Wrestling's Giuricich to face high school rival

Harvard wrestler Jesse Jantzen will be taking his No. 3 national ranking to the Palestra on Saturday. There, he will meet Penn's 17th-ranked 149-pounder, senior captain Jody Giuricich. The two haven't exchanged grapples since high school at the Junior Nationals. "I actually didn't know who he was," Giuricich said of the first time he met Jantzen in high school. "I hadn't really heard of him. The match went all right. I got beat by a couple points, [but] I don't even remember the score. I remember him being really tough, really strong -- stronger than I had expected." At least Giuricich knows what's coming this time. The match against Jantzen will commence a marathon weekend for him and the rest of the Penn wrestling team(3-2, 1-1 Ivy). After tangling with Harvard, the Red and Blue will host dual-meets against Brown, Hofstra and Rider on Sunday. "It's interesting," Penn senior Brett Vanderveer said. "Dual-meets we've never quite done like this -- this many. "It's more like the tournament style which we'll face later in the year at the Eastern Championships and Nationals where we'll have to wrestle four times, at least, for the weekend." Vanderveer doesn't have it any easier than Giuricich. The 157-pounder takes on Rider's Derek Jenkins and Hofstra's Mike Patrovich, who are ranked nationally No. 10 and No. 19. Jenkins dominated Vanderveer, 11-1, at Penn's Keystone Classic in December. Vanderveer will use Sunday to gauge his season-long progress. Accordingly, coach Roger Reina will be stressing the man-to-man -- rather than the team -- aspect this weekend. "I'm a lot more concerned that we take charge of every individual match and dominate," Reina said. "We're looking for dominant performances across the board. "If [a 4-0 record] comes because we're the aggressors, then that'll be great." The dual-meets against Harvard and Brown are the most critical because both squads are Ancient Eight and EIWA foes. Both wins and margins-of-victory effect tournament seedings. The Quakers will try to build off their momentum from last weekend's victory over Columbia. After falling to No. 6 Cornell -- the team's first Ivy League loss in two seasons -- the Red and Blue tamed the Lions. "Definitely, the Columbia [dual meet] got our team back a little bit," freshman Matt Herrington said. "Certain parts of our lineup really stepped it up against Columbia. "The weight classes that had lost against Cornell rebounded, and that gave us, as a whole team, more confidence. It's definitely going to help us this weekend knowing we got a really solid Ivy League win under our belt." Herrington has an opportunity to build on his No. 19 national ranking. He faces No. 8 Ralph Everett from Hofstra. "He's really the guy I'm gunning for," Herrington said. "I was watching him wrestle [on film] earlier and I really think that he's not a very offensive wrestler. "He's kind of defensive, so he matches up well with my style. If I can hopefully beat him, I think I can break into the top 15 in the country." Reina emphasizes that the last word he wants attached to the Quakers is "defensive." Whether it's this weekend or the rest of the season, it all starts with the mentality to attack. "One of the things that happened with us last weekend against Cornell is that we weren't as aggressive as we needed to be," he said. "We picked it up a little bit against Columbia two days later. "But no matter who we're wrestling from here on out, that's our biggest challenge -- we take charge, we take the initiative and we're the aggressors."

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