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(11/13/98 10:00am)
"I don't plan on losing." Senior Brett Matter said it; senior Mark Piotrowsky said it; sophomores Yoshi Nakamura and Rick Springman and senior Bandele Adeniyi-Bada said it. And tomorrow in the Ivy League Kickoff Classic at Cornell, the Penn wrestlers are out to prove their mantra correct. "We're definitely going into this meet to win this year," Springman, the '97-'98 Ivy League Rookie of the Year, said. "We're so much more prepared going into the season this year than last year." Last year Penn finished only second in the Kickoff Classic, 18.5 points behind Cornell. The Quakers beat the Big Red the other two times the schools wrestled last year, but the opening loss still stings. "There's definitely a rivalry between Cornell's program and ours," Adeniyi-Bada said. The senior heavyweight is the lone returning victor from this tournament. Adeniyi-Bada is looking for back-to-back titles, but Seth Charles from Cornell, ranked first in the EIWA, stands in his way. "He's the only guy who's beaten me in the Ivy League," Adeniyi-Bada said. "Other people might call him a rival, but I wouldn't. He's just someone I have to beat to get where I want to. I've got to set any personal stuff aside and go at him." The Quakers, who should see their toughest team competition come from Cornell and Harvard, could see as many as seven wrestlers claim individual titles tomorrow. Among that group are tri-captains Matter, Piotrowsky and Andrei Rodzianko. Piotrowsky will have his hands full, however, as he must get past Harvard's Dustin DeNunzio. The Crimson senior beat him all four times they wrestled last year, including at the Kickoff Classic. "I've seen him and he's seen me wrestle so many times," Piotrowsky said, "that there will be no surprises." Look for plenty of surprises in other matches on the mats of Cornell's Teagle Hall, though, as the restructuring of weight classes for this year has left many wrestlers unsure of exactly who their opponents will be. "I really don't know who will be in my weight class on Saturday," Springman said. "I know Joey Killar from Harvard will be around my weight. If he's in my class, he'll be one of my top competitors. Otherwise, I have no idea who I'll be against." Sophomores Nakamura and Justin Bravo are more sure of who they have to beat on Saturday. Nakamura, whose top opponent will be Cornell's John Fogarty, is approaching this meet with a lot more confidence than he did last year. "I was a little timid in this meet last year," Nakamura said, "being just a freshman coming from high school to a big Division I school." Bravo, meanwhile, needs to get by Cornell's Aaron Taylor and Brown's Pete Poretta to claim a title. Although this meet is far from being the most important of the year, Bravo is not taking it lightly. "I don't like to over look anything," Bravo said. "Especially this tournament, because there are people here I've lost to. I'm in no position to just overlook people." Penn coach Roger Reina agrees: "We'll learn a lot coming out of this weekend about both our strengths and weaknesses. We know a lot of other teams are hungry to prove that they can beat us, but the ultimate goal is to maximize performance and let our wrestling speak for itself." As for the format of Saturday's meet, 16 wrestlers will compete in each of the 10 weight classes. Since only six Ivy schools have varsity programs -- Yale and Dartmouth don't -- Penn will enter up to three wrestlers in each class. And when the total points are added up, the Quakers are favored to come out on top. "Winning this Ivy League title is a goal," Adeniyi-Bada said. "But it's also a stepping stone for other goals we have." Still, the Quakers don't plan on losing.
