Wrestling tops No. 13 Engineers

(Penn - 23, Princeton - 13) (Penn - 21, Lehigh - 12)

On a day when six seniors were honored for a career of dedication to the Penn wrestling program, it was unheralded sophomore Jeff Eveleth who cinched the dual meet against No. 12 Lehigh with a come-from- behind overtime thriller against Lehigh's Dan Hyman.

And the eighth ranked Quakers (10-4, 5-0) beat Princeton 23-13 at Jadwyn Gym Saturday to finish off an undefeated Ivy season -- good enough weekend for you?

Well -- maybe not.

"The Ivy League title is something to do along the way," Penn senior Josh Henson said. "Our focus is on the EIWAs then the NCAAs."

Winning the title is something we expect to do here at Penn."

Sunday's match against archrival was the main event for the Red and Blue this weekend.

"Lehigh's our rival and we've gone back and forth with them over the years," Penn senior co-captain Yoshi Nakamura said. "I've never been on a team that's beaten Lehigh before. I was screaming so hard for my teammates I got lightheaded."

Penn came out an inspired following emotional pre-game tribute to senior co-captains Nakamura and Rick Springman, along with Josh Henson and Joe Henson. Also honored were seniors who rarely see action -- Craig Belcher and Kevin Rucci.

The Quakers proceeded to win their first four matches, all by seniors, including an upset decision by No. 8 Josh Henson over No. 4 Chris Vitale and a dominant six point injury default by No. 5 Rick Springman over staking themselves to a 15-0 lead.

Lehigh turned what could have been a rout into a rally, by winning the next four bouts, including an upset by Lehigh's No. 20 Mario Stuart over Penn's eighth ranked Mason Lenhard at 125.

"Mason's been sick lately," Penn coach Roger Reina said. "He's been starting to come out of lately. It was an especially tough loss since Mason's beaten [Stuart] before. They'll meet again at EIWAs."

This loss put the Mountain Hawks within three, 15-12, and set up a thrilling penultimate match at 133 between Eveleth and Hyman. Eveleth tied it at four in the third period on a stalling call, then won it in sudden death overtime with a takedown.

"It was probably my biggest win [since I've been at Penn]," Evelteth said. "In fact it definitely was, it was really close. I just avoided doing anything stupid and waited for an opening, which finally came."

"Jeff's been battling hard all season and lost some heartbreakers," Reina said. "Hard work and great conditioning paid of for him at the end."

Still the night belonged to the departing seniors.

"I felt very emotional, warming up for the last time, listening to the national anthem for the last time," Nakamura said. "I still have goosebumps, this place [the Palestra] is magical."

Reina summed it up best.

"This gym is going to miss these guys," he said.

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