Wrestling takes disappointing

(Penn: 2nd at EIWAs)

For most wrestling teams, a second-place finish at a national tournament would be a tremendous accomplishment.

But for the Penn men's wrestling team, second place was a huge disappointment.

Despite being the top-ranked squad in the East, Penn could do no better than runner-up at the EIWA championships on March 9-10. The Quakers came in second to Lehigh, 131.5-118, on the Engineers' home mats.

Cornell, Harvard and Brown rounded out the top five.

"It's a little disappointing," Penn senior co-captain Yoshi Nakamura said. "Especially because some of my teammates were beaten by guys they're better than. But a second-place finish is good -- it was a tough field and Lehigh's a great team."

This marked the third straight year the Red and Blue have finished second.

Wrestling in front of Lehigh's partisan fans did not help matters for the Quakers, who defeated the Engineers in the Palestra earlier this year.

"It was a definite advantage," Nakamura said. "It's always easier when you're at home, and some of their guys fed off that."

However, Penn's coach made no excuses.

"The goal was to go in and win on their home mats," Roger Reina said. "They got hot in the second round... it was more important that they got hot at the right time than where the match was."

Lehigh made a run during Saturday evening's bouts going 14 for 14 and opening up a 20- point team lead over second place Penn. Although the Quakers cut the lead to seven midway through Sunday's action, they were never able to get any closer.

"We went there with one intention -- to win the tournament -- and we fell short," Reina said.

Despite the slightly lackluster team finish, Penn had many impressive individual performances, including four finalists and two champions, seniors Josh Henson at 165 pounds and Yoshi Nakamura at 157.

Seniors Rick Springman at 174 and Joe Henson at 149 lost in their respective final bouts.

The EIWA title was Nakamura's third in a row.

"It's a pretty cool accomplishment," the senior said. "I'm just honored to be a part of that tradition. Not many people have done that."

Josh Henson's first place finish was his first.

"This is what we work for all year," Henson said. "But it's the part of the season when you can't sit back and enjoy with nationals coming up. I can sit back and enjoy this after the year."

By virtue of their top-two finishes, the four received automatic berths to this week's NCAA championships in Albany.

Joining the four seniors in Albany will be freshman heavyweight Matt Feast and sophomore 125 pound Mason Lenhard, who gained wild card bids.

Feast finished in fourth place at the tournament, while Lenhard took third.

Feast's fourth-place finish was especially hard to swallow as he beat the two finalists, David Rehul of Harvard and Bronson Lingamfelter of Brown earlier this season. He fell in double-overtime in the third-place bout.

"If things had gone my way I could have won it," Feast said. "It shows that anybody can win on any given day."

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