CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. — The 2016 version of the Southern Scuffle didn’t feature as strong a field as it has in years past. It did, however, give the nation’s top two teams a chance to get acquainted.
And what No. 1 Penn State showed No. 2 Oklahoma State is that the Cowboys have a ways to go to catch the Nittany Lions.
Penn State crowned five champions out of six finalists and rolled up 183 points to claim its sixth straight Southern Scuffle title Jan. 1 and 2 at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga’s McKenzie Arena. Oklahoma State had three champs (Dean Heil at 141, Alex Dieringer at 165 and Austin Marsden at 285) and 158 points. Lehigh finished third with 104.5 points, Cornell fourth with 98.5 and North Carolina was fifth with 97.5.
“You look at our finals, we had a sophomore and two freshmen win, that’s exciting for our program,” Penn State head coach Cael Sanderson told the Penn State Sports Network.
Senior Nico Megaludis (125 pounds), sophomore Zain Retherford (149), freshman Jason Nolf (157), freshman Bo Nickal (174) and senior Morgan McIntosh (197) all won titles. Nickal, who was the only champ in the tournament who wasn’t a No. 1 seed, was named Outstanding Wrestler, winning as a fourth seed.
Jordan Conaway was runner-up at 133. Zack Beitz (157) and Geno Morelli (165) both placed fifth, Garett Hammond (165) placed seventh and Kade Moss (141) was eighth.
“I think that, right there, just shows the depth that we have. Every weight class we have multiple wrestlers who are just solid and competitive. It’s awesome to be in that environment in the room and have all of those training partners, on top of the training partners that we have in the Nittany Lion Wrestling Club and our coaches, for sure,” Nickal told the Penn State Sports Network.
Megaludis won his second Southern Scuffle title, dominating Oklahoma State’s Eddie Klimara, 8-1. He went 5-0 with a forfeit, two major decisions and decisions over the Nos. 13 and 5 ranked wrestlers in the country.
“Nico is wrestling better and better. He beat some tough kids, some tricky kids. It seemed like he had three real tricky kids in this tournament, but he wrestled well. He got his shots off and won this tournament,” Sanderson said.
Retherford lay waste to the field at 149, going 5-0 with a fall and three technical falls, including his 16-1 finals win over Evan Henderson of North Carolina, and a major decision.
“I don’t even know what to say about Zain. I just mention his name and I smile. I’m very excited about him,” Sanderson said. “He’s just a great kid, just his effort, his attitude, his demeanor, his poise. Great leader. And he’s a sophomore; that’s the best part.”
Nolf was almost as dominant as Retherford in going 5-0 on his way to the title at 157. He rolled up two technical falls and then two falls before earning a 7-3 decision over Oklahoma State’s Joe Smith in the final. Smith, who is redshirting this season, is the much-heralded son of legendary Cowboy coach John Smith.
“He’s a guy that when he wrestles, the gym’s going to stop and watch him. Not the tournament, obviously, but the people in the stands. He’s fun to watch. He wrestles at a relentless pace,” Sanderson said.
“He’s not real happy with his finals performance, but he did wrestle against a very tough kid in Joe Smith. He’ll learn from that. He needs that. He’s a kid that when he wrestles a match and he’s frustrated, he gets better. That’s what he needs. It’s not a bad thing.”
Nickal went 6-0 in his march to the 174-pound championship. Among those six wins were two technical falls, a major decision and three decisions. One of those decisions came in the semifinals when he knocked off top-ranked Brian Realbuto, of Cornell, in a rollicking 14-7 decision.
“Especially the first two periods, it doesn’t get much more fun to watch than that. It was back and forth, against Realbuto. He does some amazing things. It was a fun match to watch. It kind of slowed down in the third, but I guess that’s to be expected when they already had 20 points up on the board,” Sanderson said.
“But it was a great tournament for Bo. Probably one of the deeper weight classes. There were several deep weight classes. You had a lot of top guys there. For Bo to win convincingly, that’s a good thing. Obviously, again, he’s a freshman.”
Nickal talked to the Penn State Sports Network about his feelings for the tournament and for his team.
“It’s fun to compete at a great tournament like this. It’s an opportunity to see where I’m at and where I need to improve. It’s great to come out here and compete,” Nickal said.
“It was so much fun. It’s what I live for. What I was put on earth for. I believe that God put me out here for a purpose.”