(11/11/98 10:00am)
It seems as though Mark Piotrowsky came out of his mother's womb wearing a wrestling singlet -- he's been competing in the sport almost as long. Born into a family of wrestlers, Piotrowsky started wrestling before he started kindergarten. He pinned opponents at an age when most people can't even spell "pin." He advanced to the national level of competition at every possible age group. He starred on the top-ranked prep team in the nation. But now in his senior year at Penn, Piotrowsky is facing the end of a wrestling career that has lasted nearly fifteen years. "Wrestling's been a part of my life forever," he said. "I'm not going to be able to just walk away from it completely." Fortunately for Piotrowsky, he has one more season to enjoy before he is forced to walk away as a player -- and this season has the potential to be his best. Piotrowsky is 12th in the nation in his weight class (141 pounds) in the Intermat Preseason Rankings and 11th according to the Amateur Wrestling News. He will, however, face a stiff challenge to open the season. In the finals of Saturday's tournament, Piotrowsky will likely face Harvard's Dustin DeNunzio. DeNunzio defeated Piotrowsky all four times they wrestled last year. "One of those matches went into overtime," Piotrowsky said, "and I wrestled him well all four times. I don't plan on losing." Losing is something Piotrowsky has done little of in his wrestling career. Rarely beaten prior to high school, he continued to dominate as a prep and compiled a 107-13-1 record. But the competition at the college level jolted Piotrowsky back to reality. "It was a huge transition to college wrestling," he said. "In high school you have guys who you have no problems with on the mat, but it seems like everyone in college was a state champion or an All-American." He went winless in January of that year, but soon recovered and went on to be named Honorable Mention All-Ivy League. This momentum carried over to Piotrowsky's sophomore season, culminating in the semifinals of the Eastern Region. "If I won that match, I'd be going to nationals," Piotrowsky recalled, "and when I won I felt so excited. That has been the high point of my career so far." What made Piotrowsky's victory even more satisfying was the fact that he was wrestling with a badly injured knee at the time. "Mark maintained impressive focus with a severely injured knee throughout the course of his sophomore year," Penn coach Roger Reina said. "He wrestled with a brace and refused to admit he was hurt until after he qualified for nationals." The knee was so badly injured at that point that Piotrowsky was forced to miss all of the '96-'97 season after knee surgery. Fortunately, he was granted another year of eligibility for a medical hardship. His knee was fully recovered in time for last year, however, and Piotrowsky qualified for nationals again and earned Second Team All-Ivy League Honors. "There's only one way to go, and that's forward," he said. So how has Piotrowsky been able to become the wrestler that he is? "He is an exceptional athlete," Reina explains, "very fast, very strong, exceptional balance." His athletic abilities were evident throughout his high school career. In addition to wrestling, Piotrowsky starred in baseball and football, earning All-State honors as a defensive back and second-team All-State recognition as a pitcher at Jefferson Township. "It's been hard to give up those sports in college," Piotrowsky said, "but I knew my future was in wrestling." From an early age, Piotrowsky's future has been focused on wrestling. His dad was a wrestling coach, and his older brother was a wrestler. He has been around wrestling and wrestlers his whole life. Now in college, it is no surprise that his best friends are on the wrestling team. "We all are close friends and can rely on each other on and off the mat," Piotrowsky said. One of his friends, junior Brett Matter, recalled a match against Piotrowsky in high school. "Pio beat me 6-4 in overtime the only time I've wrestled against him. I knew then he was a heck of a wrestler." As good a wrestler as he is, Piotrowsky knows his future is not in wrestling. A strong student, he is a Biological Basis of Behavior major and is planning on a pharmaceutical career. But Mark Piotrowsky will not be able to escape the world of wrestling. "I'll stick around as either a coach or just someone who helps during meets," he said. Or maybe he will just run for governor.
(11/09/98 10:00am)
Brian Henry really makes the most of his opportunities. Normally a fixture on the bench, the Princeton senior made his first start of the year on Saturday and responded in storybook fashion with a goal and an assist against Penn. Henry's heroics helped the Tigers men's soccer team (8-7-1, 3-3 in the Ivy League) defeat the Quakers (4-11-1, 0-6-1) by a score of 3-0 at Princeton's Laurie-Love Field. Princeton started the scoring about 30 minutes into the first half when Henry headed a corner from senior Chris Halupka to junior Griff Behncke, who kicked the ball past Penn goalie Michael O'Connor. Behncke struck again with just three minutes left in the first half on a pass from freshman Graeme Rein to put the Tigers up 2-0. "It's a shame to give up a goal so close to halftime," O'Connor said. "It would have been nice to go into the half only down 1-0." Although Penn played well in the second half, Henry would not let the Quakers get back in the game. After dribbling through Penn's defense, Princeton midfielder Greg Busch set Henry up with a perfect pass and the unlikely hero one-timed the ball past O'Connor. "Brian Henry is an example of the determination shown by Princeton throughout the year," Penn coach Rudy Fuller said. "He played an excellent game. You couldn't tell that was his first start." Although Henry has another opportunity to shine against Yale, Penn's season ended with Saturday's loss. "We're going to come back from this game next year," Penn freshman David Whitten said. "I'm excited about what's going to happen in the future." Next year, the Quakers will return 23 of their 25 players, losing only captains Ralph Maier and Jared Boggs. "The two people we're losing were very important parts of our team," Fuller said. "Earlier in the year when other teams may have just quit, they kept us together as a team." "I loved the guys on the team," Boggs said. "This year I had definitely the most fun I've ever had playing soccer." Saturday's loss, though, was not quite the pinnacle of happiness for the Quakers. "Penn had to play a tough game against an inspired team," Princeton freshman Pete Kingston said. "It took us a little while to start connecting, and that can be attributed to Penn's team play." The Quakers, however, were not happy with their play early on. "In the first half we were not putting stuff together," Whitten said. "We were holding on to the the ball too long and not making enough passes." The second Princeton goal seemed to spark the Quakers. "That goal was a wake-up call for us," Fuller said. "It's too bad that we woke up down by two goals, but we played a lot better in the second half. We had to play a high-speed game to keep up with Princeton, and we didn't do that until the second half." The much-ballyhooed crowd was not a factor in Princeton's game plan execution, however. "They were actually quieter than crowds at other games," Whitten said, "And I'm impressed with the Penn crowd at the game. A lot of people stayed after the football game to watch." Unfortunately for those fans who did stay, they were not treated to a Penn victory. With this loss, the Quakers have now lost twelve games in a row to Princeton and have not beaten the Tigers since 1985. If unlikely heroes like Brian Henry keep emerging for Princeton, we might have to wait twelve more years for another Quaker victory over the Tigers.
