And for Penn senior Micah Burak, finally winning an Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association (EIWA) Championship title in the 197-pound weightclass after being a runner-up three times in a row was definitely worth the wait.

Penn then traveled to Miami to play Barry — the fourth-ranked team in Division II — on Wednesday.

The Quakers performed admirably, bouncing back from a loss against No. 7 Denver by beating No. 17 Lehigh and Villanova to bring their record to 4-1 after the break.

The shorthanded Quakers were able to eke out a 4-3 win in Fort Meyers on Friday against a tenacious Florida Gulf Squad, thanks to a clutch performance from Sophomore Alex Ion.

The Quakers spent the time off from academics on a three-team, nine-game tour of the South, making stops at Williamsburg, Va. to take on William & Mary, Durham, N.C. to play Duke and Rock Hill, S.C. to square off with Winthrop.

After losing their first three games, the Quakers are now tied atop the Ivy League standings.

Penn (16-11, 9-4 Ivy) fell to Yale (13-15, 8-6), 70-65, as the Bulldogs swept the season series.

Next season will decide once and for all whether this team full of underclassmen has what it takes for long-term Ivy success. But the glimpses of brilliance Penn has shown from time to time in 2012-13 have been too few and far between to suggest that this team isn’t still a youthful bunch with everything to prove.

Yale’s suffocating defense in the second half gave the Quakers fits, and the Bulldogs took advantage, turning a one point deficit at half time into a 14-point victory, defeating the Quakers, 79-65.

As flashy and important to the Quakers’ success as Hicks and Nelson-Henry have proven to be over the last two weekends, until junior Miles Cartwright graduates, he is the leader of this team. Without question.

Penn bested Brown, 66-64, on the strength of another stellar showing from Cartwright, who notched 25 points on 8-for-12 shooting from the field.

See what Penn coach Jerome Allen and top scorers Tony Hicks and Darien Nelson-Henry had to say after the victory over Harvard.

One thing Saturday’s win against Harvard doesn’t change is the fact that there are still more questions about this young Penn team than there are answers.

The Quakers (8-20, 5-6 Ivy) entered their matchup against the Crimson (17-9, 9-3) having suffered two bad losses in a row against traditional Ivy bottom-dwellers Columbia and Dartmouth. But their effort against first-place Harvard would be a different story.

The Quakers fell to Harvard (17-8, 8-3 Ivy) Saturday night at Lavietes Pavilion, 67-54. The Crimson recorded two feats this weekend, breaking Princeton’s 33-game Ivy winning streak and Penn’s six-game streak.

It’s pretty clear Penn’s level of irritation has reached the boiling point. In fact, it’s not just boiling, it’s overflowing. And it’s pretty clear why.

The Quakers notched their sixth straight victory, beating Dartmouth, 55-45. Penn’s defense kept them alive in the first half against the Big Green (6-18, 4-6 Ivy). The Quakers offense was extremely cold, shooting 8-for-31, including 1-for-16 from behind the arc.