PSU wrestlers head to Big Apple with sights set on title

UNIVERSITY PARK — A fair share of Penn State’s nine qualifiers to the 2016 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships, scheduled for New York’s Madison Square Garden Thursday, March 17, through Saturday, March 19, have never been to the Big Apple.

But if you think the Nittany Lions have planned trips to Times Square, the 9/11 Memorial or Central Park, think again.

“We’re going to see Madison Square Garden,” Penn State coach Cael Sanderson said March 14 at the team’s NCAA championships media day. “That’s the plan and we want to see a lot of it.”

For the Nittany Lions, this is a business trip, but not the usual detour to the New York Stock Exchange or Wall Street. It is, rather, for the business of winning the NCAA championship that eluded them last year after winning four in a row from 2011 through 2014.

“We haven’t won a 2016 NCAA championship. None of these individuals have won a championship, so we have a great opportunity to do something big and compete for a national title this week as a team and then individually as well,” Sanderson said.

“These guys want to win the national championship. I think they put themselves in a great position to do that, but you’ve gotta go do that.”

Seven of the nine Nittany Lions have been seeded, including three at the top of their 33-man brackets. Penn State’s qualifiers include:

n Senior Nico Megaludis (No. 3 seed at 125)

n Senior Jordan Conaway (No. 5 seed at 133)

n Junior Jimmy Gulibon (unseeded at 141)

n Sophomore Zain Retherford (No. 1 seed at 149)

n Freshman Jason Nolf (No. 3 seed at 157)

n Junior Geno Morelli (unseeded at 165)

n Freshman Bo Nickal (No. 1 seed at 174)

n Sophomore Matt McCutcheon (No. 16 seed at 184)

n Senior Morgan McIntosh (No. 1 seed at 197)

If Penn State wrestles to its seeds, it will be the favorite to win the team title. Several other teams, including Oklahoma State, Virginia Tech, Iowa, Ohio State, Cornell and N.C. State could contend, as well.

How high or low a team’s wrestlers are seeded isn’t the most important factor, Sanderson said.

“We’re not too worried about it. Everybody’s got some tough seeds for the most part because we’re in the national tournament. You have the 30 or so best guys at each weight in the country. You’re going to have tough matchups,” he said.

“You want to be the national champion, you win five bouts. If you want to be an All-American, you usually have to win three bouts. … So I think it’s pretty straightforward. Some guys have maybe a tougher road than we’d like, but who knows? Maybe that’s a blessing. You just have to take advantage of whatever is in your path, or whatever is coming next.”

As top seeds, Retherford, Nickal and McIntosh are the obvious favorites at their weights, to most.

“It doesn’t matter. I don’t really think about that. It’s just kind of where you’re put on the bracket,” Nickal said. “Everybody has the same opportunity; it doesn’t matter if you’re first or last seed.”

Retherford agreed.

“It doesn’t matter, really. You have to show up and wrestle regardless of your seed,” he said. “I’m excited to wrestle. I looked to see where I was at. Everything can change so much you can’t really see who you’re going to have. I just focus on every match.”

Nolf had been ranked No. 1 at 157 until he lost a rematch to Isaiah Martinez, of Illlinois, the defending NCAA champion who Nolf pinned in the dual meet, in the tiebreaker in the Big Ten final. Some wondered what effect that loss might have.

“When Nolf loses, which is very rare obviously, he comes back at a higher level. He has been working on some things that he’d been getting slowed down in a little bit in matches, where guys are tying him up, so he’s making some adjustments,” Sanderson said.

“So I think you’ll see even higher level, which is kinda scary, I think. A loss, certainly it stinks. No one likes to lose and it sucks, but I think it doesn’t hurt Nolf. He’s in great sprits and is confident and excited and energy is very high.”

For his part, Nolf said it revealed some weaknesses he needed to address.

“I don’t think I performed my best but I don’t think I performed my worst either. There were just a couple things that made a difference, finishing my shots. If I finish all the shots I was in I beat him by five points. I didn’t finish any of those shots and I was a little cautious when I was finishing some of those; I’m usually on the attack more. I think I was a little hesitant in that match and that’s what cost me. I’ll be ready next time,” he said.

“I’m definitely using it to my benefit. There are some things that I need to work on and without that match I might not have known that I needed to work on them as much. I think that was a blessing in disguise.

“No, I don’t really forget it. It still stings because I wanted to go undefeated and win four national titles and I still have that second goal in mind. I can’t go undefeated anymore, but I can win the rest of my matches. I think about that. I’ve been thinking about it a lot. I have to wrestle the way I wrestle, and I didn’t that match and that’s what cost me.”

While Nolf is addressing cracks in his armor and preparing for another potential showdown with Martinez, two seniors are taking differing approaches to their last tournament in a Penn State singlet.

“I’ve said before that I try not to think about the fact that it’s my last one. I’m trying to treat it like any other competition because I think if you start thinking about it and stressing over the fact that it’s your last tournament then it can mess with you,” McIntosh said.

Conaway said he’s taken the opposite approach.

“I’ve been thinking about it throughout the year. Coming off Big Tens, knowing I only have one more competition to wrestle in, it’s kind of depressing, but at the same time it’s exciting to have one more competition to go out there and have fun. I have definitely thought about it. It makes me even more excited,” he said.

Penn State got a boost to its title chances when Morelli earned an at-large bid. Sanderson said he could score some points for the Nittany Lions if he wrestles at his best.

“Geno is the one who has the opportunity to really go give the team a boost by going out there and winning some matches and score some points. He’s certainly not a great draw for anybody because he has the ability to wrestle with anybody. He’s a guy who could get in there and be an All-American. He certainly has the ability to do that,” he said.

“But again, winning the national championship is going to be about our big dogs and our big dogs scoring bonus points and them having success. And wrestling with the same energy and passion and fire that they have all year long.”