Wrestling drops three despite Clarke's undefeated weekend

Although the wrestling team got swept under the mats once again this weekend, freshman Joe Clarke pulled out a broom of his own, recording an undefeated 3-0 record in the team's losing efforts.

For the Tigers, the weekend sweep at the hands of Harvard, Brown and Drexel in Cambridge, Mass., highlighted once again the team's mounting troubles.

For Clarke, the weekend sweep of his three 141-pound foes showed the promise of future individual glory.

Against Ivy-rival Harvard Friday, the Tigers were crushed to the tune of a 37-3 loss. Clarke was the only Princetonian to even record a point in the match for the Tigers. The freshman dominated his Crimson foe, Nick Picarsic, 11-6, in the victory.

During the Tigers' 23-16 loss to Brown, Princeton drew upon a more successful team effort. In addition to Clarke's 12-9 win over the Bears' David Dies, three other Tiger wrestlers took down their opponents.

In the 125-pound weight class, senior Marc Steyer defeated Ryan Gill with a crushing 11-2 win. Sophomore Albert Pendleton recorded Princeton's only technical fall of the weekend in his 12-6 victory over Brown's Todd Dewitt in the 157-pound class. In the 165-pound competition, freshman Greg Parker defeated the Bears' Chris Ayers, 13-4.

Outside of the Ivy fray, the Tigers also fell to Drexel, 27-9, over the weekend. Clarke and Steyer continued their successful weekends with victories over Dante Cifelli and Dan DiGirolamo, respectively. Junior Scott Pasquini was Princeton's only other Dragon-slayer. In the 174-pound weight class, Pasquini defeated Drexel's Pat Shufelt by a score of 6-4.

With some individual successes to build upon, the team will look to rebound from this weekend's losses when the Tigers head to Pittsburgh, Pa., Saturday to face Duquesne before an intrastate matchup at Rutgers the following Wednesday.