Nittany Lion wrestlers pass early test with flying colors

Last weekend proved to be a tough early test for Penn State.

Some would say the Nittany Lions passed with an A-plus.

Penn State opened the season with a 50-0 victory over Lock Haven. The match saw four Nittany Lion wrestlers make their debuts with victories.

On Sunday, Penn State traveled to Blacksburg, Va., to take on No. 6 Virginia Tech. The Nittany Lions came out on top 21-15 but saw some guys get upset in the last few seconds of their matches.

Coach Cael Sanderson liked what he saw but knows there is still work to be done.

“I think our guys wrestled pretty well,” Sanderson said of the match. “We lost three matches I think we felt we could have won. We’re very happy with the way the guys stepped up and responded.

“That’s one of the better teams in the country. We saw some good things and we saw some things we have to tighten up again.”

Thanks in part to Iowa’s 18-16 win over then-No. 1 Oklahoma State in its “Grapple on the Gridiron” match, held at Kinnick Stadium, Penn State bumped up to the top ranking in the USA Today/National Wrestling Coaches Association Top 25 poll released on Tuesday. The Big Ten as a whole has teams in the top three spots with the Hawkeyes and Michigan following the Nittany Lions. The Cowboys dropped to No. 4 while Ohio State wraps up the top five.

“We had a couple guys who had it on their laptop,” Sanderson said of the Iowa-Oklahoma State matchup. “I thought it was pretty neat. Obviously, Iowa hit a home run there with however many people were there. It looked like the whole stadium was full to me.

“I thought the weather was perfect for them and the stars aligned. Big matchup. Iowa-OSU one of the big rivalries in wrestling history.”

Sanderson mentioned last week that, depending on how the Hawkeyes’ match went, it might be somthing to consider for Happy Valley. On Tuesday, he seemed to reiteriate the thought.

“It’s not like a priority but maybe something down the road,” he said. “I don’t want to set a date and line everything up and have it rain and snow. There’s just a lot of variables but it’s definitely something to think about. It wouldn’t be anything immediately, maybe down the road a few years, but we’ll see.”

This weekend was also the opening of some new rule packages.

Wrestlers no longer receive two or three points for a near fall. Now, they receive two or four points. Also, officials had new calls for stalling. While in the netural position, if a wrestler is not working the center of the mat, they could get called for stalling. Another way is by either pushing an opponent out of bounds or going out of bounds willingly, they can get called.

“I’m not a big fan of frivolous changes,” Sanderson said. “If you want kids to score more points, you have to reward the action. You have to incentivize the action and that would be make a takedown worth three points. Not necessarily call stalling in different ways because those are judgment calls. Anytime you have judgment calls, any coach will get a little bit nervous but maybe it’s tough to avoid that in our sport.”

The four near fall points played key roles last weekend for Penn State.

In Friday’s match, Jordan Conaway held a 6-2 lead over Lock Haven’s Bobby Rehm with a minute left in the second period. Conaway collected the first four-point near fall for the Nittany Lions and pushed his lead to 10-2. He went on to win by technical fall.

On Sunday, Zain Retherford collected two four-point near falls to easily defeat Virginia Tech’s Sal Mastriani with a technical fall. It took Retherford only 4:25 to capture his win.

“You have a four-point exposure point now,” Sanderson said, “that’s two takedowns. But when you think about it, it’s four takedowns because each takedown they generally get an escape. So, if you’re rewarding back points, kids are going to be looking for more back points.

“If you want more action on their feet, you have to reward that action with more points. Wrestling’s wrestling and rules are the same for both teams, so it’s just a matter of going out there and scoring the most points.”

West Coast bound

Penn State will leave Wednesday to begin a cross-country trek. The Nittany Lions will fly from Baltimore on Thursday to California.

Thursday evening, Penn State will prepare for its first west coast match on Friday with Cal State-Bakersfield. On Sunday, the Nittany Lions will head to northern California to have its first ever matchup with Stanford.

Sophomore Matt McCutcheon feels his teammates are looking forward to the trip.

“I think they are,” McCutcheon said. “I think Morgan (McIntosh) is excited to get out there and wrestle in his home state. I think its good for our team. It’s good for a lot of us to experience a long travel and get out there and try and compete.”

Hammond claims title

Eight Penn State wrestlers competed at the East Stroudsburg Open on Sunday.

Garrett Hammond was the lone Nittany Lion to claim a crown but two others reached the finals of their weight classes.

Hammond earned a title at 165 pounds by way of a medical forfeit over teammate Cody Law. Hammond used two technical falls, a pin and a major decision on his road to victory. Law reached the finals with two majors and a tech fall.

Zach Beitz finished 3-1 with his loss coming in the 157-pound final.

Also competing for the Nittany Lions were George Carpenter (3-2, 133), Kade Moss (2-1, 141), Triston Law (2-2, 141), Geno Morelli (165) and Caleb Livingston (3-2, 165).

This story was originally published November 18, 2015 at 12:20 PM with the headline "Nittany Lion wrestlers pass early test with flying colors."