(11/06/98 10:00am)
In 1985, Penn defeated Princeton in men's soccer 4-1. Those winning ways would not continue, as in the thirteen years since, the Quakers are 0-12-1 against their rivals from New Jersey. To put this in perspective, consider that Penn head coach Rudy Fuller was just a freshman in high school the last time the Quakers beat the Tigers. Penn can end this drought tomorrow, though, as the Quakers (4-10-1, 0-5-1 Ivy League) finish their season against the Tigers (7-7-1, 2-3-0) at 7:30 p.m under the lights in Princeton at Lourie-Love Field. "It's the biggest game of the season," senior Jared Boggs said. "We knew that before the season started, no matter what our record was coming into it." For Boggs and fellow senior captain Ralph Maier, tomorrow's game is their last in a Quakers uniform. "They've done so much for the program over their careers and especially this past year being the leaders of a young team," Fuller said. "They deserve to go out with a win." Unfortunately for the Quakers, they are playing Princeton at the worst possible time. The Tigers have had to deal with many injuries over the course of the season, including the loss of Justin Kerr -- their leading goal scorer in 1997 -- for the entire year. But the Tigers have come together as a team, winning 5 of their last 6 games. "The last couple weeks have been pretty good to us, and we're all frustrated the season's coming to an end when we're playing so well," Princeton coach Jim Barlow said. Princeton's resurgence has been sparked by the emergence of freshman goalie Jeff Gillie. Recovering from a summer injury early in the season, Gillie was named Ivy League Freshman of the Week in his first week in net. The Quakers had been playing well of late, too, winning three of four until last Saturday's 5-0 loss to Yale. "If you were to talk to anybody on our team after last Saturday's result, they would have said, quite frankly, that it was our worst performance of the year," Fuller said. "We're trying to just push it behind us because it's really just an anomaly, a bad game," Boggs said. Nevertheless, the Quakers have rebounded from the Yale game mentally with sharp practices this week, and they should have no problem maintaining a high intensity level tomorrow on the Tigers' field. "You can't have a more intense game -- 7:30 under the lights against your rivals," Maier said. The crowds at Princeton soccer games are always large, and a weekend night game against Penn will only add to the Tiger support. "I always enjoy playing in front of crowds, whether they're home crowds that are for us or hostile crowds away that are against us," Fuller said. "That's what you look for when you walk on the field -- you want people watching the game." A bigger problem for Penn will be the condition of the field at Princeton. Both teams may have to adapt to its uneven surface. And although Barlow denies it, Fuller claims that Princeton plays a different brand of soccer at home than on the road. "The field makes it difficult to play a possession style of game, to keep the ball on the ground, to keep it moving," Fuller said. However, the greatest challenge for the Quakers may still be the ghost of past losses against Princeton. And how can Penn get this gorilla of a winless streak off its back? Maier offers a simple answer: "If everyone comes to play, as opposed to last Saturday against Yale, we're gonna win."
