Feb. 27, 2012
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - Three Penn State Nittany Lions have received No. 1 slots as the Big Ten has released its pre-seeds for the 2012 Big Ten Wrestling Championships. All-Americans Frank Molinaro (Barnegat, N.J.), David Taylor (St. Paris, Ohio) and Ed Ruth (Harrisburg, Pa.) are all slotted at No. 1, but no seeds are final until after Friday's pre-tournament coaches meeting. The event is being hosted by Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind.
Molinaro, ranked No. 1 nationally at 149, received the No. 1 pre-seed at his weight and heads to Big Ten's with a 25-0 record. Taylor, ranked No. 1 at 165, received the No. 1 spot and heads to Big Ten's undefeated as well with a 23-0 mark. Ruth, ranked No. 2 at 174, is No. 1 at his weight and is also unbeaten on the year, heading to Purdue with a 23-0 record. All three wrestlers are defending Big Ten Champions at their weights.
Three Nittany Lions received No. 2 seeds, led by defending National Champion and Big Ten Champion at 184 Quentin Wright (Wingate, Pa.). Wright, ranked No. 2 nationally at 184, is the No. 2 seed and will carry a 22-2 record with him to Big Ten's. Senior Cameron Wade (Twinsburg, Ohio), ranked No. 6 nationally at heavyweight, is the No. 2 seed for Big Ten's and is 22-3 overall. Red-shirt freshman Dylan Alton (Mill Hall, Pa.), ranked No. 5 nationally at 157, received a No. 2 seed and carries a 20-4 record into his first conference championship.
Two Nittany Lion true freshman received No. 3 seeds. Nico Megaludis (Murrysville, Pa.), ranked No. 8 nationally at 125, is the No. 3 seed and carries a 21-5 overall record with him into Big Ten's. Classmate Morgan McIntosh (Santa Ana, Calif.) is the No. 3 seed at 197. Ranked No. 12 nationally, McIntosh is 15-6 heading to Purdue.
Junior Bryan Pearsall (Lititz, Pa.) is the No. 8 seed at 141 and brings a 12-10 record with him to his second Big Ten Championship. Sophomore Frank Martellotti (Pittsburgh, Pa.) is the No. 8 seed at 133 and is 6-7 heading to his first conference championship.
The Nittany Lions will look to defend their Big Ten Championship next weekend. Penn State will take part in the 2012 Big Ten Championship Tournament at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind., on March 3-4. Session one on Saturday, March 3, is set for 10 a.m. A weight-by-weight breakdown of the Big Ten's qualifiers show the conference getting six automatic bids at 125, seven at 133, five at 141, nine at 149, six at 157, eight at 165, nine at 174, seven at 184, seven at 197 and ten at 285.
The full list of Big Ten pre-seeds is as follows:
125 lbs.
1. Matt McDonough, IOWA
2. Zach Sanders, MINN
3. Nico Megaludis, PSU
4. Jesse Delgado, ILL
5. Levi Mele, NU
6. Johnni DiJulius, OSU
7. Camden Eppert, PUR
8. Brenan Lyon, MSU
133 lbs.
1. Logan Stieber, OSU
2. Tony Ramos, IOWA
3. B.J. Futrell, ILL
4. Chris Dardanes, MINN
5. Cashe Quiroga, PUR
6. Zac Stevens, MICH
7. Ridge Kiley, NEB
8. Frank Martelotti, PSU
141 lbs.
1. Kellen Russell, MICH
2. Hunter Stieber, OSU
3. Montell Marion, IOWA
4. Nick Dardanes, MINN
5. Jake Sueflohn, NEB
6. Daryl Thomas, ILL
7. Matt Ortega, IND
8. Bryan Pearsall, PSU
149 lbs.
1. Frank Molinaro, PSU
2. Eric Grajales, MICH
3. Dylan Ness, MINN
4. Ivan Lopouchanski, PUR
5. Cam Tessari, OSU
6. Taylor Walsh, IND
7. Eric Terrazas, ILL
8. Kaleb Friedley, NU
9. Dan Osterman, MSU
10. Mike Kelly, IOWA
11. Skylar Galloway, NEB
12. Frank Baer, WIS
157 lbs.
1. Jason Welch, NU
2. Dylan Alton, PSU
3. James Green, NEB
4. Anthony Jones, MSU
5. Josh Demas, OSU
6. Derek St. John, IOWA
7. Tommy Churchard, PUR
8. Jackson Morse, ILL
165 lbs.
1. David Taylor, PSU
2. Mike Evans, IOWA
3. Robert Kokesh, NEB
4. Ben Jordan, WIS
5. Conrad Polz, ILL
6. Dan Yates, MICH
7. Cody Yohn, MINN
8. Derek Garcia, OSU
174 lbs.
1. Ed Ruth, PSU
2. Logan Storley, MINN
3. Ethen Lofthouse, IOWA
4. Justin Zeerip, MICH
5. Nick Heflin, OSU
6. Curran Jacobs, MSU
7. Tyler Koehn, NEB
8. Jordan Blanton, ILL
9. Lee Munster, NU
10. Ryan LeBlanc, IND
11. Drake Stein, PUR
12. Frank Cousins, WIS
184 lbs.
1. Kevin Steinhaus, MINN
2. Quentin Wright, PSU
3. Josh Ihnen, NEB
4. Grant Gambrall, IOWA
5. C.J. Magrum, OSU
6. Braden Atwood, PUR
7. Tony Dallago, ILL
8. Ian Hinton, MSU
197 lbs.
1. Sonny Yohn, MINN
2. Matt Powless, IND
3. Morgan McIntosh, PSU
4. Max Huntley, MICH
5. Mario Gonzalez, ILL
6. Andrew Campolattano, OSU
7. James Nakashima, NEB
8. A.J. Kissel, PUR
285 lbs.
1. Tony Nelson, MINN
2. Cameron Wade, PSU
3. Ben Apland, MICH
4. Tucker Lane, NEB
5. Mike McMullan, NU
6. Bobby Telford, IOWA
7. Adam Chalfant, IND
8. Roger Vukobratovich, PUR
9. Peter Capone, OSU
10. Steve Andrus, MSU
11. Pat Walker, ILL
12. Cole Tobin, WIS
The full season slate of live dual meet and tournament action will air locally on WRSC AM (1390 AM) with Friday evening duals being simulcast on WRSC FM (103.1 FM). Lock Haven's WBPZ (1230 AM) will also carry the entire season live, WIEZ (670 AM) in Huntingdon/Lewistown carries all Sunday events and further affiliates may be added soon. The regular season schedule of radio broadcasts will be streamed live at www.GoPSUsports.com as part of Penn State's All-Access package, which will also feature live video streams of many home events. Ticket information is accessed easily online at www.GoPSUsports.com/tickets/m-wrestl-tickets.html . Fans are encouraged to follow Penn State wrestling via twitter at www.twitter.com/pennstatepat and on Penn State Wrestling's facebook page at www.facebook.com/pennstatewrestling. The 2011-12 Penn State Wrestling season is presented by The Family Clothesline.