UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.; April 29, 2019 – Five members of the Penn State Nittany Lion wrestling team, under the guidance of head coach Cael Sanderson, have been named to the National Wrestling Coaches Association (NWCA) First Team All-Academic Team. All five grapplers recently earned All-America honors during Penn State's 2019 team title run, including three who became 2019 National Champions.
Seniors Anthony Cassar (Rocky Hill, N.J.), Bo Nickal (Allen, Texas) and Jason Nolf (Yatesboro, Pa.) were joined by sophomore Nick Lee (Evansville, Ind.) and true freshman Roman Bravo-Young (Tucson, Ariz.) as first team All-Americans who excelled in the classroom as well to become first team NWCA All-Academic honorees.
Cassar is a psychology major who stormed the nation at 285 this year, rolling to a 30-1 overall record and the NCAA title in Pittsburgh. Cassar also won the Big Ten title as well. Nickal, a kinesiology major, won his third straight NCAA championship, claiming the 197-pound title in Pittsburgh. Nickal went 30-0 this year and was recently named the Hodge Trophy winner. Nolf, a kinesiology major, won his third straight NCAA title at 157. Nolf went 31-0 this season and was named Penn State's McCoy Award winner.
Lee, a health and administration major, went 31-4 this season and earned his second straight All-America tag with a fifth-place finish at 141. Bravo-Young become a true freshman All-American with an eighth-place finish at 133 in Pittsburgh and went 25-7 this year. Cassar, Nickal, Nolf and Lee were all first team Academic All-Big Ten selections. Bravo-Young was not eligible for a conference award as a first-year wrestler due to conference guidelines.
As a team, Penn State finished the year with a 3.2249 grade point average, 21st in the nation and third among all Big Ten teams (trailing only Northwestern and Purdue). The Nittany Lions were the only team to that finished in the top 10 at the NCAA Championship (winning the title) to place in the top 21 academically. Only two other top ten finishers from Pittsburgh finished in the top 25 overall (Cornell was 22nd and Nebraska was 23rd).
Penn State has now won eight team national titles in the last nine years and nine overall. The Nittany Lions nine total titles is tied is third all-time. The crown is Sanderson's eighth as a head coach in his ten years as Penn State's mentor.
The Nittany Lions concluded the 2019 dual season with a 14-0 record and won a share of the Big Ten Regular Season (dual meet) title with a 9-0 conference mark. Penn State has now won 59 straight dual meets dating back to the end of the 2014-15 season. The Nittany Lions won the 2019 Big Ten Championship on March 9-10 in Minneapolis, crowning four champions to run away from the rest of the field, winning by 30.0 points.
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.