(10/29/98 10:00am)
Penn senior Ralph Maier netted his first career goal as the men's soccer team upset Maryland-Baltimore County. Four years down, three games to go. Senior captain Ralph Maier knew going into yesterday's game that his opportunities to score a collegiate goal before graduation were waning. He picked the perfect time to finally hit the back of the net. Maier's goal nine minutes into yesterday's game against the University of Maryland-Baltimore County (10-6-2) shifted the momentum in Penn's favor, leading the men's soccer team to a 2-1 come-from-behind victory over the Retrievers at Rhodes Field. "You're not going to see a better goal than that," Penn coach Rudy Fuller said. "Evan Anderson put a fantastic cross in the box. Then Ralph came streaking in and just banged the header home." "I didn't even know where it went," Maier said. "I've had my opportunities before -- against St. Francis I had two shots hit the post. I've been waiting for this forever. But now that one [goal] is under my belt, hopefully I can get a couple more." Despite Maier's heroics, the Quakers (4-9-1) did not take the lead until almost 12 minutes into the second half, when junior David Bonder kicked the ball past UMBC goalie Tom Wunk. "He had a great run forward out of the center midfield," Fuller said. "Ralph played a good ball through to him, and he finished it." The game did not start off as well for Penn though. Just over four minutes into the game, Ryan Lampton gave UMBC a 1-0 lead by beating Quakers goalie Michael O'Connor on a breakaway. "We came out pretty slow," O'Connor said, "but it says a lot about the guys, to be down after a really weak goal and be able to come back and score a really good one." UMBC Coach Pete Caringi noted that his team is not prone to scoring first. "We usually have to come back," Caringi said, "so our early lead gave us a false sense of security." That sense of security paved the way for Maier's tying goal and the Quakers' dominant second half. Coach Fuller -- usually calm in the locker room -- utilized a different halftime strategy in this game. "In the first half we got beat to some balls and really weren't playing at our best level. So at halftime, I really laid down a challenge to some of the upperclassmen who we were counting on, and man, did they step up to the plate," Fuller said. "It was beautiful. They really came out full throttle the second half and absolutely deserved to win the game." Penn's dominance in the second half may only have led to one goal, but several more chances were stifled by offsides penalties. Still, the game was in doubt until the last minute, as the Retrievers kept O'Connor busy with their attacking offense. "They worked the ball through," O'Connor said. "But they never got that amazing scoring chance. There were no defensive breakdowns." "We had opportunities, and we didn't capitalize on them," Caringi said. "They had opportunities, and they did. That's just the way soccer is." Caringi points to UMBC's hectic recent schedule as a hindrance for the Retrievers in yesterday's game. "This past weekend took a lot out of us emotionally and physically," he said. "We didn't have the energy to play and, well, you see what happened." What happened was Penn recorded its third victory in the last four games.
(10/15/98 9:00am)
Start with a flat loop around the park for about a mile. Then climb almost non-stop through a narrow path nestled within the trees. Finally, exit the woods and make a bee-line to the finishing chute 3/4 of a mile away. This is no roller-coaster -- it is the course that the women's cross-country team must race on for six kilometers (3.75 miles) in the East Coast Athletic Conference Regional Championships on Friday. Held at the historic Van Cortland Park in the Bronx, N.Y., this race features more than 15 schools along the East Coast from Maine to North Carolina. Penn assistant coach Tony Tenisci referred to the competition as "the best of the best." Ivy rivals Yale, Princeton and Cornell -- as well as other top competitors Duke, George Mason and Drexel -- competed in the inaugural running of the race at this venue last year. They should be back as obstacles to the Quakers again on Friday. "The competition from the Heptagonal Championships will be there [on Friday] so we can judge where we are at this point," sophomore Meredith Rossner said. The Heptagonals, which is Penn's biggest race of the season, will be held again at Van Cortland Park on October 30. Penn should be familiar with the course after running there on Friday. Senior captain Rita Garber is certainly familiar with the quirks of Van Cortland Park, as she has run there in each of the past three years. "I like the course," she said. "What slows people down are the hills, but I don't mind because that's where I pass people." She passed enough people to finish 23rd in this race last year, and Garber is looking for a top-20 finish this year. Behind her lead, the Quakers as a team finished eighth in the ECAC Regionals last year, but will be challenged to improve upon that place on Friday. "It is the worst time of the year," Tenisci said. "Everyone is exhausted, tired and sick." The season has been having the greatest impact on the freshmen who are just becoming accustomed to the daily grind of a college season. Rossner noticed that "the freshmen, especially, are feeling the effects of the mid-terms." "We've had a week to rest and tune up, though," Garber said, "and we've had no major problems with sickness." Still, even the resting has not been easy. Monday's practice, for instance, consisted of three one-mile runs at race pace. Because of the fatigue, the Penn coaches decided the team would benefit from more tapering. "We've tapered, and now are legs are ready to race," Penn freshman Katie Henderson said. Henderson said she and fellow freshman Susan Cook have been "ready to race" all year, as they have been consistent scorers for the Quakers. In addition to solid performances by the freshmen, the Quakers have been sparked by the emergence of junior Stephanie Bell, who has been key to the team's continuing improvement. Bell, just sixth on the team in the season's first race, has become the team's best runner behind Rita Garber in the last month. Bell and the other Quakers hope to continue their success on Friday. The odds for that look strong, as Tenisci said the team is in "very good shape" and "the weather should be very good." Sounds like the recipe for a very good race.
