The Penn wrestling team nears the culmination of its season this weekend as it heads down to Annapolis, Md., to compete in the Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association tournament.
Lately, the No. 23 (USA Today/ NWCA Coaches' Poll) Quakers (9-4, 4-1 Ivy) have been on a hiatus from competition. The last time the squad faced an opponent was two weeks ago, when it was dismantled by Lehigh, 37-6.
The time off has been centered around righting the ship and building momentum heading into the most critical part of the season.
"We've been having really good workouts and we're just tapering into this week, so I think everyone is going in really fresh and excited about competing," said senior Doug McGraw, the defending champion of the 141-pound weightclass at the EIWAs.
McGraw heads in this year ranked third in the conference in his weight class, but neither his expectations nor his optimism are diminished.
"I'm just going to go in and worry about myself," McGraw said. "Seeds don't really matter. I've just got to wrestle one match at a time, wrestle as well as I can, and the results will take care of themselves."
This weekend, it is crucial that McGraw and his teammates, ranked fourth collectively in the conference, perform at their highest level. Not only does the winner of the tournament get to hang a banner in his gym, but the top three grapplers in each weight class earn berths to the NCAA Tournament two weeks from now in St. Louis. The opportunities don't end there, as twelve fourth-place wrestlers are elected by the coaches as wildcards, and they also receive bids.
"We're definitely optimistic, we're in our peak phase," said senior heavyweight Matt Feast, also a defending EIWA champion. "Earlier, in midseason, we really grinded it out. We wrestled through fatigue and pain, and we worked out when we were sore. And that's all to get us ready for the big show, the conference tournament and nationals and that's what we're going into tomorrow."
Feast, the team's best chance for a first-place finish this weekend, comes in at 285 ranked No. 1 in the conference and No. 6 (NWCA/Intermat Coaches' Poll) in the country. Repeating will not be an easy task, however, as he will be up against nationally ranked competition including the nation's No. 7 wrestler, Harvard's Bode Ogunwole.
Feast has already bested Ogunwole twice this season. First, at the Midland Championships back in late December -- where he beat Ogunwole by a hair, 3-2 -- then again when the two teams squared off in a dual meet in the Palestra. The margin for the second match was no bigger as Feast won, 4-3.
Aside from Feast and McGraw, four other Penn wrestlers are ranked in the top five of their respective weightclass. Keeping in mind that they must finish in at least fourth place to have a chance for an NCAA invite, the likes of Mason Lenhard at 125, Jeff Eveleth at 133, Dustin Wiles at 174, and Marcus Schontube at 197, among others, will have to wrestle better than seeds alone would indicate.
Feast thinks some of his teammates may be able to do just that this weekend.
"I think Dustin Wiles, our 174-pounder, has already turned heads this season but I think he'll turn some more," Feast said. "He's a very aggressive wrestler and he goes hard seven minutes. I think he'll impress a lot of people this weekend. Same with Jeff Eveleth, he's a goer. He pushes, never quits, he's won several matches this year in the last 10 seconds. I'm looking forward to watching those two."
Whatever happens, several of Penn's opponents will not be strangers. The Quakers have already faced four out of the tournament's eight adversaries in dual meets this season. Two in particular, Cornell and Lehigh, had their way with the Red and Blue, blowing them out at home on each occasion. In order to have any success, individuals on the squad will need to step up and do what they were unable to do earlier this season.
"It's been a trademark of our program to reverse losses from earlier in the year against common opponents," Penn coach Roger Reina said. "Now we have the opportunity, potentially, to see those same wrestlers again and those are the opportunities that we need to seize where we can reverse previous outcomes."
The time is now for the Quakers to produce results this season. The team has seen momentous events over the course of the season, including Feast's 100th career victory and Reina's 200th as head coach, but has yet to reach its potential as a group. This weekend would be a good time to do just that.
