Jan. 7, 2014
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - Penn State Nittany Lion senior David Taylor (St. Paris, Ohio) has been named Big Ten Wrestler of the Week for the week ending January 5, 2014. The honor is the third for Taylor and the fifth this year for Penn State. He shares this week's honor with Indiana's Adam Chalfant.
Taylor, ranked No. 1 at 165, continued to dominate the nation, going 5-0 to win his third career Southern Scuffle title. He was untouchable in an extremely tough in-season tournament field. His 5-0 run to the title included two pins, a tech fall and two majors. Taylor posted a technical fall over Boston's Mitchell Wightman 21-5 to start the tournament and then pinned Air Force's Jesse Stafford in the first period (1:47). He then put on a third period takedown clinic to major #15 Dylan Palacio of Cornell 17-6 before a semifinal pin of #9 Zach Toal of Missouri (4:59). In the finals, Taylor took care of #2 Tyler Caldwell of Oklahoma State, rolling to a 9-1 major with nearly 3:00 riding time. Taylor's tournament improves the three-time All-American to 17-0 on the year.
Taylor left the Scuffle with a 117-3 career record with 46 pins (seven shy of Penn State's all-time record of 53), 38 tech falls and 26 majors. His 117 wins is 11th all-time at Penn State. His performance helped Penn State to its third straight Southern Scuffle title, breaking away from No. 2 Minnesota and No. 3 Oklahoma State in the process to win by nearly 30 points.
Penn State returns to action on Sunday, Jan. 12, when the Lions welcome Purdue to Rec Hall for an already sold-out 2 p.m. showdown, returning home for the first time in nearly a month.
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 remaining 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.