Dec. 7, 2015
By Ryan Hickey, GoPSUsports.com Student Staff Writer
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. ââ'¬" For wrestlers that aren't in the starting lineup, practice can become a grind when competing against the same teammates day in and day out without a match day to look forward to.
For a trio of Penn State veterans, the Nittany Lion Open provided an opportunity to wrestle against someone that's not in a Penn State singlet.
Zack Beitz, Kade Moss and Cody Law were all starters at one point last season. This season has been an adjustment for the three wrestlers, as Sunday was their first chance this season to wrestle against another opponent.
"It feels bizarre," said Law. "My teammates are very good so wrestling guys who aren't them is nice."
"It's fun. It's a lot of fun coming out and actually wrestling different competition instead of just wrestling the guys in the wrestling room, so it's nice to wrestle someone else," said Beitz.
Making the adjustment from the starting role to a reserve can be tough, but Moss did not change his mindset and prepares like he is a starter at all times.
"As far as training and everything goes, it's all the same. It's about being prepared all the time so we don't have to get prepared when the time comes, so I'm always ready to go and step in and help the team," said Moss. "In the room, I'm doing the best I can to go hard everyday and push myself and push my teammates and win a national title as a team."
Moss went 17-17 in his first season last year as he wrestled at 141. Although the goal of every wrestler is to win, Moss was hoping to walk out of the Nittany Lion Open knowing he wrestled to the best of his ability.
"I'm always working on things and seeing what works best for me, but obviously success for me today is just knowing that I gave it everything I had," said Moss. "So regardless of where I end up, I can walk off knowing I wrestled as hard as I could."
Moss finished the tournament with a 6-1 record on the day, including registering four pins and a technical fall. The sophomore finished fifth overall at 141.
For Law, his goal of the day was to win the 165-weight class. The sophomore finished fifth after tallying two tech falls and a major decision. While winning was the ultimate, Law was just trying to wrestle the best he could for the full seven minutes and was happy how he started the day, registering 45 points through his first two matches.
Echoing both Moss and Law, Beitz, who qualified for Nationals last season, prepares each day like a starter and approaches each match the same way. That mindset hasn't changed since he stepped on campus and similar to the other two wrestlers, the junior was using Sunday's tournament to wrestle the best he could and let the results take care of themselves.
"I want to take one match at a time and I just want to wrestle the best match that I can so just making sure I go out there and wrestling my best match," said Beitz.
Overall, 302 wrestlers participated in this year's Nittany Lion Open as Penn State had 26 wrestlers competing, some of whom wrestled unattached. In the end, Nittany Lion wrestlers captured seven of the 10 championships.
Most importantly, the Open provided an opportunity to experience a tournament setting early on in the season, which helps prepare the team for the bigger tournaments later on in the season.
"It's good to get these matches in and go through a long tournament," said Moss. "It's a marathon and it's good to feel that before a big tournament's like the Southern Scuffle, Big Ten's and Nationals."