Quaker118

Suffice it to say I am very connected to Penn wrestling and wouldn’t post something that specific without being privy to those details.

He would have paid $9000/year to get a Wharton degree. Time will tell if he made a good decision.

Luke Simcox pulled his Penn commitment and is headed to UNC. All about the $$. He had great financial aid to go to Wharton.

The level of success former Penn wrestling standouts have achieved far outweigh the pittance they would have received from scholarships or NIL money. Especially those that were admitted to Wharton which many Penn wrestlers were and continue to be. Parents and kids need to look at the long game when choosing a program. It is amusing to read people speculate about the inner workings of Penn wrestling and decisions that have been made leading up to now. I can say as someone closely connected to the program which started when I competed there from 1970-1975 we are all onboard and thrilled that Matt is taking over. He had extensive coaching previously and his wrestling credentials cannot be questioned. Some of the silly posts about his style aren’t worth discussing. I watched him for 4 years and if he can instill some of what drove him to succeed our program will thrive. I believe Voice of the Quakers addressed some timeline issues but for much of the rest most of you don’t know what had gone on behind the scenes that led to many decisions being made. Looking forward to moving forward next season.

You should google his sophomore year 2004. 3rd seeded lost first round on few seconds riding time differential. Rattled off 5 wins including a pin and 10-7 ot win. Beat Luke Eustice in the blood round who was returning runner up and big 10 champ. Came in 5th going 6-2. One of the toughest guys I’ve ever seen.

Valenti in the 2006 NCAA tournament: fall,fall,7-2,7-3,3-2 against super tough 2x runner up Fleeger. 2007 NCAA tournament. 6-2,9-3,4-0,4-2,4-2 against future champ Scott. I would expect total ignorance from a Scarlet Night on anything related to Penn wrestling. I was at virtually every home match, NCAA tournament, and EIWA tournament that Matt participated in. Somehow he managed to score some points occasionally. But if he can develop national champs that win on riding time, I’ll be OK with that.

Matt was very involved in many aspects of the Penn athletics administration for several years. It was definitely not a made up position. He has continued to be a part of Penn wrestling since he returned from Columbia as a coach. It’s a great hire. I just think Matt’s heart ultimately was back in the room full time.

As a former Penn wrestler and avid supporter of the program, I could not be happier to see Matt taking over the program. His wrestling credentials are impeccable, and I think he is going to elevate the Penn program to where all of us Quaker fans would like to see it again. He is smart, will be a great recruiter and his love for the program will translate well going forward.

My group of 3 flew direct from Philly round trip. Where were you looking for flights?

Hard to believe Colliacco had Shawver beat until a td at the buzzer. Took a 2 minute review to make sure time wasn’t up. No idea what has happened to him.

Why didn’t Chittum take neutral in ot after he rode Downey out. He could have won on rt.

Cannot believe the woman doing the interview asked him how it felt to pin a guy he lost to twice. Did I miss something after the tech? Did they change a call. Don’t make a mistake like that.

8-7. Swisher coming on strong at the end. 125 should be very entertaining. 5 spots qualified and Gallagher missed by 1 win. 8 competitive guys anything can happen. I think 125 is one of the most entertaining weights ever in the NCAA. We are all looking forward to lots of upsets.

I’ll throw Max Gallagher from Penn in as a true freshman. Started the year as a back up, then beat Ventresca and Ryan Miller his teammate in the finals at the Keystone to take over the starting spot. He also beat Provo in the dual meet and has been coming on strong. He lost a very close match to Ayala in the duel as well.

A team loses 5 points if they don’t have a starter at a weight.

My bad. Hale beat Ayzerov Incontrera beat Wolak.

Incontrera from Penn beat Ayzerov 6-3 last week and it wasn’t that close. He tried to turn him at the end and got reversed in the last second. Incontrera gets Conigliari fri at Harvard Sunday and Foca next week.

People forget Hall got screwed out of his chance to win his senior year. He was the favorite and would have been the top seed. He easily could have been a 4 time finalist and 2 time champ elevating his career standing.

I had thought about starting a thread. What was the craziest thing you ever saw during a wrestling match? I think I’ve got a good one that somewhat relates to this. My junior year in high school at Farmingdale we were wrestling Herricks high school. Our 157 pounder, who was heavily favored was winning by a lot when suddenly he got thrown to his back. It was a packed gym as there was a basketball game right after, and we were stunned, thinking that we were going to lose the match and lose the division championship which we were in the middle of a 10 year winning streak. Our assistant coach, who knew very little about wrestling, ran out onto the mat and pulled the other kid off of our guy. Our guy was lying there unconscious. No one saw that except for this assistant coach. Back then it was three minutes of injury time. Our kid who was tough as nails and became an all Ivy linebacker for Dartmouth somehow recovered and held on to win the match. We ended up winning the dual by a point, and I will never forget that crazy situation. Anyone ever see anything similar to that?

Max Gallagher from Penn knocks off Provo from Stanford today. Comes back from 6-1 down to win in OT. He has taken over the starting spot from 2 time qualifier Ryan Miller.

I am on the EIWA Hall of Fame committee and we are going to induct Denny into the HOF at the EIWA tournament in March. We were able to notify Denny before he passed away. He was so happy to hear that. A great guy whose newsletter was incredible for those of us fortunate to have read it. A great contributor to the sport and Lehigh wrestling in particular.

2016 unseeded Casey Kent from Penn knocked off eight seed Epperly in the first round. He lost in the second round and in the wrestle backs in his second match was losing badly when he got a pin. He pinned his next two guys and came all the way back to fourth losing in the third place match to Epperly.

Schultz and Banach NCAA final easily one of the best. Banach had beaten him earlier that season.

Doug Zapf wins bronze 12-2. 2 for 2 for the PRTC getting bronze with McKenna.

Do you need to be enrolled as a student at Iowa for them to put you on the team? Only half kidding.