Oct. 24, 2007
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. - Even with a starting line-up featuring five returning starters at different weight classes, the Penn State Nittany Lion wrestling team will head into the 2007-08 campaign with a No. 11 team ranking courtesy of the USA Today/NWCA Preseason Coaches Poll. The poll is compiled and published by Intermat, the NWCA's official website at www.intermatwrestle.com.
Head coach Troy Sunderland's team is one of nine Big Ten schools ranked among the nation's top 17 teams. Defending conference and national champion Minnesota heads the list with all 12 first place votes. Oklahoma State, which will host Penn State on Dec. 9, is No. 2, and Iowa State checks in at No. 3. Big Ten foes Iowa, Michigan and Northwestern follow with Missouri checking in at No. 7. Ohio State, Cornell and Central Michigan round out the top ten.
Penn State sits ant No. 11, just nine poll points out of ninth place and three out of tenth. The Nittany Lions are the highest ranked Pennsylvania school heading into the new year. Wisconsin, Hofstra, Nebraska and Indiana comprise the rest of the top 15. Edinboro, Illinois, Navy, Oklahoma and Pittsburgh hold the 16th through 20th spots while UT-Chattanooga, Harvard, Penn, American and Oregon State round out the top 25.
Penn State will face eight of the top 25 teams in regularly scheduled duals and will certainly meet more at the 2008 National Duals on Jan.12-13 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The Nittany Lions will also take on Lehigh, which was the top team in the `receiving votes' category.
Senior Phil Davis (Harrisburg, Pa.), a three-time All-American at 197, heads a list of seven ranked Penn State individuals. Davis is ranked No. 2 at 197 pounds. He heads into his senior campaign with a 90-19 career record and a combined 21-9 mark in the Big Ten and NCAA Championships. While Penn State has nine wrestlers returning with starting experience from last year or the year prior, he is one of only four returning at their previous weight.
Senior Mark McKnight (McDonald, Pa.) returns as 125 and heads into the year ranked No. 11 by Intermat. McKnight is a three-time national qualifier with an 88-34 career record. Sophomore Dave Rella (Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio) returns at 165 pounds and heads into the season ranked No. 16. Rella went 21-13 as a true freshman last year.
Penn State's four other ranked grapplers are all wrestling at new weights in 2007-08. Junior All-American Jake Strayer (South Fork, Pa.), who placed seventh at NCAAs in the 133-pound weight class last season, is wrestling up a weight at 141 this year and is ranked No. 7 nationally. Strayer is a two-time national qualifier with a 53-14 career record. Sophomore Bubba Jenkins (Virginia Beach, Va.) qualified for nationals as a true freshman at 157 and moves down to his more natural 149 pounds this season. Jenkins, who went 23-12 last year and won the FILA Junior World Championship this summer, is ranked No. 7 at 149.
Sophomore Dan Vallimont (Lake Hopatcong, N.J.) finished just one win shy of becoming an All-American at 149 last season, going 22-12 as a red-shirt freshman and 3-2 at nationals. Vallimont will make the move up to 157 this year and heads into the campaign ranked No. 11. Fellow sophomore Dave Erwin (Urbana, Ohio) is coming off a red-shirt season in 2006-07. Erwin started at 165 as a true freshman, going 23-8, but an injury in the early rounds of the 2006 Big Ten tournament kept him from making a trip to nationals. The Ohio-native will move up to 174 pounds and heads into the season ranked No. 11.
Penn State will host its annual Wrestle-Off tournament on Sunday, Nov. 4, at 1 p.m. in Rec Hall (admission is free) before opening up the season on Sunday, Nov. 11, with a home dual against Maryland, also set to begin at 1 p.m. The Nittany Lions are coming off a 14-5 season a year ago, which included a 5-3 mark in Big Ten duals (tied for third).