Wrestling falls to Penn, now stands at 1-4 in Ivies

In a meet the wrestling team had awaited all season, Penn did not fail to challenge Princeton. Always one of the top Ivy League teams, the Tigers wrestled well, but could not claim enough points to beat the always powerful Quakers.

Princeton won four of the meet's ten matches to keep it close, but the depth of the Quakers — No. 16 in the Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association — ultimately overcame the Tiger effort and secured a 25-15 decision.

The match started out with a big win for Princeton when sophomore Charlie Wiggins earned three points for the team by defeating Penn's Richard Ferguson 7-4 in the 165 pound class.

Senior All-American Greg Parker added to the Tiger lead two matches later by pinning his severely outmatched opponent within a minute of the start of the match. The victory earned Princeton six team points, making the overall team score 9-3 in favor of the orange and black.

The next match at 197 lbs. pitted junior Matt Fisher against Penn's Matt Valenti, the No. 4 wrestler in the EIWA conference. In an extremely close and hard-fought match Valenti eventually bested Fisher in a 13-8 minor decision.

Princeton surrendered three team points for the loss, but the close contest proved that Fisher can definitely wrestle with the best of the EIWA.

Fisher has been an extremely consistent wrestler for the Tigers this year and, despite the loss, he will look to rebound and pull off the upset next time when it really counts in the EIWA championships on the 7th and 8th of March.

After Fisher, Princeton continued to slide and lost the next three matches before senior Joe Clarke took the mat in the 141 lb. class. No. 5 Clarke faced a formidable Penn opponent in Doug McGraw, who was ranked two spots ahead of him at No. 3 in the EIWA.

In another possible preview match for the championship tournament, Clark won a dramatic victory over McGraw with an 8-5 decision. Clark's big win will secure him a higher seed in the upcoming EIWA tournament and bodes well for him making a deep run into the post season this year.

Magical Milo

In the meet's final match, junior Milo Adams earned the Tigers their fourth victory of the contest with a 4-3 victory over Penn's Brett Vanderveer.

Adams' victory in the 157 lb. contest provides an excellent springboard for his dive into the post season. Vanderveer was ranked No. 6 in the conference and so the victory will probably assure Adams a seed in the EIWA championships.

Though Adams' victory ended the regular season on a high note, the overall team loss to Penn dropped Princeton's final dual meet record to 5-12 for the year. Though not a success rate that most Princeton students would be happy with, the Tigers' regular season record does not represent a total flop.

Making Strides

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Princeton wrestles in an extremely competitive conference and often duels against opponents who are ranked in the top ten in the nation.

Considering this, and the fact that the Princeton wrestling program was rebuilt from scratch less than a decade ago, the competitiveness of Princeton wrestling is a lot more impressive than the record suggests.

Additionally, some of Princeton's individual wrestlers plan on following in the footsteps of Parker and making their presence known on the national stage.

Parker himself, who was the NCAA runner-up at 174 lbs. last year, is poised to make another run for the national title. His co-captain, Clarke, has also wrestled himself into the position where he may be competing in matches where the title of all-American is on the line.

The path to the national stage, however, runs through Ithaca, NY where the EIWA championships will be held next month. There begins what will be another exciting post-season run for Princeton wrestlers.