Wrestlers pick up Ivy accolades

As Penn wrestling gets its first weekend off in over a month in preparation for the Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association championships, eight of the Quakers' grapplers received all-Ivy honors.

Chief among them was freshman Kyle Cowan, who picked up the Rookie of the Year award, just the fifth Penn wrestler to do so in program history. Cowan finished the regular season ranked No. 33 in the heavyweight division. He went 2-1 in Ivy duals with a win against No. 1 ranked Cornell's Stryker Lane. Overall he finished 16-13 and was named second-team all-Ivy in addition to ROTY

Senior Zach Kemmerer was Penn's only first-team all-Ivy selection, but he earned it unanimously. The award improves on his second-team distinction last season. Kemmerer led the Quakers with a 31-6 overall record in the regular season, and finished No. 12 in the 141-pound weightclass. He kept a clean 11-0 record against Ivy League wrestlers.

Joining Cowan on the second team were Mark Rappo, Rollie Peterkin, Andrew Lenzi, Scott Giffin and Micah Burak. Micah's brother Gabe was named an honorable mention. Of the 11 second-teamers, six were Quakers. Penn's eight all-Ivy nods was second to the Big Red, which had nine.

The Quakers will pick up next weekend when they head to the EIWA championships before returning to Philly for NCAAs after spring break.