In front of a packed Rec Hall on Sunday afternoon, the top-ranked Penn State wrestling team shutout #37 Indiana 52-0, picking up 6 pins throughout the match.

#3 Nico Megaludis started the match off at 125 against Joe Duca of Indiana. Megaludis led early in the match 6-2 after taking him down three times. In the second round, Megaludis continued to take down Duca multiple times, until he pinned him at 4:36. Second-ranked Jesse Delgado of Illinois lost in the final round of the Northern Iowa Open to an unranked wrestler, so there will probably be a shakeup in the rankings this week.

At 133, unranked freshman Jordan Conaway faced fellow unranked freshman Quin Murphy, which was one of the more competitive matches of the afternoon. Conaway began the match with a takedown and a near pin to go up 4-0, but Murphy got a reversal on Conaway to cut the lead to 4-2. Conaway had a reversal of his own to take his lead to 6-2 through the end of the first. After taking down Murphy in the second followed by an escape, Conaway took down Murphy again for the final time, leading to the second pin of the afternoon at 4:42.

Unranked senior Bryan Pearsall faced freshman Eric Roach. The match was a slow start with no score until Pearsall got a takedown with a minute in the first period. With Roach taking down on the second period, Pearsall took advantage by getting Roach into a cradle and then turning Roach over and receiving back points, after nearly getting a pin. Again Pearsall put Roach in a cradle, but this time he got the pin at the 4:32 mark.

#5 Andrew Alton had his first dual since redshirting last season. Alton faced senior Gene Capezio. Alton got the takedown 20 seconds into the bout, but Capezio got the escape. Alton led 2-1, and quickly took Capezio down again. Alton got the pin at the 52 second mark, giving him his 6th pin and 7th win this season.

#5 Dylan Alton was up against Taylor Walsh. Alton took Walsh down early, but Walsh responded with an escape. Alton followed it with two more takedowns, in which Walsh responded to both takedowns with escapes. At the end of the third period, Walsh started down in order to gain a point for an escape. Alton tacked on two more takedowns, and the final score was 10-6. Alton’s win took Penn State into the break with a 27-0 lead. With #1 Derek St. John defeating #4 Joey Napoli of Lehigh, Alton could move up in the rankings, despite losing to him 4-2 last month.

#2 David Taylor started the second half of the match, who many people were excited to see. Taylor faced one of two of Indiana’s ranked wrestlers, #18 Ryan LeBlanc. The first period was scoreless, but Taylor took advantage of choosing to go down for the second period by getting an escape. Taylor then took down LeBlanc giving him a 3-0 advantage. To start the third period, Taylor took LeBlanc down and then got points for a near pin before time ran out.

#1 Ed Ruth was up against Luke Sheridan, who he took down within seconds of the bout starting. Sheridan escaped, but Ruth took him down again, put him in a cradle and pinned him at 1:24.

#3 Quentin Wright at 197, won on a forfeit, likely due to the fact that Indiana’s wrestler at 197, Tarek Alaruri, is 1-10 this season.

In what was the surprise and most exciting bout of the afternoon, #15 Jimmy Lawson sat out for unranked Jon Gingrich who faced #8 Adam Chalfant. Chalfant struck first, getting the first takedown, but Gingrich managed an escape. Chalfant chose to start the second period down, in which he managed an escape. Going into the third period, Chalfant led 3-1. After Gingrich started down to begin the third, Gingrich got another escape, cutting the lead 3-2. Gingrich then took down Chalfant to lead 4-3, but Chalfant escaped to tie the bout at 4. Gingrich took down Chalfant again to give him a 6-4 lead with 45 seconds left in the match. Chalfant escaped with 22 seconds left, but it was not enough to win. Gingrich won 6-5.

Penn State won the bout 52-0 and faces Lock Haven University this Saturday at 2 p.m in Rec Hall. Jake Kemerer, one of Lock Haven’s top wrestlers, was a former Penn State wrestler. Look for him against Dylan Alton in the 157 bout.