Dec. 7, 2016
WR Notes 16-17 Binghamton - BLOG: Suriano Making an Immediate Impact
TODAY'S ACTION
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.; December 6, 2016 -- The Penn State Nittany Lions (3-0, 0-0 B1G) host Binghamton (*0-0, 0-0 EIWA) on Sunday, Dec. 11. Action takes place in Rec Hall at 2 p.m. *Binghamton, which began its season with numerous open tournaments in November and early December, opens up its dual meet season vs. Hofstra on Friday and at Princeton on Saturday, post-press.
The Nittany Lions continue to roll, coming off a 30-10 win over Lehigh in the 2016-17 BJC Dual last Sunday. The victory, wrestled in front of over 15,000 fans, improved head coach Cael Sanderson's squad to 3-0 on the year. True freshman Nick Suriano downed No. 4 Darian Cruz while Bo Nickal and Zain Retherford each picked up their seventh straight pins in the victory.
Penn State's line-up features ten ranked wrestlers. Suriano is 7-0 on the year and ranked No. 4. Jered Cortez dropped to 6-2 with a tough loss vs. Lehigh and is now ranked No. 15 at 133. Senior Jimmy Gulibon is 5-4 on the year and ranked No. 13 at 141. Retherford is 8-0 with seven pins and ranked No. 1 at 149. Sophomore Jason Nolf is 8-0 with five pins and ranked No. 1 at 157. Red-shirt freshman Vincenzo Joseph is 6-1 and No. 9 at 165 and sophomore Shakur Rasheed, upset at 174 in his bout vs. Lehigh, is 5-1 and No. 14 at 174. Nickal is 7-0 with seven pins and No. 2 at 184 while Matt McCutcheon is 7-0 and No. 13 at 197. Nick Nevills is 7-0 and No. 8 at 285. Junior Kade Moss and senior Geno Morelli are also in the mix for Penn State, with Moss 4-1 at 141 after advancing to the finals at the Keystone Classic on Nov. 20, and Morelli 6-1 overall and 2-0 in duals for Penn State.
Binghamton opens up its dual meet season with three duals in three days this coming weekend. The Bearcats, led by former Penn State assistant Matt Dernlan, host Hofstra Friday and are at Princeton Saturday before rolling into Happy Valley for Sunday's dual.
The Bearcats are coming off a solid fourth-place showing at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational last weekend. BU is being led by junior Steve Schneider at 184. Schneider went 7-2 to place fourth in Vegas and is ranked No. 13 at 184 with a 16-3 overall record. The Bearcats feature a very young line-up with two freshmen, five sophomores and two juniors in the potential starting line-up.
Penn State and Binghamton have only met once in a dual meet, a 36-8 Penn State win at Binghamton on 11/23/08. This will be the Bearcats' first-ever dual at Penn State.
Penn State returns to action on Sunday, Dec. 18, when heads to Reno, Nev., for the Reno Tournament of Champions. Action begins at 12 p.m. Eastern. Rec Hall duals are sold out but a limited number of standing room only tickets are available to the events. Fans can purchase these SROs on a first-come, first-serve basis by calling the Penn State Athletics ticket office at 1-800-NITTANY while supplies last. 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 (3-0, 0-0 B1G)
125 #4 Nick Suriano Fr. Paramus, N.J./Bergen Catholic / 7-0
133 #15 Jered Cortez So. Carol Stream, Ill./Glenbard North / 6-2
141 #13 Jimmy Gulibon Sr. Latrobe, Pa./Derry Area / 5-4
OR Kade Moss Jr. South Jordan, Utah/Bingham / 4-1
149 #1 Zain Retherford Jr. Benton, Pa./Benton / 8-0
157 #1 Jason Nolf So. Yatesboro, Pa./Kittanning / 8-0
165 #9 Vincenzo Joseph Fr. Pittsburgh, Pa./Central Catholic / 6-1
174 Geno Morelli Sr. DuBois, Pa./DuBois / 6-1
OR #14 Shakur Rasheed So. Coram, N.Y./Longwood / 5-1
184 #2 Bo Nickal So. Allen, Texas/Allen / 7-0
197 #13 Matt McCutcheon Jr. Apollo, Pa./Kiski Area / 7-0
285 #8 Nick Nevills So. Clovis, Calif./Clovis / 7-0
BINGHAMTON BEARCATS (*0-0, 0-0 EIWA)
125 Steve Bulzomi So. Bohemia, N.Y./Connetquot / 9-6
133 Joe Nelson So. Oxford, N.Y./Oxford / 1-4
141 Dylan Caruana Sr. Kenmore, N.Y./Kenmore West / 7-6
149 Parker Kropman Fr. Rochester, N.Y./Penfield / 4-7
157 Tristan Rifanburg Fr. Norwich, N.Y./Norwich / 3-3
165 Vincent DePrez Jr. Hilton, N.Y./Hilton / 11-4
174 Anthony Lombardo So. Bethlehem, Pa./Bethlehem Catholic / 5-6
184 #13 Steve Schneider Jr. Levittown, N.Y./MacArthur / 16-3
197 Mark Tracy So. Holtsville, N.Y./Sachem East / 5-6
285 Connor Calkins So. Almond, N.Y./Alfred-Armond / 9-5
* Binghamton opens up it dual season vs. Hofstra on Friday and at Princeton on Saturday, post-press.
Individual rankings are InterMat, team ranking is InterMat TPI (Tournament Power Index) as of 12/6
THIS WEEK
No. 3 Penn State (3-0, 0-0 B1G) hosts Binghamton (*0-0, 0-0 EIWA) on Sunday, Dec. 11. The Nittany Lions and Bearcats will battle in Rec Hall at 2 p.m. *Binghamton opens up its dual meet season after taking part in open tournaments in November and early December, vs. Hofstra on Friday and at Princeton on Saturday, post-press.
UP NEXT
Penn State travels to Reno, Nev., for the Reno Tournament of Champions on Sunday, Dec. 18.
ON THE AIR
TV - None
Live Web Video - BTN2go or GoPSUNow
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/ ).
NOTES:
SURIANO DOWNS #4 CRUZ IN BJC DUAL WIN OVER LEHIGH
True freshman Nick Suriano continued his superb start to the 2016-17 season with a dominating 7-0 win over returning All-American Darian Cruz of Lehigh on 12/4. The win helped spark Penn State to a 30-10 victory over #9 Lehigh in front of over 15,000 fans in this year's BJC Dual. It was Suriano's second win over a returning All-American.
NICKAL AND RETHERFORD CONTINUE PIN PARADE IN BJC DUAL WIN OVER LEHIGH
Sophomore Bo Nickal and junior Zain Retherford each picked up their seventh straight pin in Penn State's 30-10 win over #9 Lehigh in the BJC Dual on 12/4. Nickal pinned Kyle Gentile at the 2:35 mark for his seventh pin in as many matches while Retherford pinned #9 Laike Gardner at the 3:55 mark for his seventh straight pin in his eighth match.
LIONS 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 #4 at 125, Jered Cortez #15 at 133, Jimmy Gulibon #13 at 141, Zain Retherford #1 at 149, Jason Nolf #1 at 157, Vincenzo Joseph #9 at 165, Shakur Rasheed is #14 at 174, Bo Nickal #2 at 184, Matt McCutcheon #13 at 197 and Nick Nevills #8 at 285. Nine Penn Staters are ranked by Flo Wrestling: Suriano #4, Cortez #13, Retherford #1, Nolf #1, Rasheed #16, Nickal #2, McCutcheon #6 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.