The Columbia wrestling team had a mixed weekend, falling hard in Philadelphia and scoring a win at Princeton. The Lions succumbed to nationally ranked Penn and Drexel on Friday, but went on to defeat Princeton on Saturday.

Penn, currently 25th in the nation, defeated Columbia by 31-10, winning seven matches, including two major decisions and a technical fall. The meet began when Penn sophomore Rollie Peterkin, ranked eighth in the 125-pound weight class, defeated senior Brandon Kinney in a 3-0 decision. Columbia forfeited the 133 and 141-pound matches, and soon after, senior 149-pound wrestler Anthony Constantino fell to Penn junior Cesar Grajales. Grajales is nationally ranked 13th in his weight class.

Sophomore Matt Dunn, competing in the 157-pound match, scored the Lions’ first win when he defeated senior Vincent Cina. The Quakers swept the next three bouts with two major decisions and one technical fall, but senior Nick Sommerfeld in the 197-pound match and freshman Ryan Flores in the heavyweight class defeated Penn. Flores won in a major decision, bringing the Lions up to 10 points.

The Light Blue’s match against Drexel, their second meet of the day, resulted in a 19-22 loss. Although Columbia won five of its eight bouts, it gave up two forfeits and was unable to take the Dragons’ lead. Drexel used two of its nationally ranked wrestlers, junior Steve Mytych ranked 11th in the 125-pound class, and senior Ryan Hluschak, similarly ranked 11th in the 157-pound class. Mytych won his bout in a forfeit, while Hluschak won in a major decision over Dunn. Kinney, Constantino, Sommerfeld, Flores, and junior Kenji Porter won their matches, helping Columbia garner its 19 points.

The Lions’ final match of the weekend against the Tigers turned out to be a fruitful 35-12 victory. Winning four out of its six matches, Columbia brought its record up to 5-7 for this season. Princeton freshman Tony Comunale upset Kinney in a 4-1 decision in the 125-pound bout. Comunale had been on a winning streak before losing to Cornell later that weekend. Both Princeton and Columbia picked up forfeit wins, and Dunn picked up the Lions’ first match win in a technical fall over freshman Matthew Katz in the 157-pound weight class. Sophomore Victor Mocco, sophomore Mike Wolfer, Sommerfeld, and sophomore Lou Miller picked up the remaining wins for the Light Blue.

Columbia’s next meet will take place at home against Harvard and Brown next weekend.