(10/01/98 9:00am)
When the gun is fired in Saturday's Paul Short Invitational, over 200 women from 30 teams will charge across the Lehigh cornfields, commencing the biggest race to date for the Penn women's cross country team. The Quakers, coming off a strong third-place showing in the Rutgers Invitational last week, will be competing in their first major race of the year, a potential pothole for such an inexperienced team. "Although this race is exciting for our women, we can't lose each other in the crowd. We need to continue to stay close," Penn assistant coach Tony Tenisci said. Senior captain Rita Garber considers the increased number of runners a positive, however. "I'm looking forward to a more crowded race," she said. "A large meet will help us to do better to run together as a team." Garber, who ran 18:27 on this five kilometer course last year, should benefit most from the crowds, as in previous races she has only had a few other runners of her ability to compete with. In such a large meet, she should be pulled along to a faster time by the competition. The rest of the team hopes to improve upon the spread between Garber and the fifth place runner. At two minutes in the first race of the year, the gap is now just 1:13. This Saturday's course, a prior host to two NCAA championship races, will be an asset to the Quakers in their goal of running together. The wide-open cornfields of Lehigh, besides providing an excellent view for spectators, allow runners to keep their teammates in sight. Freshman Katie Henderson, a Pennsylvania native, is certainly no stranger to these cornfields. While at Penncrest High School, she ran many races on this course. "I'm excited to run there," Henderson said. "The course is challenging -- fast but not flat." The rolling hills of Lehigh will come as a challenge to the Quakers on Saturday, though, as Tenisci admits that the team is "very tired this week." "We've been doing a lot of speed running and hard pick-ups, and of course we're concerned with the increased school work of our women now that midterms are approaching," Tenisci said. Next week, Penn has no races, so the team can focus on this weekend's meet. Even with an increased workload, the team is excited about their prospects this weekend. "They really have an incredible amount of enthusiasm," Tenisci said. "No matter what, they practice hard and race hard." This Saturday's race should be no exception.
(09/24/98 9:00am)
The women's cross country team will get a much-needed reprieve from the heat and hills of its two previous races this Saturday, as cool weather and a flat course should equate to fast times at the Rutgers Invitational in New Brunswick, N.J. The five-kilometer course, which consists of two loops around a large park, will serve as an opportunity for the Quakers to race in a more speed-oriented setting as they prepare for the larger meets later in the season. "The team's forte is flat, fast racing," freshman Susan Cook, a converted track runner in her first year of cross country, said. "This course is conducive to our doing well." "Our women are very young and very positive," assistant coach Tony Tenisci said. "They like the idea of speed at this point in the season, but we are training right through this meet, working hard all week." Even with the long week of practices, the young Quakers will make a serious run to leave with their first invitational win of the year. Navy and Rutgers will prove to be tough competitors as teams, while senior captain Rita Garber, who finished first in the Delaware Invitational last Saturday, will be aiming to score another victory against quality individuals in the five-school meet. "Rita can really establish herself," Tenisci said. "With her win last week, she can begin to find out what kind of runner she can be." The rest of the runners, including freshmen Cook, Megan Curran and Katie Henderson, will be looking to finish closer to Garber. The gap between Garber and the fifth runner on the team, at more than 2:00 in the season's first race, was closed to 1:20 last week, and the goal this weekend is to shrink that gap to under 1:00. Recent training has been intense, as strength and endurance work totaling 40-45 miles a week in the recent heat and humidity has made practice extremely rigorous. "Now we can show how this hard work is paying off," Cook said. "And the cool weather should bring a different atmosphere to the meet. We'll hopefully be able to breathe better with less humidity. "I'm excited to race on this course because it's flat and I can pace myself better. It's hard to keep pace when you turn a corner and a big hill is staring you in the face." Although experience is usually a factor, with the youthful optimism of the team, a season Tenisci termed a "roller coaster" ride could leave Penn on top at this Saturday's race.
