Wrestling looks to be tough at Penn St.

When the Penn wrestling team boards a bus en route to Happy Valley and Penn State this weekend, the Red and Blue will be in search of not only a tournament victory but also team development. The Penn State Open will include a medley of teams, most of which hail from the East. At 9 a.m., the the grappling will begin, as the Quakers square off against the likes of Navy, Rider, Seton Hall, and the host Nittany Lions. Yet, as this is an open event, Penn coach Roger Reina noted that currently unknown competition could appear. "It will be an open event, an event that will have a very wide range of teams being represented," Reina said. Within a field that should prove to be of large proportions, the Quakers will be targeting Navy and Penn State. Navy, a fellow EIWA conference member, is ranked eighth in the conference. Penn holds the third position. Navy cannot be overlooked, however, since the Midshipmen pose a threat within the competitive EIWA. "Facing Navy will be important, in terms of our conference," Reina said. "It will have bearings on the individual rankings within the conference, which will impact the seedings for the Eastern Championships." Penn State, will also be a marked team for the Red and Blue this Sunday. Ranked 25th nationally and fifth in the Atlantic Regional Division I Preseason Rankings, the Nittany Lions are projected to have a talented team this winter. Penn ranked fourth in the Atlantic preseason poll, and 15th nationally. This will be the first of two meetings between the Quakers and Lions. "We'll have a good chance to take a look at them [Penn State], and we'll have a dual meet with them in January," Reina said. Penn State is coming off of a fourth-place finish in it's last showing, at the Mat-Town Classic. Rider and Seton Hall, teams that the Red and Blue bested in the Keystone Classic two weekends ago, will also be making appearances. Both teams failed to upend Penn, finishing second and fourth respectively to the Quakers, the tournament victor. Regardless of the other competition that appears at Penn State's Recreational Hall on Sunday morning, Coach Reina is looking forward to a strong showing by the Quakers. "We've competed very well at this tournament every time that we've gone," Reina said. Reina, who has constructed arguably the best wrestling program in the state, intends to use this weekend's result as an evaluation of the team's progress thus far. "We use this tournament as an opportunity to get a high number of matches in and evaluate our technical progress," Reina said. Individually, Penn wrestlers will be aiming to utilize this tournament to help elevate their rankings. Yoshi Nakamura is currently ranked eight in the 157-pound weight division by Amateur Wrestling News, second in the EIWA and fifth by Intermat. The Outstanding Wrestler of the Keystone Classic will be looking to sustain or possibly even elevate his current rankings by wrestling well at Penn State this weekend. Also, Jody Giuricich and Mike Fickell, both ranked number two by the EIWA, will be attempting to dominate the field in their respective 175-pound and 191-pound weight classes. Most importantly, the Red and Blue wrestling team will return to the Penn Campus as a more experienced and technically inclined team. "Our focus is on our own technical development, not the teams that will be there," said Reina. News and Notes The last time Penn faced Penn State, the Quakers defeated the Nittany Lions, 22-16, last December at the Palestra. At the 1998 Penn State Open, the Red and Blue performed well. Rick Springman, who is sitting out this season, won the 165-pound title at the tournament.

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