Penn trying to be ‘team that turns heads’ with nine wrestlers in NCAA championship

A program-record nine Penn wrestlers are headed to the NCAA wrestling championship, beginning on Thursday in Detroit.

The feat is a culmination of an 8-2 season by Penn, its best since 2013. Despite challenges like COVID-related practicing restrictions, the cancellation of the 2020 NCAA tournament and the entire subsequent 2021 Ivy League season, the Quakers bounced back this season to finish 18th in the country at the end of the regular season.

The Quakers’ only losses came against ranked opponents, falling 20-16 to No. 1 Penn State on Dec. 3 and 20-12 to Cornell on Feb. 6. Penn was 10 points short of defeating Cornell in the Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association tournament on March 5, finishing second in the field of 17. Penn State is favored to win its ninth team championship in 11 years this weekend.

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Penn’s success comes as no surprise to coach Roger Reina, who was recently crowned EIWA coach of the year following the tournament.

“I kept telling them, ‘We’re going to be the team that turns heads when we come out of this,” Reina said. “We’re going to be the team that people are talking about like, ‘Where did they come from?’”

A Penn graduate, Reina began coaching at the school in 1986 at the age of 25. He stayed at the helm until 2005 when he stepped away to focus on his family.

He returned in 2018 with a new plan for the program. Four years after his return, with a handpicked roster of his own recruits, Penn is thriving.

“We had ambitious goals to start the season. One of our goals was to get five wrestlers to NCAAs,” junior Doug Zapf said.

“To get nine, it’s just crazy. And that kind of just describes our season in general. We wanted to maintain the top-25 ranking throughout the season, and now we’re in the top 15 in some rankings.”

Zapf, a junior from Downingtown, was part of Reina’s first recruiting class after returning to Penn. Now he’s a team captain, leading the Quakers through their most successful period in the last decade.

“He went to my house when I was a [high school] junior in the summer, and he was telling me these goals. I didn’t really think they were crazy, because I could see the vision in his eyes,” Zapf said.

And the vision is coming to fruition. The tournament features 10 weight classes, and there will be a Penn wrestler seeded in all but one. Penn’s Nick Antrassian fell just short of a bid to the tournament. Instead, he was selected as the first alternate at 184 pounds.

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“We’re not satisfied with just nine guys making tournaments,” Zapf said. “Now we’re trying to get on the podium this year. And no, it’s not a tournament where we’re just happy to be here. We’re ready.”

Penn will lose only one of its 10 starters to graduation and will feature a recruiting class that includes multiple New Jersey state champions and a New York state champion.

Here’s a look at each of Penn’s qualifiers for the NCAA championship.

The freshman qualified for his first trip to the NCAA championship as the 22-seed after finishing with a 20-6 regular-season record. He is set to face 11-seed Brandon Kaylor of Oregon State in the first round. “To meet him, he’s a kind of quiet, unassuming guy,” Reina said. “But he’s absolutely one of the toughest kids in our room and one of the hardest workers. You don’t underestimate Ryan Miller.”

The sophomore is seeded ninth in his second NCAA tournament berth. He was slated to compete in the 2020 tournament before it was canceled due to COVID-19. Now, after two years, he’ll compete on the national stage, facing Ramazan Attasauov from Iowa State in the first round. “He’s a highly, highly competitive guy,” Reina said. “He’s going in with two losses into the NCAA this year, both of those losses were on the same day. We found out after the fact he had COVID-19 that day. Other than that, he’s been undefeated on the season.”

The freshman holds a 12-seed ahead of the tournament, and he’ll face 21-seed Dylan Droegemuller from North Dakota State in the first round. Composto has an .826 win percentage this season. “He’s only lost one match since Matmen [on Dec. 30], I think he’s going into the NCAA with a lot of momentum,” Reina said.

This is Artalona’s second time qualifying for the tournament, and he’ll begin competition as an 18-seed, set to face 15-seed Legend Lamer from Cal Poly in a contested first-round matchup. The junior placed third in the 2019 U23 World Team Trials in Greco-style wrestling and was a four-time Florida state champion. “I think he’s in a really good position physically and a really good place mentally to go deliver his best performance of his career,” Reina said.

This is Zapf’s second time qualifying for the NCAA championship, and he’s seeded 24th, set to face Iowa’s Kaleb Young to start the tournament. Zapf was the 2017 Pennsylvania AAA state champion as a junior at 106 pounds. “We really think he’s underrated. This kid can compete with the top 10 guys in the country,” Reina said. “He’s got a work ethic outside of the room, in the room, in the matches. He’s really our pace setter. He elevates everybody’s sights in terms of what hard work really is.”

Revano, a sophomore, won the 2018 New Jersey state title at 132 pounds. He’s seeded 16th in the tournament, and scheduled to wrestle Ohio State’s 7th-seeded Carson Karchla.

Incontrerá, a freshman, is seeded 17th in the tournament, anticipating an even matchup against 16-seed Adam Kemp. He’s known to work out with 33-year-old Camden native Jordan Burroughs, one of the greatest freestyle wrestlers of all time. “He’s seen high-level competition week in and week out throughout his entire career,” Reina said. “We feel the future is definitely bright with Nick Incontrerá”

Urbas, a sophomore who is seeded 30th, enters competition with a 22-9 record. He’s set to face a challenging 3-seed opponent in Eric Shultz from Nebraska in the first round.

Goldin, a junior, is seeded 26th in the tournament. His collegiate record stands at 19-7 with a .730 win percentage. He was a three-time Florida state champion.