(02/11/98 10:00am)
The Penn wrestling team closes out 1998 at the Midlands Open in Chicago before heading to Hawaii. On New Year's Day, the Penn wrestling team will be enjoying the Hawaiian atmosphere on the island of Oahu -- but this is hardly an ordinary winter vacation. The relaxation on the Hawaiian beaches will be but a pleasant interlude in a five-day flurry of wrestling and traveling for Penn. Before heading to the Aloha State, the Quakers start by traveling to Chicago for the 36th annual Midlands Open on December 29-30. Then they fly to Honolulu on New Year's Eve, where they will compete in the Aloha Classic on January 2. Although Penn will not take the Aloha Classic lightly, clearly the focus of its winter break competition is on the Midlands Open. "Midlands is a showcase of the best athletes," Penn senior Bandele Adeniyi-Bada (275 lbs.) said. "It's probably the most competitive tournament other than Nationals." With more than 50 teams and a handful of unaffiliated wrestlers, it is no surprise that the Midlands historically sees two-thirds of the eventual All-Americans. This provides an excellent opportunity for wrestlers of the Red and Blue to improve their national rankings. "The rankings are important because they seed the top 12 in the NCAA Championships," Penn coach Roger Reina said. "We have several athletes in the 13th to 16th range that can use this tournament as a way to move up a few places." Among those in that 13th-16th range are No. 13 Adeniyi-Bada, senior No. 16 Mark Piotrowsky (141 lbs.) and sophomore No. 16 Yoshi Nakamura (157 lbs.). Nakamura is the highest returning finisher for the Quakers at the Midlands. He placed fifth at Northwestern's Welsh-Ryan Arena as a freshman, helping Penn to an eighth-place finish. No. 3 Brett Matter (149 lbs.) may have the best chance of bringing home a first-place finish for the Quakers. Though the Delran, N.J., native suffered his first loss of the season on Sunday to No. 2 Jamar Billman of Penn State, he hopes to rebound at the Midlands. "Losing always stings," Matter said. "But you've got to take it the right way, learn from it. It's not ever fun to lose, but it's not necessarily a bad thing." The return of Andrei Rodzianko (197 lbs.) means the Quakers must do some line-up reshuffling. After a semester abroad in Russia, the senior captain will step right into the lineup at 197 pounds, according to Reina. Junior Mike Fickell, who has wrestled extremely well in Rodzianko's absence, is the odd man out unless he moves down to 184 pounds. "Andrei and I form what I like to call a one-two punch," Adeniyi-Bada said. "Since I wrestle after him, I watch his matches and get fired up. When he wins I get a big edge in confidence. And when he loses -- which is rare -- I try to make amends for his loss." With only a week of practice under his belt before his first competition in nearly nine months, Rodzianko may not be at peak form for the holiday tournaments. Reina, however, would not speculate on the physical condition of the '98 first team All-Ivy selection. Rodzianko, like the rest of the team, will not have much time to recover for the Aloha Classic after leaving Chicago. With No. 16 Purdue and No. 22 Harvard slated to battle the No. 17 Quakers for the top spot in Honolulu, Penn can not afford a slow recovery from Midlands. Individually, many of the Quakers will have their hands full. Piotrowsky should face rival Dustin DeNunzio from Harvard again. DeNunzio won 5-3 in the Ivy Kickoff Classic earlier this season. Nakamura might also see tough competition from the Crimson with No. 12 Kevin Kurtz. And Rick Springman (165 lbs.), coming off a first place finish in the Penn State Open, should match up against No. 2 Rangi Smart of Brigham Young. With three weeks between the Aloha Classic and the team's next meet, the Quakers can afford to push themselves to the brink. And to Reina, that all-out effort could mean unprecedented Quakers success. "I'm very excited about our team's progress," Reina said. "If we keep on track and make the corrections we need to, we can become the best Penn wrestling team in history." And along the way, they can relax in Hawaii -- a far cry from the often-bleak winter climate of Philadelphia. "This is the first time I'll get to go somewhere nice -- other than like Iowa or Minnesota," Matter said.
