Takedown time in St. Louis

After months of hard work and preparation, the bracket has been announced, teams are traveling cross-country and a national championship is on the line. It's time for a collegiate tournament in March.

Yes, the NCAA Wrestling Championships are here.

Today through Saturday, the Scottrade Center will host the Division I Wrestling Championship in St. Louis. Penn wrestlers will compete in eight of the 10 weightclasses.

And, just like the basketball one, this tournament has an electric atmosphere.

"I'm definitely excited and ready for it," junior Cesar Grajales said. "It's what we've trained to do, go out there in front of the huge crowd and get that adrenaline rush. It's why we do the sport and why we love it."

The Penn contingent only has one seeded wrestler, ninth-seeded 125-pounder Rollie Peterkin, who cruised to a win at the EIWA championships two weekends ago.

"If Rollie's in the national finals, it might surprise some others, but it wouldn't surprise me because he's capable," Penn coach Zeke Jones said.

But, while they're unseeded, two other Penn wrestlers - senior Lior Zamir at 184 and Grajales at 149 - have been deemed "bad draws," or wrestlers the top seeds don't want to face in the earlier rounds.

Both of these two earned such recognition from intermatwrestle.com by winning their respective weightclasses at the conference tournament.

"I just need to keep my intensity level up," Grajales, said. "I just can't feel any pressure or feel nervous."

Grajales and Zamir are no strangers to the national tournament: Grajales made it as a freshman in 2006, and Zamir qualified last year as a junior.

And don't blame Zamir if his 2008 NCAA's experience feels like déj… vu. He's facing the same wrestler in the first round as he did last year, Jake Varner of Iowa State.

Last year, Varner beat Zamir 5-0 in the opening round en route to second place overall. This year Varner is the top seed after going 25-0.

The Quakers have historically done well come tournament time. Since 1997, the team has had at least one All-American every year, earning 20 nods in that time span.

Despite this year's lack of seeding, Jones expects to continue that success.

"I think we're ready to go," he said. "The preparation has been steady throughout the season. It's probably been better than any other year."

The Quakers will look to improve on last year's 25th-place finish in the team portion.

"As a team I think we need to get out their and score a lot of points in our first round matches, because that usually sets the tone and shows that we're in a good frame of mind and attacking mentality," Jones said.

"Two years ago the team came in 12th and set a [team] record for points," he added. "I think the team has the potential to that this year. If these guys get on a roll, then any top-20 finish is a real possibility."

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