It's March Mat-ness at wrestling NCAAs
Grapplers from six of Penn’s 10 weightclasses gear up for NCAA tournament
· March 18, 2010, 5:38 am
Scott Giffin (left) will take on No. 2 seeded Jay Borschel from Iowa in the 174-pound weightclass at the NCAA championships starting tomorrow in Omaha, Neb. Borschel won the Big-10 title this year.
As long as the season has been for the Penn wrestling team, there’s not one among them who is ready to step off the mat just yet.
Today marks the beginning of the NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships tournament in Omaha, Neb., and Penn will have six representatives donning the red and blue. Among the featured grapplers will be Bryan Ortenzio, Zack Kemmerer, Cesar Grajales, Gabe Burak, Scott Giffin, and Micah Burak.
“This whole year has been pretty difficult but we trained through it, and the kids finally got rewarded a bit at the end of the year,” Penn coach Rob Eiter said. “They’re feeling like they deserve to be here.”
That reward came after Penn’s second-place finish (behind No. 4 Cornell) last weekend at the Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association championships.
The Quakers beat out then-No.7 Lehigh for the runner-up spot and turned some heads in the process. The impressive individual performances by the six aforementioned wrestlers earned them automatic bids to the tournament. And while the Quakers were unable to obtain any at-large bids, the big stage still looms for over half of the team’s lineup.
Penn’s recent success marks an unlikely conclusion to a tumultuous season that has been marred by injuries and off-the-mat issues involving some of the squad’s best wrestlers.
The team competed in many of its early meets without senior captains Grajales, Matt Dragon, and Rollie Peterkin, who were suspended from the team in November.
The three captains were also charged with aggravated assault and other related offenses.
The charges were later withdrawn, and the wrestlers were reinstated at the end of December. Peterkin took the semester off, while Dragon and Grajales made their first appearances of the season at the Southern Scuffle Dec. 29-30
The duo then found themselves battling injuries and moving in and out of the lineup for the remainder of the season.
Regardless, this Penn group is a far more confident one than the squad most fans have witnessed thus far. The Quakers’ best grapplers are more likely than ever to pull off some big upsets in college wrestling’s final weekend.
“We’re still a little under the radar on the national level, and I think we can still sneak up on some teams year,” Giffin said.
According to Eiter, Giffin might just be the one to surprise some this weekend. His first-round match should be his toughest, however, as he faces off against No. 2 Jay Borschel out of Iowa.
Another wrestler expected to do some damage is senior Cesar Grajales, who is making his fourth trip to nationals. He will also face a ranked opponent in Oklahoma’s No. 3 Kyle Terry, who has lost just two matches on the year.
Regardless, it’s doubtful that records and rankings will mean much once the first bell rings.
“With the number of kids in each weightclass, each match is tough,” Eiter said. “Once you get here its just a matter of who pushes a little harder.”
For a team that’s been pushing uphill all season, it should be worth watching the Quakers climb the final steps.





Comments (13)
tcook23
April 22, 2010, 9:31 am
Flag this comment
It's good to see the boys salvaged their season. I think Burak really has a lot of potential, moving forward to next season.
Todd Cook Agent:
P: 379.7917 E: toddcook23@gmail.com
Max569
May 31, 2010, 6:03 pm
Flag this comment
thanks for sharing nice info
Max569
June 2, 2010, 9:22 am
Flag this comment
thanks for sharing nice info
Max569
June 9, 2010, 6:11 pm
Flag this comment
thanks for sharing nice info
lujia
June 12, 2010, 4:16 am
Flag this comment
rrent trends also individual products available from the mismated rumour besides contrive magazines. Find out the details of the inborn designer racket or purse, whose copy you want to comply. If you are buying from showrooms or shops, you liability examine the instrumentality carefully before purch
Max569
June 14, 2010, 12:52 pm
Flag this comment
thanks for sharing nice info
john100
June 25, 2010, 1:17 am
Flag this comment
Discount premarin cream. This leaflet answers some of the common questions about Premarin Tablets. It does not contain all of the available information. . Horse racing premarin. Premarin is a Newbie in the TechTalkz Technology & Computer Troubleshooting Forums. View premarins profile. Premarin and appetite changes. Premarin. Premarin (Prem-mar-rin) is a medicine which is used in hormone replacement therapy, preventing osteoporosis in women after the menopause. Buy premarin online without a prescription. Buy Premarin online, Purchase cheap Premarin! Mini Skirt Party space. Premarin estogen cream online
xianming2009
July 2, 2010, 9:35 am
Flag this comment
href=http://www.ewatchesreplica.com/fake-Bvlgari-266-b0.html>replica bvlgari watch client's criminal irresponsibility and find him not guilty because of his mental state. He killed because he is crazy, completely crazy, defense lawyer Fabien Picchiottino pleaded. One does not put on trial insane people. The place of these people suffering from troubles is in a psychiatric hospital, he said. The lawyer blamed Cocaign's murderous impulse on the failure of the psychiatric, penitentiary and social system. Lawyer for Cannibal Argues He Is
trojen
July 6, 2010, 2:43 am
Flag this comment
lbm0914
July 8, 2010, 2:24 am
Flag this comment
Sometimes soem truly are worth a thousand words, especially when it comes the exotic . All I have to say is that I absolutely adore everything about the in . And I mean like it, very very like it. Against all my judgment, ethnic group is my choice. Don't ask me why cause it is just different from the other styles of the Louis Vuitton Spring/Summer 2010 collection, to say bohemian dream and street fantasy. Maybe for a large bunch of people, dream is their thing. After all, for me, is not so brand-new.
goldleaf
July 9, 2010, 7:05 am
Flag this comment
In efforts to market Penn as a brand, the University’s name seems to be the biggest stumbling factor.
