Over the break, senior Matt Feast will look to earn his 100th career victory as the Penn wrestling team travels to Evanston, Ill., for the 42nd Midlands Championships.
The win would put him in an exclusive circle of Penn wrestlers that includes All-Americans Brett Matter (128 wins), Yoshi Nakamura (115), Olympic gold-medalist Brandon Slay (110), and Rick Springman (109). Feast took fifth place last year as the fourth-seeded grappler in the tournament. This year, Feast walks in ranked fourth in the nation in the 285-pound weightclass by Wrestling International News Magazine.
Despite his early success this season, Feast remains humble in his chase of the century mark.
"It's not the biggest milestone," Feast said. "It is important though. Few collegiate wrestlers get their 100th win. I'm kind of proud about that. It was a really big thing in high school getting that 100th win. It will be important to me again."
The Midlands Championships, which will be held Dec. 29 and 30, will serve as a challenging primer for the elite level of competition the Quakers will face in the Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association and NCAA championships early next year.
"It's a really good gauge of the competition we'll face in the EIWA and NCAA tournaments," senior Marcus Schontube said. "The top teams in the nation will be there, so it really shows you how you'll perform against similar competition down the line. It's really competitive, and hard to win, but if you win it you get a lot of recognition."
Two years ago, the Red and Blue, currently ranked 21st in the nation by the USA Today/National Collegiate Wrestling Association coaches' poll, placed 23rd at the competition, and last year it improved to the 12th position in the team standings. The Quakers will look to continue that trend this year.
"Our goal is to continue improving," Quakers coach Roger Reina said. "I believe we have the capability of finishing in the top 10. In Las Vegas we hit the wall on the second day."
"Our job is to elevate our efforts, and build on the experience we gained in Vegas, to have a strong first and second day," Reina added. "I expect every one of our wrestlers to break through and surprise the nation."
Illinois, the defending champion, enters as the favorite this year, and a target looms on the team's collective back. Iowa and Iowa State are two other highly touted teams in this competition of over 60 squads from across the nation. However, some of the stiffest competition for Penn will probably come from another Pennsylvania team, sixth-ranked Lehigh.
"I know Lehigh has a really tough lineup," Schontube said. "They have a lot of nationally ranked guys. There will be a lot of key matches. We'll get a chance to see a fairly wide range of competition there, but Lehigh will probably be some of the hardest competition we'll see there."
The 42nd Midlands will record the 8,000th individual entry into the tournament. This 8,000th entry will be acknowledged from among the 160 first-time entrants. The field of individual competitors has produced 36 Olympic medalists since the 1968 Mexico City games.
Feast may cross paths with another Olympic hopeful who is also a familiar face.
"There's a kid who used to wrestle here," Feast said. "His name is Mike Faust, he transferred to Virginia Tech. Depending on how the brackets are set up, he might be in my path.
"There is a kind of an emotional factor when you're playing a guy you know. You have to compete against him, but that is all part of the game. Other than him I'm not sure of what teams and wrestlers are going to be there."
The Quakers have been focusing in on their work ethic in between competitions, not being swayed too much by their tournament results. This year they placed second at the Keystone Classic and 13th at the Las Vegas Invitational.
"Well we take each tournament as a learning experience," Feast said. "We film all the matches so we can watch specific points we need to focus on technically in different categories. We need to review our mistakes, and hope to make changes in the wrestling room. But I feel we've been working harder than usual."
