| Sophomore Philip Davis is ranked No. 5 in the country at 197 in AWN's pre-season tournament top 20. |
State College, Pa. - October 10, 2005 - Five Penn State Nittany Lion Wrestlers have earned pre-season top 20 rankings from Amateur Wrestling News in the publication's annual Pre-Season Tournament Rankings. The Nittany Lions earned a No. 13 pre-season team ranking in the lists, which came out this past week.
Senior Eric Bradley (Plaistow, N.H.) enters the season carrying the No. 1 ranking at 184. Bradley is coming off a 31-5 season that saw him earn All-America laurels with a fourth-place finish at nationals. The two-time defending Big Ten Champion is the top returning place-winner at 184 as well. Sophomore Philip Davis (Harrisburg, Pa.) comes in ranked No. 5 after finishing seventh at nationals in 2005 as a freshman. Davis, who was fourth at Big Ten's, was 37-10 last year.
Senior Joel Edwards (Upper Darby, Pa.) is ranked No. 11 at Heavyweight. Edwards was a qualifier in 2005 and went 24-16. Junior Nathan Galloway (State College, Pa.) will carry a No. 12 ranking at 157 into the season after going 31-16 and qualifying for nationals. Sophomore Bryan Heller is ranked No. 15 at 133. Heller went 22-17 last year and qualified for nationals. AWN's Pre-Season Tournament Rankings consider only returning wrestlers and are gauged to rank in terms of the NCAA Championship Tournament. They do no take in to consideration incoming freshmen.
Oklahoma State carries the No. 1 team ranking as it returns seven All-Americans from its squad last year. The Big Ten is well represented in the team rankings with Michigan (third), Illinois (fourth), Minnesota (fifth), Iowa (sixth), Indiana (10th), Northwestern (12th), Penn State (13th) and Wisconsin (15th) all earning top 20 pre-season tourney rankings.
Penn State is gearing up for the start of the 2005-06 season as it prepares to host its annual Wrestle-Offs on Sunday, Nov. 6, at 1 p.m., and the Pennsylvania State Dual Championships on Sunday, Nov. 13, at 10 a.m. Both events will take place in Rec Hall.
The Pa. State Duals will be held for the second straight year this November. The Nittany Lions will welcome Lehigh, Clarion, Lock Haven, Bucknell, Mercyhurst, Pitt-Johnstown and York to the eight-team event. Rounds are slated to begin at 10 a.m., 12 p.m. and 2 p.m.
More information on the Duals, including seedings and first-round match-ups, will become available later this month.