Boxers to finish regular season in Kentucky

When a team arrives at the conclusion of its regular season, it must utilize its final showdown as a catapult to gain momentum for the post-season.

Tomorrow, the Penn State boxing team hopes that strategy works as it travels to Lexington, Ky., to compete in the Kentucky Invitational for its final regular season match. Penn State will send five boxers to the eight-team tournament. Senior Gotce Peev will fight in the heavyweight class while junior Jesse Bond boxes in the 185-pound class. Also on the card are freshmen Glenn Miller and Doug Bayly and junior Dave Smythe.

The tournament will be a prelude to the post-season as Penn State hosts the Northeast Regionals on March 21-22. Coach Bill Wrable said it's imperative the team finishes the regular season impressively.

But lately, the team hasn't been capitalizing on its opponents' miscues.

"Team-wise, we're learning," Wrable said. "We're keeping our hands up. But the times people are making mistakes, we're not making them pay."

The tournament will serve as a measure of how much the team, and the boxers individually, have progressed over the season.

"This is the last fight of the season and the final test before regionals," Bond said. "Since the beginning of the season I've improved double."

But sometimes it's difficult to see one's own progression, especially over a lengthy season.

"It's kind of hard for me to see how I've developed," Peev said. "It's a long season, and it's hard to remember how good I was from the beginning to the end. It's something you feel."

As spring break vacationers look to party in Florida, the boxers hope to crash a party in Kentucky.

"I have to get that ferocious attitude in there," Peev said. "It comes down to when you want to fight and when you don't want to fight. Sometimes you just want to go out there and beat the guy. I'm pretty psyched up -- I'm looking forward to it."

Tomorrow's matches will be the last chance to address any problems the team may have. Wrable sees few, if any, problems on his squad.

"It's mostly about being aggressive," he said. "I think we've got everything straightened out and everyone's on the same page."