Wrestling heads to Easterns

He's faster than a locomotive. He plays bass in the orchestra. He pinned the 15th ranked wrestler in the nation. And, on top of all that, he earned a 4.0 last semester. He's junior Jeff Bernd.

As the wrestling team heads to Annapolis Thursday for Easterns, they know it's time to perform. The top two placers in each weight class and nine wild cards voted on by the coaches will make the trip to Nationals. Who better to look to for that kind of performance than Princeton's own Superman?

"Jeff will lead the way," head coach Mike New said. "He's got leadership, he's intense and he's gotten extra workouts in."

Bernd, however, is taking a step-by-step view of the tournament.

"I'm going to approach it one match at a time," Bernd said. "I'm going to pray I can wrestle to my capability and hope I can be happy with how I perform."

Bernd's biggest accomplishments this year have been building confidence and learning how to enjoy the time he has wrestling.

Regardless of this, everyone was impressed with the way he pinned Jon Forster — the No. 15 ranked wrestler at 149 lbs. — two weeks ago against Rutgers.

"That was the moment he realized that he's as good as any of these guys," New said.

"There's always that line you need to cross when you realize that you shouldn't be putting them on a pedestal, that you work as hard as they do and you want it as much as they do, if not more," Bernd said.

To get ready for the big weekend, Bernd and the Tigers have upped their intensity level in practice and shortened practice length, looking to stay fresh and not wear down before the tournament. The team has also focused on mental preparation. And if there's ever going to be a time when that's going to pay off, it's now.

It's what Bernd calls "make or break time."

"You can't worry about things," New said. "You can't let one bad move weigh on you. You have to focus on being a champion."

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It would seem that so much emphasis on one tournament would create pressure for the players, but Bernd — with characteristic selflessness — isn't feeling it.

"There's really no pressure because it's such an individual sport at this point," Bernd said. "But if I come away feeling like I didn't put my all in, I'll be pretty disappointed."

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New cited the junior as one of the members of the team most likely to qualify for the National tournament. He also included freshmen Joe Clarke and Greg Parker, junior Scott Pasquini and senior Marc Steyer as members of that group. Nevertheless, New was also quick to add that the opportunity was definitely there for everyone on the squad.

"It's the guy who stays focused on what he wants who's going to have a shot," New said.

Bernd is one guy who is determined not to let things like spring break distract him from his goals and is excited for the approaching tournament.

"His level of commitment to his goals has greatly improved," New observed. "He's just got to make the other guy wrestle his style."

"We're getting things together and this is a great opportunity to wrestle well," New said. "We want to end with an exclamation point. Each guy who goes to nationals will be an exclamation point."