March 6, 2016
IOWA CITY, Iowa - Headlined by three individual champions, the top-ranked Nittany Lion wrestling team claimed its fifth Big Ten title with a dominant weekend performance inside Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
Penn State earned Big Ten crowns from Zain Retherford (149), Bo Nickal (174) and Morgan McIntosh (197) en route to a commanding 23.5-point victory over host Iowa and the program's fifth conference title in the past six seasons on Sunday evening.
The Nittany Lions were a force during the two-day tournament in Iowa City, scoring six pins, two technical falls and eight major decisions on the way to 28 combined victories during the three sessions of action. Penn State tallied 23.0 bonus points at the Big Ten Championships and will take a great deal of momentum into the national tournament.
"I think, overall, we wrestled pretty darn well," said Big Ten Coach of the Year Cael Sanderson. "We lost a couple tight matches in the finals, but both lost to national champions. Our guys wrestled well. Three champions, and we have eight through (to nationals). We would have liked to have had 10, but you have to show up and earn your way...This was a great atmosphere. It doesn't get much better than wrestling the Big Ten Championships at Iowa."
Full Big Ten Title Roundup - Video & Feature