March 5, 2016
IOWA CITY, Iowa ââ'¬" The top-ranked Nittany Lion wrestling team will have seven competitors in the Big Ten semifinals following a strong first session at the Big Ten Wrestling Championships inside Carver-Hawkeye Arena on Saturday.
Headlined by four pins and a technical fall, the Nittany Lions tallied a 14-3 overall mark in the first session of the tournament. Penn State pocketed 15.5 bonus points thanks to the four pins, technical fall and six major decisions.
Nico Megaludis (125), Jimmy Gulibon (141), Zain Retherford (149), Jason Nolf (157), Bo Nickal (174), Matt McCutcheon (184) and Morgan McIntosh (197) will represent the Nittany Lions in the semifinals on Saturday evening. The second session of the day begins at 7 p.m. ET with a round of consolation matches before the semifinals. Jordan Conaway (133), Geno Morelli (165) and Nick Nevills (285).
In the team race, the Nittany Lions head into the evening with a four-point lead over Iowa. The Nittany Lions will have seven in the semifinals, while Iowa and Nebraska will have six in the semis.
Penn State opened the morning with six victories in seven matches during the first round of the bracket. With the six wins, that sent nine Nittany Lions to the quarterfinals. Megaludis kicked things off in quarterfinal action with a 10-2 major decision against sixth-seeded Johnny Jimenez at 125 pounds. The Nittany Lion senior used a takedown and four near-fall points in the first period en route to his second major of the day.
At 141, Gulibon became Penn State's second semifinalist with a dramatic 3-2 win in the second tiebreaker against top-seeded Micah Jordan from Ohio State. Gulibon and Jordan entered the first sudden victory period knotted at 1-1. Both wrestlers earned an escape point in the initial tiebreaker before Gulibon secured the decisive tally in the second tiebreaker.
"I felt really good throughout the whole match," said Gulibon. "At the end, I took that one nice shot in overtime. I thought it was two. I had the leg hooked and arms wrapped around both legs, but then I completely forgot about that stayed focus for the rest of the match."
Retherford followed Megaludis and Gulibon into the semifinals with a dominant 14-4 major decision over Minnesota's Jake Short. Retherford went 2-0 in the first session with a pin and a major.
"It's been good so far. I'm two matches in, and I'm feeling good," said Retherford. "...This tournament is a lot of fun. It's fun that it's in Iowa and Carver-Hawkeye. It's a lot of fun, and you just have to embrace it this time of year."
Immediately after Retherford's match, Nolf trotted onto the same mat and marched his way into the semifinals with a 20-5 (6:51) technical fall victory against Minnesota's Brandon Kingsley. The redshirt freshman was dominant in his first day at the Big Ten Championships, scoring a pin and a technical fall.
After earning a bye in the first round, Bo Nickal used a 10-point first period to scored a 15-3 major against Phil Bakuckas from Rutgers. McCutcheon then followed suit with a hard fought 6-2 win over Illinois' Jeff Koepke.
No one was more dominant than McIntosh during the first session. The senior wrestled a grand total of 3:07 in two matches on Saturday. McIntosh pinned Indiana's Jake Masengale (1:27) in the first round and Michigan State's Jacob Cooper (1:40) in the quarterfinals to make it seven Lions in the semifinals.
"It felt really good in the first match. The team is doing great," McCutcheon said. "It's exciting, and I just want to keep going now. It was a tough match against a very good opponent, and now we just need to all focus on the next one."
The semifinal round is always entertaining at the Big Ten Championships. The Nittany Lions will face Iowa wrestlers in three of their seven semifinal bouts. Action continues on Saturday night in Carver-Hawkeye Arena with the semifinals and wrestlebacks taking place beginning at 6 p.m. CT. The BTN will again stream Session II.