Nov. 26, 2013
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The Penn State Nittany Lion wrestlers hold steady as the No. 1 team on Intermat's Tournament Power Index (TPI) as head coach Cael Sanderson's squad enters its second straight week with ranked grapplers at all ten weights. The TPI ranks a team's potential tournament strength based on Intermat's individual rankings, not dual meet strength. The full list of national rankings is available at www.intermatwrestle.com.
Penn State is off this weekend and 3-0 overall. The team is ranked No. 1 on the TPI with 100.5 points while conference rival Iowa hot on the Lions' heels in the No. 2 slot with 99.0 points. Minnesota sits in third with 89.5 and Oklahoma holds fourth with 73. Oklahoma State rounds out the top five with 68.0 points. Nebraska (8), Illinois (10), Northwestern (11), Ohio State (32.5), Wisconsin (14) and Michigan (19) give the Big Ten nine team ranked among the nation's top 25.
Junior All-American Nico Megaludis (Murrysville, Pa.) continues to hold the No. 3 spot at 125 with a 7-1 mark while red-shirt freshman Jimmy Gulibon (Latrobe, Pa.) moves up to No. 13 at 133 with a 4-3 mark. True freshman Zain Retherford (Benton, Pa.) holds the No. 12 spot at 141 with a perfect 8-0 mark. Junior Andrew Alton (Mill Hall, Pa.) is No. 8 at 149 and twin brother Dylan Alton (Mill Hall, Pa.) is No. 5 at 157. The brothers are expected to return mid-December after off-season surgeries. Senior All-American David Taylor (St. Paris, Ohio) is No. 1 at 165 with an 8-0 mark while junior All-American Matt Brown (West Valley City, Utah) is No. 3 at 174 with an identical 8-0 mark. Senior All-American Ed Ruth (Harrisburg, Pa.) is 5-0 and ranked No. 1 at 184 while sophomore Morgan McIntosh (Santa Ana, Calif.) is No. 4 at 197 with an 8-0 record. Junior Jimmy Lawson (Tom's River, N.J.) rounds out Penn State's ten ranked grapplers, ranked No. 10 at 285 with a 7-0 mark.
Penn State is coming off a 34-6 win over Lock Haven in its home opener this past Sunday. The dual was wrestled in front of 6,500 fans in Rec Hall, Penn State's 12th straight shut-out in the building. Off this coming weekend, the Nittany Lions return to action the weekend of Dec. 6-8 with a split weekend of duals. Penn State visits Boston University on Friday, Dec. 6, at 7 p.m. in the first-ever meeting between the two schools. Two days later, Sanderson's Lions will wrestle in Penn State's Bryce Jordan Center, hosting No. 25 Pittsburgh on Sunday, Dec. 8, at 2 p.m.
A limited number of tickets for the BJC dual are available as the event is nearing capacity. Fans can purchase tickets online via GoPSUsports.com and Ticketmaster, by calling 1-800-NITTANY or by visiting the Penn State Athletics ticket office located in the BJC. With the full season of Rec Hall duals sold out prior to the start of the campaign, a very limited number of standing room only tickets are available to a few of the seven Rec Hall duals. The SROs can be purchased by calling 1-800-NITTANY or at the BJC Ticket Office. Fans are encouraged to follow Penn State wrestling via twitter at www.twitter.com/pennstateWREST and on Penn State Wrestling's Facebook page at www.facebook.com/pennstatewrestling. The 2013-14 Penn State Wrestling season is presented by The Family Clothesline.