“We might as well rename our school name to Wharton,” College alumnus Shan Gian said. “It’s already an established name, and that way we don’t get confused with Penn State or IUP [Indiana University of Pennsylvania].”
Penn, despite being one of only eight Ivy League universities, is often considered a state school due to its name, Professor of Marketing at the Wharton School David Reibstein said.
“In fact, it is the only Ivy League school that is named after a state, and probably the only school that’s named after a state that is not a state school,” he said.
Perhaps as a result of this, the Penn Bookstore even sells a T-shirt that sports the phrase “Not Penn State” with a “P” for Penn on it.
Even if students find the shirts amusing, there may be a negative side to them. “We are two separate schools … we don’t want to be linked with Penn State,” Dean of Admissions Eric Furda said.
“There’s an old adage in advertising that if you mention other brands, you end up being associated with that other brand. Internally, it’s cute. Externally it’s not the best way to publicize who we are,” Reibstein explained.
Lillian Chou, a Wharton and Engineering junior, said she believes Penn doesn’t always do a good job at marketing itself.
“Many people don’t associate Penn with Ivy or being a top U.S. university,” she said.
“Unfortunately, Penn often gets associated with Penn State, which is well known for its football team — hardly one of our strengths,” she added.
Still, Penn’s location in the city, its beautiful campus, flexible curriculum and reputation for being “the friendly Ivy” were some of the main reasons why students chose to matriculate at the University, according to a questionnaire sent to admitted students by the Admissions Office.
Every school has a different strategy in appealing to prospective students. During preview days for admitted students, Princeton University promotes its own unique aspects. The “essential elements of a Princeton education” such as residential colleges and eating clubs are revealed in depth, according to Cole Crittenden, Director of Studies of Whitman College at Princeton.
“No tag line or commercial video can convey all the complexities of an educational institution,” he said. “Choosing which college you’ll attend for four years should be a very different process from choosing which movie you’ll see on a Friday night.”
While its brand name is perceived differently from geographic area to geographic area, Penn’s overall position is one “that is linked to a strong reputation, history and tradition,” Furda said. “Reputation is important to people … to most families academic reputation is a top requirement.”
In addition to admissions, Penn employs marketing strategies in other areas. For example, the Office of University Communications exists to advance Penn’s reputation and to strengthen Penn’s brand image, according to University Spokeswoman Lori Doyle.
“Placing positive stories about Penn in the national news media … and positioning Penn President Amy Gutmann as a national and international leader in higher education, among other things” are some of the strategies used by the office, Doyle said.
Despite Penn’s disadvantage in general brand image marketing due to its name, Chou acknowledged Penn’s strength in attracting job recruiters.
“I think Penn has an extremely strong brand with companies, which is why top companies come to our campus to recruit,” she said.
Career Services markets Penn to employers by sending out invitations to recruit on campus and to attend University-sponsored career fairs, according to Career Services Director Patricia Rose.
“Obviously, we’re anxious to market Penn to prospective employers,” she said.
Rose also highlighted the fact that having outstanding students is one of Penn’s main advantages in attracting recruiters.
“Penn students as a group are career-minded, and most employers will find a critical mass of interested and qualified students here,” she explained.
Regardless of confusion over its name brand, Penn students are defining the brand themselves.
“Our students are being recruited and are doing well at organizations literally all over the world, so our students have an excellent track record,” Rose said.
kimchanir
July 19, 2010, 3:11 am
Flag this comment
strong division for tuff results
travesti
July 20, 2010, 6:46 pm
Flag this comment
Türkiye'de ya?ayan veya k?saltmas? olarakta kullan?lan üçüncü cinsin temsilcilerini daha yak?ndan tan?mak isteyen ziyaretçilere 'ni tan?tmak istiyorum. ;, , , , olarak kategorilere ayr?lm?? sitelerimizde özellikle ülkemizin en yo?un ?ehri, travesti ya?am?n?n büyük bir bölümünü olu?turuyor. kar?? cinsin özelliklerini tam anlam?yla ta??masada kendini öyle hisseden, kar?? cins gibi giyinip hareket eden ameliyat olmam?? ki?idir. arkada?larla tan??mak isteyenleri yukar?da verdi?im kategorilere göre arayabilirsiniz. �klemizde de di?er avrupa ülkelerinde oldu?u gibi vip hizmeti veren ve vip özelliklerine sahip olan birçok bulmak mümkün. gibi escort hizmeti sunan birçok 'ye rastlayabilirsiniz. Farkl? sitelerdeki vip sitelerini verdi?im adreslerde rahatl?kla bulabilir, 'ni profillerini inceleyebilirsiniz.
Comments are closed for this item.