Wrestling falls hard vs. Lehigh
Quakers follow home win over Princeton on Senior Day with deflating loss to No. 4 Hawks
By ilario huober
The Penn wrestling team headed toward this weekend, and its last two dual meets of the season, in a full sprint. Unfortunately, the Quakers ended up limping across the regular season’s finish line.
On Senior Day, No. 24 (USA Today/ NWCA Coaches’ Poll) Penn pounded Princeton at home, 28-10. The next day, the squad hit the road to challenge No. 4 Lehigh, where they were by no means as successful.
In Leeman-Turner Arena, the momentum gained from the win over Princeton was turned upside-down as the Quakers were dominated, 37-6. Penn’s sole points in the match came by way of a Mountain Hawks forfeit at 125 pounds.
Senior Day saw a confident performance by a senior-laden Penn squad. Seven out of the team’s 10 starters in the match will graduate this spring. Of those, six picked up victories against the Tigers (5-8, 0-5 Ivy).
At one point in the match, a trio of Red and Blue seniors posted three straight major decisions. During the span, Jeff Eveleth defeated Greg Redman at 133 pounds, No. 15 Doug McGraw bested Eric Marcotulli at 141 and Kyle Bernholz topped Andy Ianuzzi at 149.
“We got a lot of major decisions, we got some bonus points out of our seniors, so I was pretty pleased with that, “Penn coach Roger Reina said. “These are guys who have put in a tremendous amount of work, over their careers, into the program and I think it was a good day for them and a good day for their families.”
Perhaps the team’s most notable senior, heavyweight Matt Feast, was not active this weekend. He was prevented from wrestling due to a skin condition. Wrestling in Feast’s place was fellow senior, Matt Smith, who was victorious against Princeton but, like most of his compatriots, fell against Lehigh.
Although the season is not yet over, Senior Day does bring up thoughts of this group’s graduation, and questions as to how the team will fare next season without many of this year’s key components.
The Quakers (9-3, 5-1 EIWA) will again have All-American Matt Valenti, who will return from a year hiatus, among their active starters. In addition, top-10 wrestlers Matt Herrington and Paul Velekei, who sat out this entire season with injuries, are slated to return.
Another bright prospect for the team’s future is the 2009 recruiting class.
“We have one of the most outstanding recruiting classes in the country already signed, “Reina said. “Most of them have already committed early decision, we have 12 incoming recruits and we just did outstanding with our early decision recruiting.”
As far as more pressing matters are concerned, the difficult loss at the hands of the Mountain Hawks (20-4, 6-0 EIWA) raises some concerns about Penn’s performance heading into the home stretch.
In two weeks, the Red and Blue will travel to Annapolis to take part in the Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association tournament. There, individual wrestlers who qualify will receive bids to the NCAA tournament two weeks later in St. Louis.
Reina readily admits that the season’s overall success hinges heavily on the team’s performance at the two year-end tournaments.
“Really, it’s all about preparation for the Eastern championships and the NCAA championships, “Reina said.
The Quakers’ immediate focus, then, becomes putting this weekend’s loss behind them and preparing for March.
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