Classes may just be resuming today, but the No. 23 Penn wrestling team certainly did not have a break over the last three weeks.
The only breather was the Penn Duals, in which the Red and Blue beat Franklin & Marshall, 49-0, Delaware State, 42-9, and East Stroudsburg, 38-7, and competed in an exhibition dual against Gloucester.
But outside of those four easy matches, the going was a little tougher. Only one Quakers wrestler advanced to the round of 12 in the Midlands Invitational in Evanston, Ill., and Penn went just 2-3 in the Virginia Duals last weekend.
The Penn Duals gave the Quakers (6-4, 3-0 EIWA) some time to recover after facing then-No. 9 Michigan and other top teams throughout November and December.
"You need some matches where you can execute your holds, work on a few things," coach Rob Eiter said.
And the Red and Blue, even minus seventh-ranked 125-pound wrestler Rollie Peterkin, executed their holds to perfection en route to three lopsided victories against overmatched opponents.
The Red and Blue began their dominating run against the Hornets (2-7), despite the absence of both Peterkin and No. 14 Cesar Grajales at 149 pounds.
The Quakers followed that up with the drubbing against the Diplomats (2-8, 0-3), in which Penn recorded two pins and three technical falls. East Stroudsburg (1-9, 0-2) gave way just as easily as the others had.
"[The Penn duals are] a good match to come back for," Eiter said.
See Wednesday's Daily Pennsylvanian for more information.
