Sept. 3, 2016
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Penn State Nittany Lion wrestler Mark Hall (Apple Valley, Minn.) won the 74 kg title at the 2016 Junior World Wrestling Championships in Macon, France. Hall is a true freshman on head coach Cael Sanderson's squad this year.
The six-time Minnesota state high school champion opened up his tournament with a 3-2 win over Japan's Yajuro Yamasaki. He then hammered Ukraine's Roman Zinchenko, posting a 10-0 technical fall in the quarterfinals. The new Nittany Lion rolled to the semifinals with a second straight tech fall, a 12-1 victory over Georgia's Tariel Gaphrindashvili. He then posted a 5-5 win over Murad Suleymanov of Azerbaijan in the semifinals. In the championship finals, Hall took just :31 to post a 10-0 technical fall (his third in four matches during his title run) over Iran's Yousef Bazrighaleh. Hall outscored his international competition 40-8.
Hall, winner of the 2016 Dave Schultz High School Excellence Award, became the first person ever to win six Minnesota State High School Championships. He concluded an amazing high school career with a 277-4 record, including 171 consecutive wins and 189 career pins.
Penn State has won five of the last six NCAA National Championships and five of the last six Big Ten titles. Head coach Cael Sanderson's squad opens up the 2016-17 season at Army on Friday, Nov. 11, in a 7 p.m. dual. The home opener is set for Sunday, Nov. 13, when the Stanford Cardinal invades Rec Hall for a 2 p.m. match-up.
Penn State Fans are encouraged to follow Penn State wrestling via twitter at @pennstateWREST, on Penn State Wrestling's Facebook page at www.facebook.com/pennstatewrestling and on Instagram at www.instagram.com/pennstatewrest. This is PENN STATE. WRESTLING lives here.