Wrestling set to defend Ivy championship

Penn's wrestling team will officially begin its second season tomorrow at 1 p.m. in the Palestra.

At this time, the No. 8 Quakers (3-4) will take on Columbia (3-2) to kick off their Ivy League season. The team then will then take a short break before battling Cornell (1-2) -- last season's co-Ivy champ along with Penn -- at 9 p.m.

The Quakers have not forgetten that Cornell provided the only Ivy blemish on their record last year. The Lions, in contrast, finished last season without a win in the conference.

"We've had a good rivalry with Cornell over the years, but I think that our team this year has the potential to go out and dominate," Penn coach Roger Reina said. "But it's not going to be easy. We can have a lot of hard fought matches with a dominant result."

Cornell returns 9 of 10 starters from its co-Ivy League champion team of a year ago to face up against the Red and Blue, who are the favorites to win the conference.

"If we wrestle to our full potential they can't be on the same mat with us," senior captain Yoshi Nakamura said. "But we have to wrestle to our full potential or anyone can beat us."

The Red and Blue have a good idea of where this full potential lies after finishing eighth at the National Dual Meets. Their only losses have come against top five opponents Minnesota, Iowa -- twice -- and Oklahoma State.

"We've wrestled an awesome schedule," Penn sophomore Mason Lenhard said. "[Wrestling] against virtually all the top teams prepares us more for the season to come."

While Columbia enters with a 3-2 record, the level of competition that the Lions have faced does not compare with that of the Quakers.

"We should just roll through them," Lenhard said. "No problem at all."

Lenhard -- ranked No. 7 nationally -- is one of five Penn wrestlers ranked in the top ten of his respective weight class. Seniors Rick Springman, Josh and Joe Henson and Nakamura also have merited top-10 rankings after impressive performances against tough national competition.

While a difficult schedule has lead to Penn's inferior record to date, the Quakers believe that testing their limits will lead to long-term benefits.

"It's clearly to our advantage, our guys need to utilize having faced top-5 and NCAA level competition," Reina said. "Our only challenge now is to use that experience to our benefit against them."

Being heavy pre-season favorites carries with it a good deal of pressure for a Penn squad that knows that anything short of an undefeated romp through the league will be an upset.

"Big yes. Capital letters." Nakamura said when asked if the year would be a disappointment if they did not win the league title.

"We're always striving for perfection... as long as we improve at a faster rate than the competition, I don't see us being challenged within the conference," Reina said. "I'm not concerned with who's second best."

The gradual improvement that the Red and Blue have undergone throughout their difficult schedule is most evident in their two matches against Iowa.

In the first dual meet Penn lost a convincing 21-12 decision, and six weeks later lost in a hard fought 17-15 match.

"This level of development is very encouraging," Reina said. "We think we can keep improving at a faster rate than anyone in the country."

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