In an unusual ending to their season, the Quakers won a tough meet against Lehigh in front of a boisterous Palestra crowd before heading to Princeton for a dominating victory.
In the first dual meet of the day, the Quakers and Mountain Hawks battled back and forth throughout the match.
No. 12 125-pounder Rollie Peterkin started the meet strong, securing a technical fall to give Penn an early 5-0 lead. At 141 pounds, Penn's Rick Rappo controlled his match, winning with a major decision 16-4.
However, the Mountain Hawks fought back. Penn's Phil Boyer was pinned within one minute.
Then, in the only match that featured two nationally-ranked wrestlers, Penn's No. 14 Cesar Grajales was narrowly upset by No. 20 Trevor Chinn. The 149-pounders battled for three grueling periods before Chinn scored a victory in overtime to tie the match at 9-9.
The next four matches saw the Quakers and Mountain Hawks trading the lead as the teams took turns winning matches by decisions.
Scott Giffin led his counterpart 1-0, but the lead quickly evaporated in the third period Lehigh's No. 20 Alex Caruso scored a reversal and a late take-down to give himself the 3-2 victory and the Mountain Hawks' three points.
"Managing a lead can be difficult in any sport," Penn coach Zeke Jones said. "It's a skill in itself, and I think Scott needs to get better at managing when he's ahead."
With the meet tied at 15-15, the Quakers Thomas Shovlin gave his team a big boost. Pinning his opponent in the 197-pound match, Shovlin gave Penn a 21-15 lead before Troy McLean won the heavyweight contest with an 8-1 decision. That secured the team victory, 24-15.
"It was a close match, and I knew I had to go out there and perform well," Shovlin said. "So I went out there and kept attacking and kept attacking and I wasn't satisfied until I had the pin."
Following the gutsy win, Penn loaded up the bus and headed to Princeton, where the winless Tigers posed less of a challenge.
The Red and Blue went undefeated in the bouts they wrestled, winning the meet 44-6. The six points came from a forfeit in the 157-pound weight class as Rob Hitschler sat out to rest, Jones said.
The Quakers' finished the season second in the Ivy League, trailing only Cornell.
And with the EIWA and NCAA tournaments coming up, yesterday's triumphs boosted their confidence.
"I think we're prepared. We're relatively healthy; we've put in a lot of good work," Jones said. "Having to wrestle one match and then travel and wrestle again is difficult, but our guys responded well to the challenge and didn't let it get to them."
