Parker's five wins lead surging wrestling to three victories in weekend meet

Stunning even his teammates, sophomore Greg Parker added to the list of top wrestlers he has beaten by defeating 10th-ranked Francis Volpe of Harvard.

Winning both of his matches over the weekend, Parker wrestled at both 174 and 184 lb. and was named the Eastern Collegiate Wrestling Association's Wrestler of the Week.

In a successful weekend for the Tigers, the Princeton wrestling team defeated Brown, Franklin and Marshall and Duquesne. But two tough losses to Harvard and Drexel put a small damper on the weekend.

Opening the Ivy League schedule, the Tigers faced Brown. The wrestling team stomped the Bears, winning 32-10. It was Princeton's first win over Brown in six years.

Paced by sophomores Joe Clarke and Parker, and seniors Ryan Bonfiglio and Chris McLaughlin, the Tigers once again made a strong point with the win.

Clarke, wrestling at 141 lb., was undefeated for the weekend, winning all five of his matches. He started the weekend with a pin of Brown's David Dies 4 minutes, 33 seconds into the match. The 149 lb. senior Jeff Bernd followed Clarke's example by pinning Clint Frease at 2:24 into the match. Junior John Bunt lost a close match to Brown's Jesse Savage, 7-4, but Bonfiglio reclaimed the momentum for the Tigers as he pounded Zack Schweda of Brown, 24-8.

But Parker was not to be outdone. He embarrassed the Bear's Todd Dewitt, 18-1.

The entire match was in control after the lightweights took their toll on Brown. Freshman Brian Kirshbaum solidly beat Jason Amato of Brown, 7-3. Returning to the lineup after cutting his weight back down to 133 lb., junior Juan Venturi made his presence felt by pinning his opponent at 4:08 into the match.

Harvard proved too much for the Tigers, as the Crimson beat Princeton 37-6. With several close matches, only Parker and Clarke were able to hold on and win their matches.

Hoping to stop the bleeding, Bonfiglio had the grueling task of wrestling highly-rated Crimson wrestler Pat O'Donnell. Leading 3-2 four minutes into the match, Bonfiglio attempted a difficult and dangerous move in an attempt to pin O'Donnell, which would have given the Tigers more points. But the move backfired and put Bonfiglio in a terrible position. Now with the upper hand, O'Donnell was able to pin Bonfiglio at 4:13 into the match.

"Ryan made a mistake," head coach Mike New said. "O'Donnell is a great wrestler and going for the pin was a bad idea. Ryan would have won the match if he had continued wearing down O'Donnell as he had been the entire first four minutes."

Parker quickly ended Harvard's plan of a sweep over the Tigers. Wrestling the 10th-ranked 184 lb. wrestler in Volpe, Parker, who was outweighed by almost 10 pounds, quickly demonstrated that he is one of the toughest wrestlers in the league, winning the match, 6-1, only two weeks after painful knee surgery. Carrying his team once again, Parker showed no fear and tried to swing the momentum back to his team.

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"It is always difficult for a team to recover after your top wrestler loses, and Parker certainly beat Harvard's best wrestler," New said.

Parker's win ended up not being the turning point, however, as the Crimson cruised through the 197, 285, 125 and 133 lb. divisions. Finishing the match with the 141 lb. match, Clarke beat Harvard's Nick Picarsic, 5-1. With such a stellar weekend, Clarke earned himself the EIWA's Most Offensive Wrestler of the Week award.

Unfortunately, a strong Drexel team proved too much for Princeton. Besides a blowout by Clarke over Joe Cristaldi, 17-1, the Tigers did not have much luck against the Philadelphia team. In a close and exciting match, an upsetting call by the referee cost Bonfiglio points and eventually caused him to lose his match against a talented Dave Dietrich, 3-2.

While the Tigers were disappointed with the loss to Harvard, the Ivy League is a highly competitive wrestling league this year, and one loss will not ruin Princeton's chance at an Ivy League championship.

So far, Cornell leads the pack at 2-0, including a big win over wrestling powerhouse Penn. Princeton's next match will be against the Quakers Feb. 14.

"Everybody will end up losing at least one match this year in the Ivy's, so I am not too worried about our loss to Harvard," New said. "As long as we can come back strong against Penn, we will be just fine. Everyone is healthy as of now, so we are in good shape."