In the finals he stayed a step ahead of Ethan Ramos, of North Carolina, 11-7, staving off several deep double-leg shots by Ramos.
“We just get in those positions in practice. Wrestling with the coaches, the Nittany Lion Wrestling Club and my teammates you get to wrestle a lot. You get into just about every position you could be in,” Nickal said.
“I would say just being comfortable there and not like freaking out or anything like that. On top of that, our strength program is really excellent. I would say it’s a little bit of experience and a little bit of strength.”
McIntosh went 5-0 in cruising to the 197-pound title. He had two falls, a tech fall and a major decision before edging fifth-ranked Brett Pfarr, of Minnesota, 3-2, in the final.
“Pfarr’s a guy you’ve got to beat to win the nationals. He’s a title contender. He’s tough and he’s real tricky, too. He’s a very good scrambler, hard to finish on,” Sanderson said.
“Morgan wrestled well. He was kind of in control. He scored when he needed to score. He did a good job, scored bonus points throughout the tournament for us, which is what we need. We needed leadership and he’s a senior. He’s got the ability to score a lot of points for the team and that’s obviously what we need him to do.”
Conaway went 4-0 to reach the finals against Cornell’s Nahshon Garrett. The Big Red senior was too athletic and too talented for the Nittany Lion in a 14-4 major decision.
Starting 141-pounder Jimmy Gulibon went 1-2 and was eliminated early. Sanderson said he is still not fully recovered from the ankle injury that had sidelined him since the Nittany Lion Open on Dec. 6.
“If you watched the matches, he was trying not to put weight on the foot. He’s a kid who you ask, ‘Are you good? Are you fine?’ and he’s ‘Yeah, yeah, yeah,’ but then he’s trying to wrestle like Daniel LaRusso (from ‘The Karate Kid’ movie) on one foot,” Sanderson said.
“He needs to get healthy. He’s going to be fine. We’ve got a lot of time. Jimmy’s still Jimmy. He’s a guy who can win. He’ll be ready with a little bit of time.”
McCutcheon was 2-0 and into the quarterfinals before a back injury, which he had sustained earlier in the season, flared again.
“One-eighty-four was a deep class. I think he wanted to see where he stood right now. It’s kind of a deal where we want to win the Scuffle but it really doesn’t matter whether we win the Scuffle or not,” Sanderson said. “It’s about competing and making progress and building a reputation and obviously preparing for March. It’s more taking care of him. There’s no reason to wrestle him.”
Despite entering three wrestlers at 165 — Geno Morelli, Shakur Rasheed and Garett Hammond — in hopes of settling the weight, nothing seemed to shake out for Penn State.
“Shakur didn’t place, but he lost a 4-2 match to the guy who took second and the guy who placed (fourth). They’re two good guys. He was in those matches. He’s got a lot of upside. You see flashes of that. He had a couple of falls,” Sanderson said.
“Garrett had a couple pins as well. He and Geno (Morelli) wrestled. It was double overtime. I almost fell asleep. Both of them are so worried about beating each other and it comes down to the end.
“Geno had a good tournament and we see his potential, too. He was right there and has ability to win matches. He’s just got to wrestle and go score points. He’s a little bit more conservative than we’d like him to be. He has tremendous upside as well.”
And, at heavyweight, Jan Johnson went 0-2 as he works his way back into shape after minor knee surgery.
“He lost two close matches. I think his confidence is a big thing for him right now. He’s a little uncertain with himself, committing to his attacks a little bit more. He wrestled for two weeks and then he was off the mat for five weeks. Then he wrestled for a week,” Sanderson said.
“He really hasn’t had a lot of time to train yet. We’ll be patient and give him a chance. The potential is there, we just have to let his confidence build up.”
Kenny Yanovich (125) and Gary Dinmore (149) also competed, but did not place.
Penn State returns to action at 7 p.m. Friday, Jan. 8, when it takes on Purdue in West Lafayette, Ind. At 1 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 10, the Nittany Lions travel to Bloomington, Ind., to take on Indiana.
“We go on a fun run here. You’ve got to enjoy it. You’ve got to enjoy competing. Back to back, that’s part of the process,” Sanderson said. “Being tough and being consistent in Big Tens is a tough schedule. History would show you that that tough schedule works and prepares you for what you need to do.”