Wrestlers Rebound with a Sweep in Michigan
Well that’s more like it.
After getting trounced by Iowa last weekend, a loss that snapped a 13-match winning streak, the Nittany Lion wrestlers rallied back with two convincing victories over Michigan State and Michigan this weekend. The first stop of the road trip was in Lansing Friday night where they mauled the Spartans 30-9. Then they headed back to Ann Arbor for a 28-13 beating of the Wolverines.
Leading the Lions to the back-to-back victories was redshirt freshman No. 3 David Taylor at 157 pounds. Taylor continued his dominance and undefeated record with a technical fall at Michigan State. It barely took him a minute to pin Michigan’s No. 20 Brandon Zeerip.
With a 28-0 record and a top-five ranking Taylor has mauled opponents all year long. So far, his closest victory has been by a margin of six points, and he has tallied 11 technical falls.
Redshirt sophomore No. 14 Quentin Wright also had quite the impressive outing at 184 pounds. Wright dropped in the college rankings after his loss to Iowa’s Grant Gambrall last weekend, but he made a case to return to the top-10 with his major decision win at Michigan State and a :24 fall in Ann Arbor.
133-pound No. 9 Andrew Long, 149-pound No. 5 Frank Molinaro and 174-pound No. 2 Ed Ruth also went 2-0 on the weekend, and each are flashing their All-American potential.
Things didn’t go as smoothly for stellar freshman No. 7 Andrew Alton. After winning by forfeit on Friday, Alton ran into No.1 Kellen Russell for the third time this season at 141 pounds. Russell has turned into Alton’s arch nemesis after the Wolverine beat Alton once again with an overtime effort. Russell has personally given Alton three of his four losses this season.
Redshirt junior No. 5 Cameron Wade also had an up-and-down weekend at 285 pounds. The heavyweight surprisingly dropped an 8-2 decision to the unranked Joe Rizqallah of Michigan State to begin the road trip. But the upset must have lit a fire under the big guy as he went on to pin No. 10 Ben Apland in 5:32 in Ann Arbor after trailing 6-2.
The huge fall gave Wade his 23rd victory of the season and gave his Nittany Lions their 15th.
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The life of a Big Ten wrestler is no walk in the park. It is more like a walk through a continuous briar patch with the eight other teams ranked in the top 25 of the NWCA/USA Today Coaches Poll. For Penn State, this week’s thorns are Michigan State and No. 13 Michigan.
Coming off their first defeat of the season, the Nittany Lions are heading west to square off against the Spartans Friday night. Then, for a rematch, Penn State will head to Ann Arbor for Sunday’s dual meet against the ranked Wolverines.
Fresh off that 22-13 loss to Iowa last Sunday, the Nittany Lions are hungry to return to their winning ways.