Dec. 3, 2013
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The Penn State Nittany Lion wrestling team continues to hold serve with a third 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 now ranked No. 2 in the latest Intermat Tournament Power Index (TPI), slipping behind new No. 1 Iowa for the first time all year. 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 7-1 mark while red-shirt freshman Jimmy Gulibon (Latrobe, Pa.) is No. 11 at 133 with a 4-3 mark. True freshman Zain Retherford (Benton, Pa.) is No. 11 at 141 with an 8-0 mark. Junior Andrew Alton (Mill Hall, Pa.) is No. 9 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 10-0 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 heading into an exciting weekend that will see the team make a first-ever trip to Boston University for a dual meet with the Terriers on Friday at 7 p.m. Penn State then hosts intrastate rival #23 Pittsburgh on Sunday, Dec. 8, at 2 p.m. in an already sold-out Bryce Jordan Center. Over 15,000 fans will pack the BJC for the battle of two Pennsylvania powers.
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.