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 on Jan.3, in which the Red and Blue beat Franklin and 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 Dec. 29-30 Midlands Invitational in Evanston, Ill., and Penn went just 2-3 to place eighth 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.
A few Quakers came back even earlier to wrestle, competing in the Midlands Invitational on Northwestern's campus. Scott Giffin had the best results, making it to the round of 12 in the 174-pound weightclass.
Most of the team was well rested when the Red and Blue finished up with the Jan. 9 and 10 Virginia Duals.
Just like at the Penn Duals, the Quakers were fairly consistent in their performance.
However, unlike the home matches, the Quakers gave a mediocre performance against some stiffer competition, including No. 15 Edinboro, a tough No. 24 Kent State team and Navy, who has four ranked wrestlers.
They managed just two wins in five dual matches while in Hampton, Va., and saw their best wrestler lose by both pin and major decision.
Peterkin lost by major decision to former national champion and second-ranked Paul Donahoe of Edinboro and by pin to Navy's unranked Prescott Garner.
"I guess mistakes are part of learning," Peterkin said.
The Quakers fell to the Fighting Scots and the Midshipmen by a combined score of 51-25.
"It's good to wrestle the best guys," Peterkin said. "[It is a] good indication of where I'm at and what I need to work on."
If their results against these good teams are any indication of what the Quakers need to work on, then they had better get cracking. The Red and Blue lost one other dual, 19-15, to the Golden Flashes, and recorded lackluster victories over Liberty and North Dakota State.
"That's why we wrestle these matches, so we can correct our mistakes," Eiter said. "You have to wrestle a kid like Donahoe to realize what you're getting yourself into."
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