Missing the core of its starting roster, the Penn wrestling team still managed to secure a hard-fought second place yesterday at the Palestra in the Keystone Classic.
Led by 125-pound champion senior Matt Eveleth and 157-pound winner sophomore Matt Dragon, the Quakers finished 13 points behind tournament champion Columbia. Six Penn wrestlers qualified for the finals including, freshman Rollie Peterkin (125), senior Brock Wittmeyer (165), and sophomores Colin Hitschler (184) and Jack Sullivan (197).
Dragon, who won the tournament last year at 149 and came in seeded first at 157, faced off against Rider's 2-seed, Dave Miller. The match was scoreless in the first period, but Dragon was able to gain a 2-0 advantage the following period by pulling off a reversal against Miller. Late in the third period, Dragon still led by two, but this time Miller was the wrestler to gain a reversal, tying the bout at two. By maintaining the tie for the rest of the match, however, Dragon also accumulated 2:54 minutes of riding time to gain a bonus point and the 3-2 victory.
"I know usually I can control a match by riding my opponent, and that's what I was able to do," Dragon said. "Securing riding time is a big concept our team goes over in practice."
Dragon's teammates Eveleth and Peterkin also entertained the crowd with a one-point decision in the all-Quaker final. The veteran Eveleth took an early lead that he never relented en route to a 5-4 victory. But Peterkin displayed plenty of acrobatic escapes in the best finish of his young collegiate career.
"With Rollie being a true freshman and Eveleth a senior, there's going to be a passing of the torch," Penn coach Zeke Jones said. "What a better way to do that than putting it in the center mat in front of the lights and the people?"
These final matches were a culmination of a long day of wrestling that took nearly nine hours to complete. This grueling test of endurance proved the notion that conditioning can be just as important as skill. As opposed to a dual meet that only takes a few hours to complete, the tournament was a testament to the training of the understaffed Quakers team.
"I think they really competed well, even though we were without maybe five or six of our ten starters," said Penn coach Zeke Jones. "Certainly, when you don't have a [Matt] Herrington, a [Matt] Valenti, a [Cesar] Grajales, it can affect the team outcome."
The absence of those three 2006 NCAA Tournament participants, including national champion Valenti, did affect the team outcome. The outcome, however, was not exactly what the team expected, as those who were given a chance to compete proved their abilities on the mat.
"We didn't expect to come out and win the tournament like we did last year, pretty easily," Dragon said. "Our goal was to get everyone match time and try to keep on performing better and better the next time we step on the mat. Hopefully, we'll be ready for [No. 1] Minnesota next weekend."
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