March 20, 2018
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.; March 20, 2018 ââ'¬" Two of Penn State's best have been nominated for the 2018 WIN Magazine/Culture House Hodge Trophy. The Trophy, presented by ASICS, is considered the Heisman Trophy for amateur wrestling and has been presented to the nation's best wrestler since 1995.
This year's nominees are Lion senior Zain Retherford (Benton, Pa.), Lion junior Bo Nickal (Allen, Texas), Seth Gross from South Dakota State and Arizona State's Zahid Valenica.
Criteria for the award includes a wrestler's record, number of pins, dominance on the mat, past credentials, quality of competition, sportsmanship/citizenship and heart. The first four criteria are the primary criteria. Number of pins is an extremely important criteria. Part of the reason the award was created was to elevate the importance of the pin, and to motivate top collegians to go for the fall. The Hodge Trophy is a single-season award. However, if you have two candidates who are virtually equal, consideration can be given to past credentials, which is criteria No. 5. The last two criteria should be used to help guide voters to select a winner who also is a good representative of the sport.
Fans can play a part in selecting the winner as part of the fan vote portion of the award process by clicking HERE and casting their votes. The winner will be announced on Tuesday, March 27th. The winner of the fan vote will earn two first-place votes among the total ballots from a group of formal voters which includes each former Hodge Trophy winner, national media, representatives of national wrestling organizations and retired former college coaches from different regions.
Retherford, last year's Hodge Trophy winner, is coming off a third straight NCAA title last weekend in Cleveland. Retherford rolled to a 5-0 mark at NCAAs, including a 6-2 win over Lock Haven's Ronnie Perry in the 141-pound finals. Retherford ends his season with a 31-0 mark and a 126-3 career record. He finishes his Penn State career riding a 94 match win streak dating back to his true freshman year. His 19 career NCAA tournament wins is alone in second on Penn State's all-time list (Ed Ruth had 21). He is a four-time All-American and Penn State's second three-time NCAA Champion (joining Ruth).
Nickal, the last of five straight NCAA finalists for Penn State, picked up his second straight NCAA crown and clinched the team title for the Lions by pinning Ohio State's Myles Martin at the 2:31 mark in the 184-pound title tilt. Nickal's title, the fourth individual crown of the night for Penn State, capped off a 5-0 tournament for the Texas native. Nickal ends his season with a 31-0 record and heads into next year with a 90-3 career record. He is a three-time All-American, a two-time National Champion and a three-time finalist.
A Nittany Lion has won the Hodge Trophy four times: Kerry McCoy won Penn State's first in 1997, David Taylor won in both 2012 and 2014 and Retherford won last year (2017). Nittany Lion head coach Cael Sanderson is the only wrestler to ever win three times (2000, 2001 and 2002).
The Nittany Lions are coming off a stellar 2017-18 campaign that saw them continue their national dominance. Penn State went 14-0 in dual meets, 9-0 in the Big Ten, winning yet another Big Ten Regular Season (dual meet) title. Head Coach Cael Sanderson's squad then roared into Cleveland and stormed a talented field featuring 330 of the nation's best wrestlers to win its seventh NCAA National Championship in the last eight years. The Lions crowned four champs, had five finalists, notched eight All-Americans and had all nine of its qualifiers score team points. Penn State heads into next year returning seven of its school-record tying eight All-Americans this year, including a combined seven national championships. The Nittany Lions have won 45 straight dual meets dating back to the 2014-15 season.
The 2017-18 Penn State wrestling season is sponsored by The Family Clothesline. 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.