The top-ranked Penn State wrestling team traveled to No. 18 Stanford to take on the Cardinal Saturday afternoon. It was its second game in California this weekend, and the Nittany Lions rolled to a 31-12 victory to improve to 4-0. Stanford dropped to 2-1 with the loss.

How It Happened

The dual started with a match between redshirt freshman Shakur Rasheed and No. 6 Jim Wilson in the 165-pound weight class. Rasheed pulled off the upset Friday night, beating the nation’s No. 13 wrestler in the 165, but was unable to beat Wilson as he lost by decision. Bo Nickal was next in the 174, winning by a 12-4 major decision to put the Nittany Lions up 4-3 early. Matt McCutcheon got a major in the next match which put Penn State up 7-3.

Morgan McIntosh took on Boomer Fleming in the 197-pound weight class, and McIntosh got a pin early in the second period to put Penn State up 13-3. Heavyweight Josh Marshak from Stanford got a forfeit win over Jan Johnson. It was the second forfeit for Johnson this season from Cael Sanderson. It was 13-9 after the forfeit.

In the 125, No. 4 Nico Megaludis took on No. 18 Connor Schram. Megoludis got a 7-1 decision win. Jordan Conaway followed with another decision victory to put Penn State up 19-9.

In one of the most anticipated matches of the night, No. 5 Jimmy Gulibon took on No. 4 Joey McKenna in the 141. In a matchup of two evenly matched opponents, McKenna won by a 7-3 decision which brought Stanford back into that match at 19-12. Zain Retherford quickly answered Stanford with a pin early in the third period of his match, putting Penn State up 25-9 and clinching the dual. The final match featured Jason Nolf, who got a pin to give Penn State the 31-12 victory.

Wrestler Of The Match

Zain Retherford gets wrestler of the match honors for this dual. After Stanford started crawling back into the match at 19-12, Retherford pinned his opponent early in the third period of the match which guaranteed Penn State the victory.

What’s Next?

The Nittany Lion Open is the next stop for the Nittany Lions on December 6. It is an open tournament which will not count toward a team score. The next dual is Sunday, December 13 against Wisconsin in the Bryce Jordan Center. It will be the first of two BJC Duals for the Nittany Lions and the first B1G match for the Nittany Lions.