Transcript Correspondent
WILLIAMSTOWN -- The current edition of the Williams College wrestling team compares favorably with the best in the school's history.
On Saturday, it will measure itself against one of the best programs in the country.
Fresh off their victory at last weekend's New England Wrestling Association Duals, the Ephs host the seventh-ranked College of New Jersey as part of the New England/Metro New York Duals at Lasell Gym.
Senior 141-pounder Dylan Rittenburg said the Ephs are looking forward to the challenge.
"Our goal is always to prepare for conference championships and nationals," said Rittenburg, a co-captain with classmate Carl Breitenstein. "We like to see the toughest and the best competition we can early in the season to get us ready.
"It might be a feel-good season if you wrestled mediocre competition and got a lot of wins and then crumbled at the end. We take the attitude that we might lose a little [now] knowing that in the future we'll be prepared when it matters."
Last year, that philosophy carried the Ephs to a 10th-place finish at the NCAA Division III championships, the best showing in school history. They enter this weekend ranked 18th in the latest National Wrestling Coaches Association Division III poll, but that survey -- released on Jan. 11 -- does not take into account last week's performance at the conference duals, where Williams beat No. 19 Johnson & Wales University and No. 27 Rhode
Even before that win, the Ephs were ranked first in the region. Two Williams wrestlers -- Ryan Malo at 197 and Breitenstein at 157 -- are ranked first in New England. Rittenburg, who was named NEWA Wrestler of the Week for his performance at last weekend's duals, is ranked second in the region.
In addition, Malo is ranked second nationally in his weight class. Corey Paulish (149) and Breitenstein are ranked in the top 10 in Division III.
Malo will appear in the Feb. 1 edition of Sports Illustrated, in the "Faces in the Crowd" section. Malo, who has a career record of 68-6 (52 pins) as an Eph, will be the 27th Williams athlete to appear in the section since August 1989.
All that attention makes it easy to attract top opponents to Williamstown, even TCNJ, a perennial power on the mats which Williams has never defeated.
"Teams definitely want to wrestle us," Williams coach Dan DiCenzo said. "You're not going to get better by wrestling the same teams. I want to wrestle the best teams in the country, and so does anyone else.
"The College of New Jersey is going to be a big challenge for our guys. The guys are excited about the opportunity."
Williams will meet TCNJ at about 4 p.m.
The day will feature concurrent dual meets on three mats with three New England squads (Williams, Roger Williams and Worcester Polytechnic) rotating against three teams from the Metropolitan Wrestling Conference (Hunter, New York University and TCNJ). Williams will start the day against NYU at noon.
"Every year the last four years, our schedule has gotten stronger and stronger," said DiCenzo, who is in his sixth year at the college. "This year, we've been to Pennsylvania, we've been to Illinois, we've been to Iowa. We've seen some great teams. The guys are comfortable wrestling anyone."
Sometimes the toughest competition the Ephs see is in their wrestling room.
"Our depth the last few years has gotten stronger," DiCenzo said. "It's making our practices better. Guys are making each other better."
Rittenburg said that one of the keys to the Ephs' recent success has been their penchant for pushing one another.
"Being a captain is definitely an honor, but I honestly feel this team could run itself because of the motivation the guys have," he said. "I think you could make any member of this team a captain and we would have a great deal of success.
"We have a vision and a focus of where we want to be."
Part of that vision includes improving on last year's finish. Even though there was a lot to be proud of in Williams' 2008-09 campaign, the Ephs knew they could have done better.
"We were really happy with how we performed at New Englands last year, but we didn't send as many guys to NCAAs as we wanted, and we didn't win the [NEWA] Duals," Rittenburg said. "That left a little bit of a sour taste in our mouth.
"Resting on our laurels is something that the guys on this team wouldn't be happy doing. You could see that [last] weekend with the way we performed. It was dominating."
Notes: The grapplers are not the only Williams squad involved in a battle of nationally-ranked foes this weekend. The men's basketball team (17-1), currently fourth in Division III, heads up Route 7 to meet No. 8 Middlebury (16-1) in a battle with big implications for the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) race. The Ephs and Panthers are tied for first in the league at 4-0 (with Amherst and Colby also unbeaten at 3-0). Last year, Middlebury won its meeting with Williams on the way to nailing down the regular season NESCAC title and home court in the conference semifinals and finals. ... No national ranking yet for the Williams women, but coach Pat Manning's squad (15-4) is the only 4-0 team in the NESCAC (Amherst is perfect in three league games). The Ephs put their perfect mark on the line against Middlebury (9-7, 2-2) at 2 p.m. in the first half of a women's/men's doubleheader. ... Meanwhile, back in the Village Beautiful, the ninth-ranked Williams men's hockey team (9-3-2) is home this weekend against Bowdoin (8-3) on Friday night and Colby (6-2-3) on Saturday. The Ephs, who moved up six slots in the latest national poll, are currently third in the NESCAC, just behind the Polar Bears and just ahead of the Mules.
... The Williams women are a more modest 6-7-2 on the ice this winter, but they already have surpassed last year's win total (five) under first-year coach Marissa O'Neil. The Ephs are fifth in the NESCAC going into this weekend's meetings with Wesleyan and Trinity. The Bantams (14-1-2), who visit Lansing Chapman Rink on Sunday afternoon, are ranked fourth in the nation.
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