New Season Brings Wrestlers Revived Hope

The members of Columbia's wrestling team have endured much
pain and suffering this preseason, and now, as the season
approaches, they are hoping to reap the benefits of their arduous
work. After a disappointing 2000-01 campaign, the team is
refocused and looking toward proving themselves to their
doubters.

"I think everyone took a step back from last season and said,
ëMan, we can do better than that,'" senior Jeff Anderson said. "And
now we come back and we're more intense, more focused, and
everyone is going harder."

In order to reduce the injuries that plagued Columbia last season,
the coaching staff instituted more demanding conditioning.

"We have a pretty solid lineup, if we don't suffer any injuries,"
senior Derek Nagy said. "We've been on a more consistent lifting
plan this preseason. This year we will be lifting three times a
week, so hopefully that will keep everyone's body more intact."

Greater team spirit and focus have contributed mightily to the
wrestlers' expectations of the season, and the team has placed
large hopes on their broad shoulders.

"Derek Nagy is back strong from an injury, and [157-pounder]
Dustin Tillman has wrestled well for a freshman," senior T. J.
Francisco said. "Erik Norgaard looks really strong, and Steve
Popovitch has looked great. I believe that, as long as we stay
healthy, we'll have a great year."

Anderson echoed Francisco's comments. "We put in more work
this offseason than we had put in before," he said. "There was
some resistance during last year's preseason to the new format,
but this year people realize how much work we have to put in to
win, so we are working harder. Hopefully, it'll pay off."

The Ivy League consistently lands two or three of its wrestling
teams in the national top 25, and this year looks to be no different.
While Penn will continue to challenge for the league crown,
Harvard will look to prove that its success last year was not a fluke.
The rest of the league, though, including Columbia, is preparing to
emerge from the shadows and pounce on the chance to be this
year's Ivy League Champions.

"Penn is always good, and Harvard did well last year," Nagy said.
"But this year we can match up a lot better than we did before.
Honestly, last year was a tough year for our team, and I can't wait
to prove that we can beat all our opponents."

New to the team this year is assistant coach John Pozniak, who
brings coaching experience from Brown and wrestling experience
from the University of Virginia. Pozniak, like Head Coach Brendan
Buckley and assistant coach Karl Roesler, gets on the mat when
necessary and competes with the squad in order to better teach
them certain techniques and fundamentals.

"Coach Poz fits in well into this situation," Nagy said. "He wrestled
around 157 so he's been good for the middle weight guys, and he
and Buckley have been challenging us and making us work hard.
It's good to have coaches who have been to nationals and have
experience, because then we can wrestle against them and see
what we're really made of."

The excitement for the season's commencement starts at Head
Coach Brendan Buckley and rolls all the way through the rookie
first-years, and it infects most people associated with Columbia
wrestling.

The team's first meet is this weekend in Pennsylvania at the East
Stroudsburg Open, held on Saturday at 9 p.m.