Wrestling battles two strong foes, virus in weekend losses

If Central Michigan and Rutgers were not enough of a challenge for the Princeton wrestling team, the vicious stomach flu became the team's biggest challenge last weekend, with three of the Tigers' top wrestlers feeling the effects of the painful virus.

Already disappointed with their dual meet record, the team hoped to get some momentum last weekend leading into their upcoming final Ivy League match against Penn. But once again, the Tigers (3-17 overall, 0-4 Ivy League) were unable to win many of the close matches. Princeton wrestled Central Michigan, ranked seventeenth in the country on Friday night, and then followed them up with a strong Rutgers team on Saturday night.

Only junior Greg Parker and sophomore Matt Fisher won both their matches, as the Tigers lost, 34-7, then 28-13.

The Central Michigan match began well for the Tigers, with Parker's 174 lb. division starting off the match. Parker retained his undefeated dual meet record, beating Tony Gansen by major decision, and giving the Tigers an early 4-0 lead.

Wrestling at 184 lbs., freshman Jack Fleming, filling in for the injured senior Anthony Debartolo, then lost the lead, losing his match 12-4, evening the overall score at 4-4. Fisher at 197 lbs. followed Fleming, and beat Central Michigan's Bill Stouffer, 10-8, putting Princeton up 7-4. But that would be the last lead for the Tigers all night.

The Saturday match against Rutgers began the same way as Friday night. Fisher's 197 lb. division started the match, and once again, Fisher won in an exciting match, defeating John Foscolo, 8-7. Sophomore Matt Hawrilenko, filling in the for the usual heavyweight starter, sophomore Joe Looke, then wrestled a close match against Rutgers' Frank Sabatino losing, 7-4.

Moving to the lightweights, the score was tied 3-3. Sophomore Brian Kirschbaum, wrestling at 125 lbs., had an exciting 3-1 win. Kirschbaum had to fight back from an early deficit to get the win.

Senior captain Juan Venturi, who has been one of the Tigers' top wrestlers for the past four years, scored a needed major decision against Rutgers' Jon Rodriguez, beating him 14-4. Senior Albert Pendleton, while fighting the stomach flu and a number of different injuries, managed to take Rutgers' Chris Ressa to two overtimes, before Pendleton eventually lost, 5-4.

With the match now out of reach for the Tigers, Princeton's top wrestler, Parker, ranked sixth in the nation at 174 lbs., decided to compete in the match, even though he was also suffering from the stomach flu. Parker's flu aided Andy Roy of Rutgers in scoring four points. But Parker was not about to be beaten by either Roy or the flu, and he pulled out a close 6-4 win.

"We were really hurt by the flu this weekend. Looke spent all weekend in McCosh and then Parker and Pendleton both went to McCosh after the match on Saturday. Rutgers is a good team, but we were by no means at 100 percent," head coach Mike New said.

"[Our] record is embarrassing for us, because we know that we are much better than it shows. But confidence is not our problem. We know that we are a good team, and now we will have to show that at Easterns," sophomore Milo Adams said.

"This team is starting to get hot and I think that they will be doing their best wrestling just in time for Easterns and Nationals. We are definitely going to surprise a lot of teams at those tournaments. We have wrestled the toughest schedule in our league, and unfortunately our record shows that," said New.