Dec. 10, 2013
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The Penn State Nittany Lion wrestling team is entering its fourth straight week of having all ten wrestlers ranked at their respective weight classes in the latest Intermat rankings. Five of those ten wrestlers are ranked among the top three at their respective weight classes.
Penn State is ranked No. 2 in the latest Intermat Tournament Power Index (TPI. 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.
Junior All-American Nico Megaludis (Murrysville, Pa.) continues to hold the No. 3 spot at 125 with a 9-1 mark while red-shirt freshman Jimmy Gulibon (Latrobe, Pa.) is No. 15 at 133 with a 4-4 mark. True freshman Zain Retherford (Benton, Pa.) jumped up to No. 8 at 141 with a perfect 10-0 mark. Junior Andrew Alton (Mill Hall, Pa.) is No. 7 at 149 and twin brother Dylan Alton (Mill Hall, Pa.) is No. 5 at 157. The brothers are expected to return mid-to-late December after off-season surgeries.
Senior All-American David Taylor (St. Paris, Ohio) is No. 1 at 165 with a 10-0 mark while junior All-American Matt Brown (West Valley City, Utah) is No. 3 at 174 with an identical 10-0 record. Senior All-American Ed Ruth (Harrisburg, Pa.) is 10-0 and ranked No. 1 at 184 while sophomore Morgan McIntosh (Santa Ana, Calif.) has moved up to No. 3 at 197 with 10-0 record. Junior Jimmy Lawson (Tom's River, N.J.) rounds out Penn State's ten ranked grapplers, ranked No. 12 at 285 with a 9-0 mark.
The Nittany Lions host No. 6 Ohio State in the Big Ten dual meet opener for both teams this Sunday in an already sold-out Rec Hall. The battle is a Big Ten Network live telecast and begins at 12 p.m. The noon start time is a switch from the originally announced (in August) start time.
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. People may purchase tickets by calling 1-800-NITTANY or by visiting the Penn State Athletics ticket office located in the BJC. 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.