March 27, 2018
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. ââ'¬" (Portion of release, including quotes, courtesy Bryan Van Kley, WIN Magazine) Penn State Nittany Lion wrestler Zain Retherford (Benton, Pa.) has won the WIN Magazine/Culture House Dan Hodge Trophy, presented annually to the top collegiate wrestler in the nation by ASICS, for the second straight year. The Hodge Trophy has been awarded since 1995. The three-time champ got 35 out of 48 first-place Hodge votes from a dominant group of Hodge finalists. Teammate Bo Nickal (Allen, Texas) finished second in the voting.
Retherford joins former Lion teammate David Taylor as one of only four two-time winners of the honor. Retherford, Taylor and Missouri standout Ben Askren each won the honor twice while Nittany Lion head coach Cael Sanderson won an unprecedented three times. Nittany Lion great Kerry McCoy won the award in 1997, giving Penn State a total of five Hodge Trophy winners among three individuals.
"To win the award that symbolizes dominance in college wrestling two years in a row means a lot to me. It's awesome," Retherford said. "Coming into college my first year, I really wasn't that dominant. I would ride just to ride and would squeak out a few wins. Throughout wrestling at Penn State, I learned to look for more points and expand matches a little bit."
The Hodge Trophy, created by WIN founder Mike Chapman in 1994, is named after the former University of Oklahoma wrestler who won three NCAA titles (1955-57), never allowed a takedown in his career and pinned 36 of 46 foes. Hodge is still the only wrestler ever to appear on the cover of Sports Illustrated.
Penn State coach Cael Sanderson said it is Retherford's consistency of effort in striving for excellence in every area of his life which makes the two-time Hodge winner unique. "Zain is very consistent. That's one of the keys to him being who he is. His consistency is his best every second. And that's very rare," Sanderson said.
Retherford rolled through his 149-pound peers during his senior season, winning titles at the Keystone Classic, Southern Scuffle and Big Ten Championships. Finishing his Nittany Lion career at 126-3, Retherford scored bonus points in all but five matches this year, racking up 17 pins, 5 technical falls and 4 major decisions. His bonus-point percentage on the year was 83.9%.
Nittany Lion Bo Nickal, the 184-pound junior who sealed the team title for Penn State with his dramatic NCAA finals pin against Ohio State's Myles Martin, finished second in the Hodge voting with six first-place votes. South Dakota State's Seth Gross tallied four first-place votes after winning the 133-pound title. Arizona State's Zahid Valencia (174) earned the other three first-place votes.
The Hodge Voting Committee is made up of all past winners of the award, national wrestling media and select retired college coaches from different regions of the country. The final two first-place official Hodge votes are awarded to the Fan Vote winner from a nation-wide poll on WIN's website the week after the NCAA Championships. Retherford easily won that voting as well, getting 52 percent of the over 25,000 unique votes. Gross came in second with 22 percent and just over 5,500 votes.
All four Hodge finalists had very dominant seasons. Nickal (31-0) was only one pin behind Retherford with 16 falls, and also added a tech fall and six majors in his 31-0 season. Gross finished 29-1 with his only loss coming in a February dual meet when he moved up a weight to face No. 1 Bryce Meredith of Wyoming. The Jackrabbit had 12 pins, seven technical falls and five major decisions. Valencia finished 32-0 with nine pins, seven tech falls and nine major decisions in winning the NCAA title at 174.
After settling for fifth place as a 141-pound true freshman in 2014 and redshirting in 2015, Retherford ended his collegiate career on a 95-match winning streak in winning three titles at 149 pounds. Like Taylor, Retherford also helped lead the Lions to four national championships as a team. The only year Penn State didn't win the title in his five seasons in State College was Zain's redshirt season.
Retherford said he doesn't think about the legacy he leaves on college wrestling any more than simply hoping people enjoyed watching him wrestle and that young wrestlers got something technically from him. The business major said he's most proud of whom he has become as a college student-athlete. "Win or lose a match, I think I became a better person being at Penn State and made the most of it. The thing I'm most proud of is the person I've become," Retherford said.
Sanderson said his "low-key" senior is one of kind who didn't change once he had high-level success. "When he won the Hodge (in 2017), it really didn't change him. He's still the nice Zain. But when he competes, he's tenacious and competes to score points and do what it takes. He's low-key, but he's competitive and wants to be a World and Olympic champion," the Nittany Lion coach said.
The primary criteria for the award are record, number of pins, dominance and quality of competition. Secondary criteria used to separate finalists with similar stats are past credentials, sportsmanship, citizenship and heart. Retherford will be presented the award publically on Sunday, April 15 at the Penn State wrestling banquet. And then as is tradition with the Hodge, he'll be publicly presented the award in front of the larger Penn State athletic community at a home football game this fall.
Retherford won his third straight NCAA individual title at 149 on March 17, downing Lock Haven's Ronnie Perry in the finals. Retherford ended his season with a 31-0 mark and posted a 126-3 career record. He finished 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). Retherford also sits at seventh on Penn State's all-time wins list.
Retherford's honors are numerous: two-time Hodge Trophy Winner, three-time NCAA Champion, three-time Big Ten Champion, three-time first team All-Big Ten, three-time NCAA Most Dominant Wrestler, four-time All-American, NCAA Championship Outstanding Wrestler (2017), Penn State's 10th four-time All-American, Penn State's second three-time NCAA Champion, 53 career falls is tied for tops in Penn State history, 2017 U.S. World Team Trial Champion, member U.S. World Team, 2017 CoSIDA First Team Academic All-American, 2016 CoSIDA Second Team Academic All-American, two-time NWCA First Team National All-Academic Team, 2016-17 Penn State Male Student-Athlete of the Year (marking the sixth straight year a wrestler garnered PSU's top student-athlete honor), three-time Academic All-Big Ten.
Penn State has now won seven team national titles in the last eight years and eight overall. The Nittany Lions eight total titles is tied for third all-time in NCAA history with Iowa State. The crown is Sanderson's seventh as a head coach in his nine years as Penn State's mentor.
Penn State heads into next year returning seven of its school-record tying eight All-Americans this year, including a combined seven national championships between Jason Nolf, Vincenzo Joseph, Mark Hall and Bo Nickal. The Nittany Lions have won 45 straight dual meets dating back to the 2014-15 season after going 14-0 this year, including a 9-0 Big Ten mark (winning yet another Big Ten Regular Season title).
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.
The following is a list of WIN's all-time Dan Hodge Trophy winners:
Year Name School
2018 Zain Retherford Penn State
2017 Zain Retherford Penn State
2016 Alex Dieringer Oklahoma State
2015 Logan Stieber Ohio State
2014 David Taylor Penn State
2013 Kyle Dake Cornell
2012 David Taylor Penn State
2011 Jordan Burroughs Nebraska
2010 Jayson Ness Minnesota
2009 Jake Herbert Northwestern
2008 Brent Metcalf Iowa
2007 Ben Askren Missouri
2006 Ben Askren Missouri
2005 Steve Mocco Oklahoma State
2004 Emmett Willson Mont. St.-Northern
2003 Eric Larkin Arizona State
2002 Cael Sanderson Iowa State
2001 * Cael Sanderson Iowa State
2001 * Nick Ackerman Simpson College
2000 Cael Sanderson Iowa State
1999 Stephen Neal Cal State Bakersfield
1998 Mark Ironside Iowa
1997 Kerry McCoy Penn State
1996 Les Gutches Oregon State
1995 T.J. Jaworsky North Carolina
* -- co-winners