Penn wrestling hosted back-to-back competitions in the Palestra this past weekend, and the program gave a strong performance.
“We're putting Penn on the map. I think in terms of looking forward, teams are going to look, are going to almost be scared of us, right?" sophomore Cross Wasilewski said. “We're almost a small-time team, but we're tough as frick to wrestle.”
Hofstra and the teams that showed up to the PRTC Keystone Classic would remember that.
On the first day of match-ups against Hofstra, Penn found success. In the total all-time count, Hofstra(1-4, 1-0) leads Penn (2-0, 0-0 Ivy) 6-5 in won games, but Penn just tied the count with their recent victory.
The men’s team took down Hofstra 35-8 in a dominating performance. There were a lot of monumental records set at this match, with freshman wrestler Deven Casey and junior Sean Seefeldt winning their first collegiate duals of their career and Casey starting for the first time in the 133-pound weight class. Casey also grabbed the sole pin in his match against Hofstra’s Gauge Shipp. This is also marked new wrestling coach Matt Valenti’s first win at the Palestra. Another notable consideration was Wasilewski's 5-0 record this season following his matchup against Hofstra.
The second day, the Quakers returned to the mat to compete in the 29th Keystone Classic against an extremely stacked lineup of teams: Central Michigan, Drexel, Edinboro, Franklin and Marshall, Harvard, Hofstra, Lock Haven, Michigan State, No. 13 Rutgers, and No. 10 Virginia Tech.
But the Quakers found success once again, with four grapplers securing individual champion titles in their respective weight classes. Junior wrestler Evan Mougalian had a standout 4-0 performance to earn his first collegiate title. In the final, he won by an impressive 11-4 victory against 2024 All-American Rutger's Dylan Shawver. Junior wrestler and captain Jude Swisher made his season debut at Keystone, as he did not play against Hofstra the previous day. He notched dominating wins and started his season off in a dominating way. Wasilewski, who competed at the Keystone Classic for the first time, also improved his overall season record to 10-0 by winning five consecutive matches throughout the tournament.
Wasilewski said, “[There are] really, some tough kids out here. [I'm e]xcited how everything's connecting together. I think the coaches have been really able to craft a good plan for the whole team and meet individually. So I'm really excited about how my feet were moving, how I was able to wrestle, and get some good wins.”
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Swisher added, “[Wasilewski's] going on before me almost every single time. And it was just really inspirational for me to come off of [Wasilewski’s] dominant performances and build off of that into my own. I take a lot of energy from my teammates. I really like to carry that momentum with me into my matches.”
Both players gravitated towards discussing team chemistry and solidarity in their interview.
“But as far as the team goes,” Swisher said, “I'm just so happy for our boys who had big wins today... Just kids who have been a part of the program for a long time, but never had that opportunity to start, and now they're ready. So it's been really cool to see that happen.”
Penn wrestling had to fight through their own struggles to reach this point, and some of the hurdles they faced were making their weight and maintaining energy levels. Swisher said, “Making weight is one of the hardest parts of the day. I would say that another challenging aspect of the day is learning how to manage energy, right? We got up this morning. I got up at 5 a.m. I've been up for a long time. We're making weight, and then you're just like stringing together five high-quality matches in a row.”
The team earned its win, and with the new $20 million donation from David Pottruck, they are only encouraged to keep going.
Wasilewski said, “This program is supported by Penn wrestlers and by Penn wrestling alumni, which makes me want to go compete for them, too. So the biggest takeaways from this weekend are that Penn supports Penn.”
The Quakers, now 2-0 in the season, will face Virginia back at the Palestra in a dual on Monday, Dec. 22.
