An Ivy League title is nice, but the National Championship remains the real prize.
The Penn wrestling team will likely decide its Ancient Eight title fate when it wrestles Cornell and Columbia tonight and Saturday, respectively, in New York. But if the team is able to end Cornell's bid for a five-peat, it would only be a stepping stone.
Winning the Ivy League "is a goal of the program every year, but it's certainly not the ultimate goal in our mind," Penn coach Zeke Jones said. "The NCAA championship is what we're driving for - national honors and national title."
The No. 16 Quakers (6-5, 2-0 Ivy) first head to Ithaca, N.Y., tonight, where they will face a team that recently leapfrogged them in the rankings. Moving up from the 16-spot now occupied by Penn, the Big Red (4-5, 1-0) rank 13th in the nation, and they pose the biggest threat to win the Ivy crown.
Last Saturday, Cornell upset former No. 5 Hofstra, 22-18, thanks in part to an even more surprising victory by unranked Cornell senior Luke Hogle over No. 7 Joe Rovelli at 184 pounds. That upset played a large role in propelling Cornell past Hofstra, who won 31-3 when it visited the Palestra two weeks ago.
Doubters should be wary of comparing dual meets, however, in an attempt to predict the outcomes of future matchups.
"It's not always like comparing apples to apples, but apples to oranges," according to Jones. Dual meets "are not directly connected, but that win definitely shows the quality of the team that Cornell is."
Junior Lior Zamir, who is ranked No. 14 at 184 pounds and may face Hogle, echoed the sentiment of his coach.
"Obviously, beating Hofstra is impressive considering what happened with our match, but it's all about matchups. . The score wasn't that close overall, but most of the matches were extremely close," Zamir said.
Much of tonight's concentration will be on the bout at 133 pounds, where No. 2 Matt Valenti takes on Cornell sophomore Adam Frey.
Frey remains the only undefeated wrestler in the EIWA with a 12-0 record. He could prove himself to be the real thing if he can defeat a wrestler who owns nearly 10 times as many wins (124), a national title, and All-American honors.
The next meet on the Quakers' slate does not offer a top-25 matchup, but Columbia is not a stranger to the rankings or to Penn. The Lions (4-3, 0-1) were recently bumped from their No. 25 spot in the latest poll.
Columbia won the Keystone Classic, the yearly tournament held at the Palestra, despite losing four of its five matchups against Penn opponents. Penn finished second at that tournament despite missing NCAA qualifiers Valenti, Matt Herrington and Cesar Grajales.
Despite having only two ranked wrestlers, the Lions will not be lightly regarded this weekend.
"I think in dual meets, . Columbia in some ways represents more of a challenging team than Cornell," Jones said. "We've made them a priority this weekend."
For Penn wrestling, with the NCAAs only weeks away, every match is a priority.
