Wrestling splits against nation's elite

After two highly contested dual meets yesterday at the Palestra, Penn walked away with a win over No. 13 Penn State and a loss to No. 16 Purdue, both coming by way of a final score of 22-12. In the first meet of the day, Penn (2-1) jumped out to an early lead against the Nittany Lions. Following a Matt Valenti win, Doug McGraw and Jody Giuricich scored two upset victories staking the Quakers out to an early 12-2 advantage. McGraw's victory over nationally-ranked Scott Moore was not his first of the season. "We had wrestled earlier in the year," McGraw said. "I won that match, so I came in today with a similar game plan." Giuricich's victory came by way of a pin at the 2:03 mark against Penn State's Nate Galloway. Despite the quick start and the momentum gained by Giuricich's pin, Penn was unable to pull away from the Nittany Lions. After the Quakers had seen their lead diminish to 12-9, freshman Matt Herrington was able to provide Penn with some much needed breathing room. Herrington jumped on Penn State's Dan Waters early in their match and never looked back, winning a major decision and providing his team with a desperately needed four points to push the lead to 16-9. After the Nittany Lions once again pulled within striking distance, Paul Velekei and Matt Feast were able to close the door for good. In a pivotal match at 197 lbs., Velekei beat Penn State's Ryan Cummins, 5-2, on the strength of two takedowns in the final period. Velekei's win put the Red and Blue in great position to win as they held a 19-12 lead with only one match remaining. Feast made sure Penn's lead was safe. Going against No. 5 Pat Cummins, Feast controlled the match and pulled off a 3-2 upset victory and an overall Penn win. However, against Purdue in the second meet of the afternoon, the Quakers did not fare quite so well. The Red and Blue got off to a slow start, falling behind 7-0 only two matches into the game. But the Quakers rallied and once again did so behind the dominance of McGraw and Giuricich. After a 3-0 win by McGraw put Penn on the board, Giuricich gave the Red and Blue their only lead of the meet. Only 4:08 into his match against Purdue's Dan Jankowski, Giuricich earned his second pin of the day. His win provided Penn with a short-lived 9-7 lead. After Giurich's pin, Purdue won the next five matches and opened up an insurmountable 22-9 advantage. "I don't think there was the same intensity level against Purdue," McGraw said. "It didn't seem to be a stamina issue. In the two overtime matches, I thought we were actually fresher. We just couldn't seem to get that one big win that we needed." In the final match of the day, Feast won again by a score of 3-2, giving himself a perfect 2-0 record for the day. Junior Marcus Schontube was out of the lineup and his presence was sorely missed, as Penn was unable to get any points from the 184 lbs. weight class against the Boilermakers. "Overall, I think we were pleased with the outcome," McGraw said. "Obviously not quite as happy with the Purdue match as we were with Penn State, but we still did very well." This weekend should provide Penn with a lot of confidence before the team travels to Ithaca, N.Y. for its next match against Cornell that will have huge Ivy League implications.

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