Nov. 30, 2016
TODAY'S ACTION
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- The Penn State Nittany Lions (2-0, 0-0 B1G) hosts No. 9 Lehigh (3-0, 1-0 EIWA) in the 2016-17 BJC Dual. The Nittany Lions and Mountain Hawks tangle in the near-16,000 seat arena on Sunday, Dec. 4, at 12 p.m. Showcasing two of Pennsylvania's top wrestling programs, over 15 ranked wrestlers could compete in the dual featuring two top-ten teams.
The Nittany Lions are 2-0 on the year with wins over Army and Stanford and are coming off crowning eight champions at the Keystone Classic back on Nov. 20. True freshman Nick Suriano will carry a 6-0 mark and a No. 6 national ranking at 125 into the dual while sophomore Jered Cortez is 6-1 and No. 12 at 133. Senior Jimmy Gulibon is 5-3 at 141 and ranked No. 15. Junior Zain Retherford is 7-0 and ranked No. 1 at 149, having going 5-0 with five pins to win the Keystone title.
Jason Nolf is 6-0 and ranked No. 1 at 157 while Vincenzo Joseph is 5-1 and No. 10 at 165. At 174, Penn State has two outstanding wrestlers battling for the starting nod. Senior Geno Morelli is 6-1 and was ranked heading into the Keystone Classic. He was downed by teammate Shakur Rasheed 2-1 in a second tie-breaker in the finals in Philly. Rasheed is 5-0 and ranked No. 12 at 174. Sophomore Bo Nickal is a perfect 6-0 with six pins on the year and ranked No. 3 at 184 while junior Matt McCutcheon is 6-0 at his new weight of 197 and ranked No. 13. Sophomore Nick Nevills is 6-0 at 285 and ranked No. 7.
Lehigh is 3-0 on the year with wins over Bucknell, Pittsburgh and Edinboro. The Mountain Hawks feature a talented line-up as well. Junior Darian Cruz is 4-0 and ranked No. 4 at 125, setting up an anticipated showdown with Suriano. Scott Parker, a junior, is 2-0 at 133 for Lehigh. Senior Randy Cruz is 4-0 at 141 and ranked No. 3, matching up with Gulibon. Senior Laike Gardner is 3-1 and ranked No. 9 at 149 while freshman Jordan Kutler is 3-1 and No. 14 at 157.
Senior Mitch Minotti has not wrestled to date at 165 and is ranked No. 5, if he does not wrestle, look for sophomore Gordon Wolf to get the nod. Junior Ryan Preisch is 4-0 and ranked No. 19 at 174. Freshman Kyle Gentile is 0-3 at 184 and senior Ben Haas is 2-2 at 197. Senior Doug Vollaro is 4-0 at 285 and ranked No. 11, setting up a battle with Nevills at heavyweight.
Penn State leads the all-time series between the two long-time state rivals 67-34-3. The Nittany Lions have won six straight, including last year's 28-9 win at Lehigh on 2/12/16. Penn State won the last meeting here in Happy Valley, 24-10 on 11/9/14.
Penn State returns to action on Sunday, Dec. 11, when it hosts Binghamton. Action begins in Rec Hall at 2 p.m. Fans can purchase tickets by calling the Penn State Athletics ticket office at 1-800-NITTANY. 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. The 2016-17 Penn State wrestling season is presented by The Family Clothesline. This is PENN STATE. WRESTLING lives here.
