Quakers want to 'Feast' on weekend's foes

While letting his wrestlers cool down after practice yesterday, Penn coach Roger Reina proclaimed sophomore heavyweight Matt Feast the "Feast of the East." Feast -- having made a buffet out of his opponents all season long -- hopes to make good on his coach's boast this weekend at the Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association championships this Saturday. Held at Cornell, the EIWA championships feature 13 teams, but only three real contenders. The host-Big Red are ranked No. 5 nationally, while Lehigh is No. 4 and Penn is No. 18. "Penn's in a position -- with solid performances from all our guys and some upsets from some of the seeded wrestlers on Lehigh and Cornell's team -- that we could be in a position to surprise some people and be in contention for the team title this year," Reina said. It starts with Feast. The heavyweight is the Quakers' lone projected No. 1 seed. "I think I have [the competition] pretty much down," Feast said. He added that the biggest threat to his individual title is Lehigh's Joe Sahl, whom he defeated two weeks ago in the Quakers' dual-meet loss to the Engineers. "The Lehigh guy gave me a tough match," he said. "I kind of took him for granted the first time I wrestled him and he took me down right away. "Luckily, I capitalized on one of his mistakes and ended up pinning him. Next time, there's a few things I'm going to change." Although seedings will be finalized Saturday, the EIWA website projects the Quakers in the top-six of each weight class except for 165-pounds. Freshman Matt Valenti is currently listed second at 125-pounds, while classmates Matt Eveleth and Matt Herrington are third at 133 and 174-pounds, respectively. Herrington has a bullseye on the Engineers' Brad Dillon, with the hope to avenge a 10-5 loss. "I guess you're really lucky when you can wrestle a guy and get that extra chance," Herrington said. "I'm dying to wrestle him again." Other projections include Doug McGraw No. 3 at 141-pounds, Paul Velekei No. 4 at 197 and Brett Vanderveer and Ethan Bullock No. 6 at 157 and 184. Herrington emphasizes, however, that too much should not be made of seedings. "Either way you look at it, you have to beat the best guys to be the best," he said. Reina, too, is more concerned with performance than the preliminary rankings. "This is all on paper, and paper doesn't wrestle," he said. "We expect to see improved results against all common opponents -- a lot of these guys we've faced during the course of the year. "If we beat someone earlier, we expect to beat them by a wider margin. If we lost to someone before, we expect to close the gap or avenge that loss." Penn senior captain Jody Giuricich has revenge on his mind after last month's 6-4 loss to Cornell's Dustin Manotti. The Big Red went on to win the dual meet, allowing them to edge the Quakers for the Ivy League title. This being his last year of eligibility, Giuricich wants to go out on a winning note. "I can't say that I'm ready to sum it up yet," he said. Giuricich hasn't been to the EIWAs since his freshman year -- because of his status as primarily a reserve --when he finished third at 141 pounds. "These next few tournaments are probably going to be the biggest I've ever had to wrestle in since I've been here. Pretty much all the training I've done the last four years is going into these two." Seeded No. 3 in the 149-pound weight class, Giuricich is projected to make the cut for nationals. The top two wrestlers in each weight class receive automatic bids to the NCAA finals in Kansas City, Mo. Coaches then give berths to 16 wild cards -- usually the winners of the consolation finals -- plus six at-large bids. "We want as many of our guys winning [and] placing as highly as possible," Reina said. "People who win or do well at this tournament put themselves in position to gain seeding at the national championships. "So ultimately, that's the main objective. You have to perform to get your ticket punched to go compete at the national championships."

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