Several wrestlers have chance to secure NCAA bids at EIWAs

The wrestling team goes to the mat this weekend as part of the oldest and most revered wrestling tournament in the nation. The Tigers will be competing in the 99th Annual Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association Tournament, held this year at Cornell. Princeton is one of the four founding members of the EIWA and was there for the league's first championship tournament in 1905. That year the Tigers took fourth place but crowned their first individual champion John Dickson at 158 pounds. Since that year Princeton wrestlers have competed in all 99 successive tournaments, crowning 50 individual champions and winning 3 overall team titles. This year's team knows the history it follows in and is hungry to add on to the record book.

The road will not be easy, though, as the EIWA is now not only the nation's oldest conference but also its biggest, boasting 13 competitive teams, including national top tens — No. 4 Lehigh and No. 5 Cornell. Despite the stiff competition, head coach Michael New is confident in the team's ability to perform.

"I tell the guys to be proud and to stay focused on where they want to be, and I know the rest will take care of itself," New said.

'The rest,' as Coach New well knows, should be nothing short of the top step of the podium for two of the Tigers' standout seniors.

Senior captain Greg Parker, last year's EIWA champion at 174 lbs., enters the tournament this year as a favorite at the 184-lb. weight bracket. This bracket contains perhaps the most anticipated matchup of the tournament, as Parker, currently ranked No. 3 nationally, will probably face off against national No. 1 Clint Wattenberg of Cornell in the finals. Parker has already beaten Wattenberg once this year in double overtime during a regular-season dual meet. The prospect of stepping onto the mat with Wattenberg again, however, does not seem to faze Parker.

"You learn something every time you wrestle someone, and if you're a smart wrestler, you take advantage of that the next time you face him," Parker said.

Parker is one of those wrestlers who always keeps his cool on the mat and is subsequently able to pull off amazing moves even when it appears his opponent is getting the better of him. He claims his key is simply "relaxing and having fun on the mat." Whatever his strategy, this NCAA finalist and All-American has been anything but fun for his opponents. Do not look for him to let up anytime soon.

Parker is coming off an undefeated EIWA regular season that culminated in a decisive 60 second pin in the last dual of the year against Penn. His recent dominance has helped fuel the whole team in making a late-season run. Just ask coach New: the team is hot.

"We had our best team performance of the year in our final match against Penn," he said.

In a close contest, the Tigers took the national powerhouse No. 16 Quakers down to the wire before eventually falling, 25-15.

Senior co-captain Joe Clarke, who also scored a pin against Penn, is another Tiger wrestler looking to carry late-season momentum into this weekend. Clarke enters the tournament at a 141-lb. class loaded with nationally ranked talent. This, however, is nothing Clarke cannot handle — he has proven he can beat the best with his victory earlier this year over the nation's No. 1, Teyon Ware of Oklahoma. Clarke's strength and amazing technical ability make him perhaps the most feared of the competitors in the 141-lb. class.

"Every time he goes out onto the mat he puts on a wonderful show," New said. With a national championship tournament berth on the line, this year's EIWA tournament should be Clarke's show to steal.

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The EIWA tournament feeds the national tournament by granting all 20 finalists plus another 16 wildcards voted on by the coaches bids to the NCAA championships the weekend of March 20 in Kansas City, MO.

Though Parker and Clarke should have already booked their tickets, their ranks could be joined by a trio of talented Princeton juniors — Joe Looke, Milo Adams and Brian Kirschbaum are all capable of pulling off upsets that could earn them NCAA bids.