#3 PENN STATE NITTANY LIONS (2-0, 0-0 B1G)125 #6 Nick Suriano Fr. Paramus, N.J./Bergen Catholic / 6-0
133 #12 Jered Cortez So. Carol Stream, Ill./Glenbard North / 6-1
141 #15 Jimmy Gulibon Sr. Latrobe, Pa./Derry Area / 5-3
149 #1 Zain Retherford Jr. Benton, Pa./Benton / 7-0
157 #1 Jason Nolf So. Yatesboro, Pa./Kittanning / 6-0
165 #10 Vincenzo Joseph Fr. Pittsburgh, Pa./Central Catholic / 5-1
174 Geno Morelli Sr. DuBois, Pa./DuBois / 6-1
OR #12 Shakur Rasheed So. Coram, N.Y./Longwood / 5-0
184 #3 Bo Nickal So. Allen, Texas/Allen / 6-0
197 #13 Matt McCutcheon Jr. Apollo, Pa./Kiski Area / 6-0
285 #7 Nick Nevills So. Clovis, Calif./Clovis / 6-0
#9 LEHIGH MOUNTAIN HAWKS (3-0, 1-0 EIWA)125 #4 Darian Cruz Jr. Allentown, Pa./Bethlehem Catholic / 4-0
133 Scott Parker Jr. Sellersville, Pa./Pennridge / 2-0
141 #3 Randy Cruz Sr. Allentown, Pa./Bethlehem Catholic / 4-0
149 #9 Laike Gardner Sr. Biglerville, Pa./Biglerville / 3-1
157 #14 Jordan Kutler Fr. Sparta, N.J./Blair Academy / 3-1
165 Gordon Wolf So. Lawrenceville, N.J./Lawrence / 6-2
#5 Mitch Minotti Sr. Easton, Pa./Easton / 0-0
174 #19 Ryan Preisch Jr. New Columbia, Pa./Milton / 4-0
184 Kyle Gentile Fr. Sellersville, Pa./Pennridge / 0-3
197 Ben Haas Sr. Little Valley, N.Y./Salamanca / 2-2
285 #11 Doug Vollaro Sr. Springfield, Mass./Pine Castle Christian / 4-0
Team ranking is InterMat TPI (Tournament Power Index) as of 11/29
THIS WEEKNo. 3 Penn State (2-0, 0-0 B1G) hosts No. 9 Lehigh (3-0, 1-0 EIWA) in the 2016-17 BJC Dual. The Nittany Lions and Mountain Hawks tangle in the near-16,000 seat arena on Sunday, Dec. 4, at 12 p.m. UP NEXTPenn State returns to Rec Hall for a home dual against Binghamton on Sunday, Dec. 11, at 2 p.m. ON THE AIRTV - Big Ten Network (live)
Live Web Video - None
Radio All Season - Penn State Radio Network. All live streaming of Penn State audio is free this year. All audio and some video (both free and $) can be accessed through GoPSUNow ( http://www.gopsusports.com/collegesportslive/ ). NOTESLIONS CROWN 8 AT KEYSTONE CLASSIC; DOMINATE THE FIELD IN PHILLY
Penn State dominated the field in the Keystone Classic on 11/20, crowning eight champs with ten finalists, to win the team title. Nick Suriano (125) went 4-0 to win at 125; Zain Retherford went 5-0 with five pins to win at 149 and claim OW honors; Jason Nolf went 5-0 with three pins and two techs to win at 157; Vincenzo Joseph went 4-0 with two techs, and wins over #5 and #13, to win at 165; Shakur Rasheed went 5-0 and won the 174-pound title with a 2-1 (tb2) victory over teammate Geno Morelli, who took second with a 4-1 mark and three pins; Bo Nickal went 4-0 with four pins to win at 184; Matt McCutcheon went 4-0 to win at 197 and Nick Nevills went 4-0 to win at 285. Kade Moss was runner-up at 141 with a 4-1 mark; Jered Cortez went 4-1 to take third at 133 and Gary Dinmore went 3-2 to take fourth at 149.
SURIANO, MORELLI AND NEVILLS NOTCH BIG WINS TO LEAD LIONS OVER #12 STANFORD
True freshman Nick Suriano dominated #4 Connor Schram at 125, rolling up nearly 2:00 in riding time to post a 3-0 shutout in his Rec Hall dual debut; senior Geno Morelli dominated #13 Jim Wilson to post a 6-3 win at 174; and sophomore Nick Nevills beat #10 Nathan Butler 3-1 at 285 to lead Penn State to a resounding 36-6 win over 12th-ranked Stanford. Penn State won eight of ten bouts in sold out Rec Hall.
NITTANY LIONS SHUTOUT ARMY WEST POINT 45-0
Penn State opened up its season at Army West Point on 11/11 and won all ten bouts. Three Nittany Lions won their Penn State and collegiate debuts: Nick Suriano (125), Jered Cortez (133) and Vincenzo Joseph (165) all got wins in their inaugural action in the blue and white singlet. Jimmy Gulibon posted the night's most impressive win, a 17-6 major over #17 Logan Everett. Matt McCutcheon also notched a 4-2 win over #11 Rocco Caywood at 197.
