Penn wrestler Matt Feast reached one more milestone Saturday afternoon as the Quakers returned to their winning ways.
Wrestling in four matches over the course of two days, the Red and Blue (8-3, 3-1 Ivy) went 4-0 while Feast surpassed Olympic gold medalist Brandon Slay for third on the program's all-time win list.
Feast won all four of his matches this weekend to pass Slay. The nation's sixth-ranked wrestler (NWCA/ Intermat Coaches' Poll) got victory number 110 under his belt as he defeated Brown's Lee Beane to tie Slay. Then, in his final match of the weekend, Feast scored two escape points to win a decision over North Carolina's Spencer Nadolsky, 2-0. It was Feast's 111th victory of his career, good for third on the all-time list.
"I'm so proud of Matt that he has set his goal to end up carrying on this tradition and it doesn't bother me, really in the least bit, that he broke my record today," Slay said. "Hopefully a Penn wrestler in the future will break Brett Matter's record for all-time wins."
Matter, a former Penn wrestler and NCAA champion, currently holds the record amongst Penn wrestlers for career wins at 128, out of Feast's reach. Below Matter on the list is Yoshi Nakamura with 115, four more than Feast. The Cressona, Pa., native knows he is in elite company and is aware of the history behind it.
"Those guys are all great role models to me and people I looked up to before I got here, so I'm proud about that," Feast said of Slay, Matter, and the others.
As for the rest of the team, it was a successful weekend. After the dreadful 30-3 loss at Cornell last weekend, the Quakers (No. 25 USA Today/NWCA Coaches' Poll) quickly settled back on the right track against some lesser opponents.
On Friday, Penn dispatched Ivy League foe Harvard by an overall score of 28-15. In that match, Feast had to contend with sophomore Bode Ogunwole, ranked No. 7 nationally. He is Harvard's highest-ranked wrestler and proved Feast's stiffest test of the weekend, but the Penn senior rose to the occasion and downed his opponent, 4-3.
The Red and Blue did not relent, and made handy work of Franklin and Marshall next. The final score of the match was 40-6.
Overall, Penn's competition Friday was not top class. The two opponents boasted a combined record of 3-18 coming into the meets.
Saturday brought more of the same for the Quakers. First, Penn denied Brown an Ivy League victory by beating the Bears 19-12. Then, in the weekend's final dual meet, Penn defeated North Carolina by a score of 24-10.
Regardless of the level of competition, though, the home victories were important for the team.
"We've been on the road quite a bit and it's always fun to wrestle in the Palestra and have alumni come back and have the crowd support that we have here at home," Penn coach Roger Reina said. "Overall, I think it was a good team effort and I think we'll really be able to build on this going down the final stretch of the season."
The Red and Blue has two dual meets remaining on the season. Two weeks from now, the team will contend with Princeton at home and Lehigh on the road. After that, and seemingly not long after the season first started, the wrestlers will compete in the Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association and NCAA championships. At this stage in the season, the Quakers are looking to build momentum in anticipation of the high-profile tournaments.
"That's what it's all about. In some ways you can look at the season as practice ... what it comes down to is how you're going to do at the EIWAs, how you're going to do at the NCAAs," Slay said. "I think some of these guys have a chance to win the EIWAs and become All-Americans. And that's what we're trying to produce here at Penn."
