Penn State’s Michael Beard comes up shy of Southern Scuffle wrestling title, injured during final
The Southern Scuffle came to an end on Sunday evening for Penn State’s wrestlers.
The Nittany Lions had four alive to start the day, but were quickly down to one wrestler by the afternoon.
Here’s how that one wrestler finished for Penn State and what happened with the others:
Michael Beard, 197 pounds
Final record: 4-1
Place: 2nd
Recap: Beard, who was the No. 2 seed, took on a familiar foe in Missouri’s Rocky Elam, who was the No. 1 seed, for a shot at the title.
Elam and Beard matched up in the 197-pound consolation quarterfinals in the NCAA Championships last year. Elam shut out Beard, 5-0, on way to his fifth-place finish. Beard ended up finishing seventh.
On Sunday night, Elam was deep on a shot that Beard was close to fighting off with just over one minute left in the first period. However, Elam finished the takedown off, and in the process Beard’s left knee was tweaked.
Beard immediately called for injury time, while grabbing his knee. After taking some time, he was able to continue. Elam, who was able to choose the starting position after the injury time, earned an escape.
Late in the period, Elam again was in on a shot and finished it off right before the period ended. The match was 5-0, but never went to the second period as Beard’s corner, which included assistant coach Casey Cunningham, decided to injury default to end the bout.
Beard started his day by taking on the No. 3 seed in Michigan State’s Cam Caffey, who is also ranked No. 20 in the country. The pair also squared off during last year’s Big Ten Championships with Caffey topping Beard, 12-6, in the consolation semifinals.
Beard got revenge on Sunday in a 6-2 win over the Spartans’ wrestler.
Brandon Meredith, 133 pounds
Final record: 3-2
Place: Eliminated
Recap: Meredith had a much shorter day than Saturday’s action.
He took on Spartan Combat Regional Training Center’s (Cornell) Ethan Fernandez in the consolation fifth round. Meredith and Fernandez traded shot attempts, but neither could get a score in the first period.
Meredith earned an escape early in the second period to hold a 1-0 lead after two periods of wrestling. Fernandez got an escape with just over one minute left in the third period.
The duo got into another scramble situation late in the period, and Fernandez came out on top with a takedown. The score came with eight seconds remaining, and Fernandez won 3-1 to end Meredith’s tournament.
Joe Lee, 157 pounds
Final record: 2-2
Place: Eliminated
Recap: Lee looked like he was in prime position to keep his tournament alive when action got underway on Sunday morning.
Lee caught his fifth-round consolation opponent in North Carolina State’s AJ Kovacs in a cradle. Lee rolled Kovacs to his back for a takedown, but Kovacs rolled through and broke the cradle for a reversal and it was 2-2 with 2 minutes left in the first period.
Lee escaped before the end of the period for his final points of the bout. Kovacs rode Lee out for the entire second period to keep the score at 3-2 after two periods.
Kovacs earned an escape six seconds into the third period to tie the bout up. Kovacs picked up a takedown with less than one minute remaining, kept up that riding strength from the second period and ended Lee’s tournament with a 6-3 defeat.
Seth Nevills, 285 pounds
Final record: 3-2
Place: Eliminated
Recap: Nevills ended Saturday’s action with a North Carolina State wrestler, and began Sunday’s action with another Wolfpack wrestler, Tyrie Houghton.
Houghton came out and tallied the first points of the bout with a takedown 14 seconds into the period. Nevills responded with an escape and a takedown of his own to lead 3-2 after one period.
Nevills gave up an early escape to Houghton to tie the bout up at 3-3, but Houghton’s relentless pressure forced Nevills to give up a stall point.
Nevills was unable to escape in the third period, while Houghton added a riding time point for a 5-3 win, and eliminating Nevills from his first action of the year.