HALL WINS BEARCAT OPEN; DINMORE SECOND
Ten members of the Penn State Nittany Lion wrestling team trekked to Binghamton, N.Y., for the 2016 Bearcat Kaloust Open today. True freshman Mark Hall, wrestling unattached, came away with 174 pound title while red-shirt freshman Gary Dinmore took second at 149. Five members of the team were competing attached, five unattached. Hall rolled to the title at 174 in his first open tournament wrestling unattached at the collegiate level. Hall went 5-0 with two pins, a tech fall and a 12-4 major over Harvard's Josef Johnson in the finals. Dinmore went 4-0 with a major, winning four straight before losing in the finals to a non-collegiate wrestler (meaning the loss does not count on his record). In addition to Dinmore and Hall, eight other Lions wrestled at Binghamton. Red-shirt freshman Dominic Giannangeli went 2-2 at 141 and red-shirt freshman Kellan Stout went 2-1 at 197. Francisco Bisono picked up a win at 174 and upped his season long win total to seven. Bisono went 6-1 at last week's Clarion Open to place third.
BISONO TAKES THIRD AT CLARION OPEN
Red-shirt freshman Francisco Bisono rolled to a 6-1 record at the Clarion Open on 11/6, placing third at 174. Bisono had one pin during his run as well. True freshman Bo Pipher went 2-2 with a pin at 141 as well. Devon Van Cura picked up a win at 184 while true freshmen Devin Schnupp and Brian Friery competed as well.
TEN LIONS RANKED BY INTERMAT AND FLO
Ten Nittany Lions are ranked by InterMat in the latest release by the site. Nick Suriano is #6 at 125, Jered Cortez #12 at 133, Jimmy Gulibon #15 at 141, Zain Retherford #1 at 149, Jason Nolf #1 at 157, Vincenzo Joseph #10 at 165, Shakur Rasheed is #12 at 174, Bo Nickal #3 at 184, Matt McCutcheon #13 at 197 and Nick Nevills #7 at 285. Ten Penn Staters are ranked by Flo Wrestling: Suriano #10, Cortez #9, Gulibon #20, Retherford #1, Nolf #1, Geno Morelli #12 at 174, Nickal #3, McCutcheon #7 and Nevills #8.
PENN STATE RADIO NETWORK SET FOR 2016-17
The Penn State Wrestling Radio Network has been finalized for the 2016-17 campaign. Forever Media's WRSC-AM 1390 will serve as the flagship station for the network. The Penn State Coaches Show featuring Cael Sanderson, presented by Pepsi, will be carried by Forever Broadcasting as well. Forever Media will air the bulk of the season on WRSC-AM 1390 with select dates tabbed for WQWK-AM 1450. In addition to those two stations WIBF-FM 92.5 Mexico/Lewistown and WDBF-FM 106.3 Mt. Union/Huntingdon will broadcast the full season as well. Jeff Byers will once again serve as the voice of Penn State Wrestling, calling each broadcast mat-side with the Nittany Lions. The Penn State Coaches Show featuring Cael Sanderson, presented by Pepsi, will air on Forever Media as well this year. The one-hour program will take place at Lettermans on East College Ave. in State College nearly every Wednesday at 6:05 p.m. from November 11 through mid-March. Fans are encouraged to attend the program throughout the year. The show will air live on WQWK-AM. Sanderson will be the featured guest for most shows from November 16 through mid-March. In addition to Sanderson, The Penn State Coaches Show will include various coaches from other Penn State teams and athletics administrators. The show is slated for Nov. 16, Nov. 30, Dec. 6, Dec. 14, Jan. 4, Jan. 11, Jan. 18, Jan 25, Feb. 8, Feb. 15, Feb. 22, March 1 and March 8. The Penn State Coaches Show featuring Cael Sanderson, presented by Pepsi, will feature guests answering questions from fans at Lettermans and online. Fans can submit questions to www.GoPSUsports.com/askthecoach. All Penn State wrestling broadcasts this season, both live action and the Penn State Coaches Show featuring Cael Sanderson, will be streamed online for free on GoPSUsports.com via GoPSUNow.