Wrestling: NCAA Championships | Peterkin & Co. have St. Louis blues

ST. LOUIS - Coming into the NCAA Championships, Penn wrestling coach Zeke Jones knew that for his team to earn high All-American honors, each wrestler would have to start fast out of the gate. But with one day down at the tournament, Penn has had trouble doing so.

Penn went 2-6 in the first round of the NCAA Championships. The two winners, No. 9 seeded sophomore Rollie Peterkin (125 pounds) and junior Zack Shanaman (165), lost in the second. Through two rounds, Penn is in 27th place with 8.5 points.

Jones strongly believes a lack of early energy doomed the Quakers.

"We got off to slow starts today," Jones said. "The momentum that you bring at the beginning of the match sets the tone. I think we definitely need to be more aggressive and get more takedowns. We need to get our motors running early."

In addition to slow starts, the third periods weren't favorable for the Quakers. Both Peterkin and Shanaman were in close bouts during the second round of the tournament. But they were outscored in the third period by a combined score of 7-1.

"Again, we really need to continue to attack there too," Jones said of third periods. "You've got to have control since that's what wins at the national tournament."

While the Quakers certainly have their work cut out for them, yesterday wasn't a complete failure. Peterkin's first round win was impressive, as he got a technical fall decision, 17-1.

Even more impressive was Shanaman's first-round upset of Oklahoma State's Jake Dieffenbach, as the tournament has had a dearth of upsets. Dieffenbach led of 4-2 right before the second period ended, but Shanaman tied it up at the buzzer with a takedown. Finally, with an escape point just fifteen seconds into the third, Shanaman took the lead and held on for the 5-4 win.

- Zach Klitzman

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