COLUMN: Reina has led miracle turnaround

Chevy Chase, MD No, the most successful Quakers team over the winter was the underappreciated Penn wrestling squad. This year's team blitzed its way to a 10-0 dual-meet season against Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association foes, then conquered a 14-team field at the season-ending EIWA championship meet. That tournament was the climax of a metamorphosis for the ages. In the early 1980s, when now-coach Roger Reina wrestled for the Quakers, things were so bad that serious rumors swirled that the program would be dropped. The big turning point came in 1986, when Reina was hired as head coach. Penn finished with a dual-meet record of 6-14 in Reina's first season as coach. But the year after that, with his own recruits comprising a majority of the team, the Quakers leaped to 10-8-1. Talk to Reina about the improvement of the program since then and the word "pioneer" will come up multiple times. It is an apt metaphor: a few good men delving into the confused wilderness that was Ivy League wrestling and paving the way for those who would follow. That is why, when asked to talk about the heroes of this year's championship, Reina brought up three guys not even on the team anymore -- 1995 graduates Gary Baker, Brian Butler and Gonz Medina. Those were the guys who decided to come aboard in 1991, when the team was still struggling to escape from the cloud of mediocrity that had enveloped it since the mid-'70s. What a run that cast had. In 1994, they led Penn to its first Ivy League title since 1972. Last year, the senior season for the trio, the Quakers had serious notions of an Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association championship-meet title for the first time in school history. But of the five Penn wrestlers that reached the semifinals at Easterns, only one advanced. The Quakers finished fifth. "It was a heartbreaking way for them to end their careers," Reina said. "But they certainly left their mark." The '94 team set a standard for the teams that followed in more ways than one. Of approximately 200 wrestling programs across the nations, the Quakers had the fourth-highest cumulative GPA. The team was as proud of that as it was of its first Ivy title in 20 years. More proud, maybe. It was an achievement in keeping with the philosophy Reina drills in his wrestlers from the moment he recruits them. Every wrestler will be expected to make a full commitment to academics in addition to doing everything he can to improve as an athlete. The resulting program is proof positive that success in athletics and success in academics are not entirely irreconcilable after all. It is because of all this work and sacrifice that goes into being a wrestler that the team does notice the lack of attention and appreciation on the part of the Penn community at large. Having conquered the EIWA, Penn then set its sights on the nation's elite. Seven wrestlers competed in the NCAA nation-championship tournament this season, the most they have sent in recent memory. But Penn seemed overwhelmed by the surroundings, finishing a disappointing 33rd. Now Reina wants to be a force to be reckoned with on the national level. Next year looks like it could be the year. Each of the past three seasons, Reina has brought in a top-20 recruiting class. This year's recruits are shaping up to be of similar caliber. Next year, then, the Quakers should have as talented a roster from top to bottom as they have ever had. It is the just desserts for a program that has undergone nearly two decades of misery, for all the work and sacrifice put in by Reina and the "pioneers". It could truly be a year to remember. The question is, Will anyone be watching?

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