Favored Wrestling heads to EIWAs

The No. 8 ranked nationally Penn wrestling team goes into the EIWAs at Lehigh this weekend in the position that it most prefers.

The favorite.

"I have to assume we'll win," Penn senior captain Yoshi Nakamura said. "Anything else would be a disappointment. It will be a tough team battle and Harvard, Cornell and Lehigh will be tough."

"But if we dominate to our potential, we'll have ten for ten in the finals."

Penn coach Roger Reina was slightly more tempered in his enthusiasm, if not in confidence.

"Anything short of our best performance would be a disappointment," Reina said. "It's time to perform our best. If we perform to our potential in each match, the results will take care of themselves."

Harvard, Lehigh and Cornell all present unique challenges for the Quakers.

Lehigh is the second ranked team in the east and will have home-mat advantage.

Harvard comes in as the defending champions, winning last year at the Palestra. Cornell wrestled Penn close earlier this season, with eight of 10 bouts decided by two points or fewer.

"We want to step up and dominate early," Reina said. "And take [Lehigh's] crowd out of it."

Nakamura leads 10 Penn wrestlers who are ranked in the top six in the East in their weight class. The Quakers are the only team to have their whole slate of wrestlers ranked that high.

"I think we all know within ourselves that we're capable of dominating this tournament," Penn sophomore 141-pounder Brett Vanderveer, ranked sixth in the east, said.

Vanderveer enters his first EIWA at his high point of the season, coming off a victory against Tristan Boyd of Lehigh that clinched the victory for the Quakers.

"I had been losing a lot of close matches all season," he said. "And that one was real good for confidence."

The teams younger wrestlers, such as Vanderveer and sophomore 133-pound Jeff Eveleth have struggled this season with losing close bouts, but have gained valuable experience.

"Reversing decisions that we lost in the season has always been a trademark of Penn wrestling," Reina said.

This will be the final Eastern championship for Nakamura as well as three other seniors -- co-captain Rick Springman and the Henson brothers, Joe and Josh.

"I want to go out and take the crown," Nakamura said. "Step up and win one for myself and for my team."

"These guys have produced tremendous results all year for us," Reina said. "They're on a mission for us."

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.