June 5, 2015
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The Penn State Nittany Lion wrestling team continues to haul in the post-season academic honors, this time with the announcement of the National Wrestling Coaches Association (NWCA) National All-Academic first team. Four members of head coach Cael Sanderson's squad have been named to the prestigious team, including two All-Americans.
Senior Matt Brown (West Valley City, Utah), the 2015 NCAA Champion at 174 pounds, earned the honor for the third straight year, adding another national accolade to his quickly growing list of post-season honors. Brown, Brown, a criminology and international studies major, was also recently honored with a prestigious NCAA Post-Graduate Scholarship and was Penn State's male recipient of this year's Big Ten Post-Graduate Scholarship. He became Penn State's 24th three-time All-American in St. Louis this past March. Brown posted a 29-3 record this past season. He capped off his career with a 5-0 run through the NCAA Championships to claim his first individual crown and leaves Penn State with a 118-16 career record, 12th all-time in wins and 11th all-time in pins with 30. He was also recently named Penn State's McCoy Award winner. Brown was also a 2013 First Team CoSIDA Academic All-American and is on this year's ballot. The 2013 Elite 89 Award Winner as the nation's top wrestling student-athlete, he was a three-time First Team Academic All-Big Ten honoree as well.
Junior Jordan Conaway (Abbottstown, Pa.) was named to the NWCA National All-Academic Team for the first time after earning All-America honors for the first time this past March. Conaway posted a 27-9 overall record and became an All-American in St. Louis with an eighth place finish at 125. Conaway, who was also an Academic All-Big Ten honoree this year, heads into next year with a 61-24 career record.
Red-shirt freshman Matt McCutcheon (Apollo, Pa.) was named to the NWCA National All-Academic Team for the first time as well. McCutcheon was a 2015 NCAA Qualifier this year and finished his first run at nationals just one win shy of All-America laurels in the round of 12. McCutcheon posted a 26-14 record at 184 in his first year as a starter at Penn State.
Red-shirt freshman Garett Hammond (Chambersburg, Pa.) also earned NWCA All-Academic laurels for the first time as well. Hammond emerged as Penn State's starter at 165 pounds and posted a 23-12 overall record, including a 9-6 mark in dual meets.
With this year's four recipients, Penn State has now had 47 NWCA National All-Academic honorees all-time. In Sanderson's six years at the helm of the program, Penn State has tallied 21, 45 percent of the Lions' all-time total and an average of 3.50 per year.