Feb. 28, 2011
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - Five Nittany Lion wrestlers have earned the No. 1 pre-seed at their respective weights for the 2011 Big Ten Wrestling Championships. The two-day event will take place this weekend, March 5-6, at Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill. The seeds will be finalized at Friday's Coaches' Meeting in Evanston.
Sophomore Andrew Long (Creston, Iowa), junior Frank Molinaro (Barnegat, N.J.), freshman David Taylor (St. Paris, Ohio), freshman Ed Ruth (Harrisburg, Pa.) and junior Cameron Wade (Twinsburg, Ohio) each earned top-seeds for head coach Cael Sanderson's squad. In addition, senior Brad Pataky (Clearfield, Pa.) grabbed the No. 4 seed at 125, true freshman Andrew Alton (Mill Hall, Pa.) is the No. 5 seed at 141 and sophomore Quentin Wright (Wingate, Pa.) is the No. 8 seed at 184.
Long is the No. 1 seed at 133 after a superb 11-1 campaign that saw him end the year ranked No. 3 by Intermat. The 2010 National Runner-Up at 125, Long went 6-1 in Big Ten duals. Molinaro is the No. 1 seed at 149 after a superb 25-2 season that saw him go 8-0 in conference duals. Molinaro ended the year ranked No. 3 by Intermat. Taylor is the No. 1 seed at 157 and posted a perfect 31-0 record this year including an 8-0 mark in conference dual meets. Taylor ended the year ranked No. 3 by Intermat and has the nation's top RPI at his weight. Ruth is the No. 1 seed at 174 after a stellar 29-1 campaign. Ruth went 8-0 in conference duals and ended the year ranked No. 2 by Intermat. Wade is the No. 1 seed at heavyweight after a 26-4 campaign that saw him post a 7-1 record in conference duals. He ended the year ranked No. 6 by Intermat.
Pataky battled injury this year at 125 and still went 8-3 and ended the year ranked No. 10 by Intermat. Alton went 26-6 at 141 this year with 17 pins and was ranked No. 7 by Intermat at season's end. Wright posted a 12-6 mark at 184 and ended the year ranked No. 17 by Intermat.
The full 2011 Big Ten Wrestling Championships Pre-Seeds are as follows:
125 lbs.
1. Matt McDonough, IOWA
2. Brandon Precin, NU
3. Zach Sanders, MINN
4. Brad Pataky, PSU
5. Sean Boyle, MICH
6. Justin Brooks, IND
7. Camden Eppert, PUR
8. Tom Kelliher, WIS
133 lbs.
1. Andrew Long, PSU
2. Tyler Graff, WIS
3. Tony Ramos, IOWA
4. B.J. Futrell, ILL
5. Levi Mele, NU
6. David Thorn, MINN
7. Zac Stevens, MICH
8. Ian Paddock, OSU
141 lbs.
1. Kellen Russell, MICH
2. Montell Marion, IOWA
3. Mike Thorn, MINN
4. Jimmy Kennedy, ILL
5. Andrew Alton, PSU
6. Kaleb Friedly, NU
7. Jake Fleckenstein, PUR
8. Shane McQuade, WIS
149 lbs.
1. Frank Molinaro, PSU
2. Andrew Nadhir, NU
3. Kurt Kinser, IND
4. Eric Terrazas, ILL
5. Cole Schmitt, WIS
6. Eric Grajales, MICH
7. Dan Osterman, MSU
8. Danny Zilverberg, MINN
157 lbs.
1. David Taylor, PSU
2. Derek St. John, IOWA
3. Jason Welch, NU
4. Colton Salazar, PUR
5. Paul Young, IND
6. Brandon Zeerip, MICH
7. Sean McMurray, MSU
8. Matt Mincey, MINN
165 lbs.
1. Andrew Howe, WIS
2. Colt Sponseller, OSU
3. Cody Yohn, MINN
4. Aaron Janssen, IOWA
5. Conrad Polz, ILL
6. Dan Yates, MICH
7. Ryan LeBlanc, IND
8. Kevin Bialka, NU
174 lbs.
1. Ed Ruth, PSU
2. Nick Heflin, OSU
3. Scott Glasser, MINN
4. Luke Manuel, PUR
5. Ethen Lofthouse, IOWA
6. Ben Jordan, WIS
7. Justin Zeerip, MICH
8. Curran Jacobs, MSU
184 lbs.
1. Travis Rutt, WIS
2. Kevin Steinhaus, MINN
3. Grant Gambrall, IOWA
4. Ian Hinton, MSU
5. Tony Dallago, ILL
6. A.J. Kissel, PUR
7. Cody Magrum, OSU
8. Quentin Wright, PSU
197 lbs.
1. Trevor Brandvold, WIS
2. Luke Lofthouse, IOWA
3. Logan Brown, PUR
4. Matt Powless, IND
5. Sonny Yohn, MINN
6. Anthony Biondo, MICH
7. Joe Barczak, ILL
8. Peter Capone, OSU
285 lbs.
1. Cameron Wade, PSU
2. Ricky Alcala, IND
3. Blake Rasing, IOWA
4. Tony Nelson, MINN
5. Ben Apland, MICH
6. Eric Bugenhagen, WIS
7. Joe Rizqallah, MSU
8. Ben Kuhar, NU
This weekend's event serves as the national qualifier for the conference with 64 automatic bids being up for grabs. Action begins with an 11 a.m. Eastern (10 a.m. Central) session on Saturday, March 5. The Sunday session starts at 2 p.m. Eastern (1 p.m. Central) with the finals airing live on the Big Ten Network at 4 p.m. Eastern (3 p.m. Central). All Penn State events will once again air live on Forever Broadcasting's WRSC (1390 AM) and WSQV (92.1 FM). All radio broadcasts are streamed live at GoPSUsports.com as part of the All-Access package. The 2010-11 Penn State Wrestling season is presented by The Family Clothesline.