked in the top-12 of their weight class.
Should McGraw advance past the opening round he would most likely have to face Oklahoma State's Zach Esposito who is currently ranked No. 2.
Paul Velekei (21-7) also earned a favorable first round match-up in the 197-pound bracket. Cal Poly's David Schenk will be Velekei's opening round competition.
However, a possible second round match-up with No. 4 Chris Skretkowicz of Hofstra is a strong possibility for Velekei.
Matt Valenti (30-9) enters the NCAA Championships after one of the most accomplished freshman seasons Penn has seen.
After a second-place finish in EIWAs, Valenti became the first rookie wrestler to hit the 30-win plateau since Brett Matter -- the program's all-time leading winner -- accomplished the feat seven years ago.
Despite Valenti's impressive record, an opening round draw against No. 3 Ben Vombaur of Boise State will make advancing deep into this weekend's action extremely difficult.
Matt Herrington (20-9) also enters the tournament with a tough draw. Jake Huffman of Oregon State will be the first round match-up for the Penn freshman.
Despite not being ranked heading into the tournament, Huffman has an impressive 24-11 record and is coming off a third place finish in the Pac-10 Conference tournament.
