Penn State Wrestlers in First After Day One of 2015 Southern Scuffle
Team posts a superb 38-7 overall mark on New Year’s Day
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn.; January 1, 2015 – The Penn State Nittany Lion wrestling team, ranked No. 4 in the latest Intermat Tournament Power Index, finds itself in first place after day one of the 2015 Defense Soap and Flips Wrestling Southern Scuffle. The Nittany Lions have 17 wrestlers still in action at the annual event in Chattanooga, Tenn., including one scoring grappler at all ten weight classes.
Penn State, under the direction of head coach Cael Sanderson, has 52.0 points through one full day of action, four points ahead of second place Nebraska (48.0). Missouri is third at 47.5, Oklahoma State fourth at 47.0 and Michigan fifth with 32.0.
Junior Jordan Conaway (Abbottstown, Pa.), ranked No. 5 at 125 and the tournament’s third seed, went 2-1 at 125, suffering a contested 5-4 (TB) loss to Cleveland State’s Ben Willeford in the third round. Conaway was awarded a reversal with :06 left in his side of the tie-breaker to take a 6-5 lead over Willeford. But with :03 left, as Conaway worked to maintain the top position he thought he was awarded, the official waved the reversal off, did not award an escape and Conaway went from a 6-5 win to a 5-4 upset loss. Conaway will wrestle in the fourth round of consolations tomorrow morning.
Sophomore Jimmy Gulibon (Latrobe, Pa.), ranked No. 5 at 133 and the tournament’s top seed, blazed through two major decisions, including a 13-1 major over Nebraska’s Eric Montoya in the third round. Gulibon will wrestle in tomorrow morning’s quarterfinals. Red-shirt freshman Kade Moss (South Jordan, Utah), pinned Cornell’s Ryan Dunphy in the first period of his first match (1:47) at 141. After a tough loss in round two, Moss rebounded with two more wins to stay alive and move into the fourth round of consolation action. Moss’ third win in a 3-1 day was also a fall, a pin at the 1:50 mark over Duke’s Even Botwin. Junior Michael Waters (Advance, N.C.) is also alive at 141 and in the fourth round of consolation action tomorrow. Waters lost his opening round match-up and rebounded with two strong major decisions to go 2-1 on the day. Penn State’s two 141-pounders combined to go 5-2 with two pins and two majors.
Sophomore Zack Beitz (Mifflintown, Pa.), ranked No. 17 at 147 and the No. 8 seed, went 2-0 with a major to move into the quarterfinals. Junior Luke Frey (Montoursville, Pa.), the No. 10 seed at 149, got a first round pin, a decision and a strong 9-3 win over 8th-seed seed Justin Arthur of Nebraska to go 3-0 and move into the quarters as well.
Senior Dylan Alton (Mill Hall, Pa.), ranked No. 8 at 157 and the fifth seed at the tournament, made his season debut at the Scuffle. Alton with two victories, including a 3-1 (sv) win over Michigan’s Jake Salazar to move into the quarters. Red-shirt freshman Cody Law (Windber, Pa.) went 2-1 at 157 with a key major in consolation action. Law is also alive in tomorrow’s fourth round of consolations. True freshman Jason Nolf (Yatesboro, Pa.), wrestling unattached, notched one of the tournament’s biggest wins, knocking off No. 4 Brian Realbuto of Cornell 7-4 to move into the quarterfinals at 157. Nolf went 2-0 in his first Southern Scuffle.
Red-shirt freshman Garett Hammond (Chambersburg, Pa.) picked up a first round pin and a second win at 165 before falling to top-ranked Alex Dieringer of Oklahoma State. Hammond’s 2-1 mark has him in consolation round four tomorrow. Senior Matt Brown (West Valley City, Utah), ranked No. 4 at 174 and the tourney’s second-seed, picked up his 26th career pin in the opening round (now tied for 15th all-time at Penn State) and then added a tech fall and a major to ‘bonus’ his way into the quarterfinals with a 3-0 record. True freshman Bo Nickal (Allen, Texas), wrestling unattached and the 11th-seed at 174, went 2-1 with a major. A tough 4-3 (tb2/rt) decision on one second of riding time to fifth-year senior Andy McCulley of Wyoming in the third round has Nickal wrestling in conso action tomorrow.
Red-shirt freshman Matt McCutcheon (Apollo, Pa.), the sixth-seed at 184, went 2-0, including a pin over 11th-seed James Suvak of Virginia in the third round to move into the quarterfinals tomorrow. Junior Morgan McIntosh (Santa Ana, Calif.), ranked No. 4 at 197 and the fourth-seed, went 2-0 on the day, including a first period pin (2:59) of Nebraska’s Derek White to move into the quarterfinals.
Senior Jon Gingrich (Wingate, Pa.), the sixth-seed, was superb on day one. Gingrich picked up a first round pin and two majors to move into the quarterfinals. He majored No. 16 Tanner Harms of Wyoming 13-3 in the third round. Senior Nick Ruggear (Oxford, Pa.) made his season debut at heavyweight and was solid with a 2-1 day and wrestles in the fourth round of consolations tomorrow morning. True freshman Nick Nevills (Clovis, Calif.), wrestling unattached at 285, went 2-0 in his Scuffle debut. He picked up a thrilling 7-6 win over Appalachian State’s Denzel DeJournette, the fourth seed, in the second round to move into tomorrow’s quarters. Senior Jimmy Lawson (Toms River, N.J.), ranked No. 6 at 285 and the second-seed at the tournament, pulled out of the tournament prior to his first match with a medical forfeit, which does not count towards his overall record.
Penn State went 38-7 overall on day one and notched 20 bonus point wins (10 majors, two tech falls and eight pins). The Lions were 8-1 in the first round plus nine byes. They followed that up with a 14-2 mark in the second round and 10-4 in the third. Penn State was a combined 6-0 in consolation action with 17 Lions still wrestling tomorrow (only Lawson is out with his medical forfeit).
The final day of the 2015 Southern Scuffle is set for tomorrow, Jan. 2, at UT-Chattanooga. The Nittany Lions are 5-0 on the year, 1-0 in Big Ten dual action. Penn State’s next home dual is set for Friday, Jan. 9, when Indiana visits Rec Hall for a 7 p.m. match-up. A limited number of SRO tickets are available for select Penn State Rec Hall dual meets, although the SROs for the Lehigh dual are sold out. For ticket inquiries, call 1-800-NITTANY. Penn State Fans are encouraged to follow Penn State wrestling via twitter at www.twitter.com/pennstateWREST and on Penn State Wrestling’s Facebook page at www.facebook.com/pennstatewrestling. The 2014-15 Penn State Wrestling season is presented by The Family Clothesline.
2015 SOUTHERN SCUFFLE – TEAM STANDINGS – TOP FIVE DAY ONE
Thursday, Jan. 1, 2015 – Chattanooga, Tenn.
1: PENN STATE – 52.0
2: Nebraska – 48.0
3: Missouri – 47.5
4: Oklahoma State – 47.0
5: Michigan – 32.0
Attendance: 2,805
Penn State’s weight-by-weight summary:
* - Note that an (*) by a Penn State name indicates a PSU wrestler who is competing as a red-shirt.
#5 Jordan Conaway (3rd seed)
Rd. 1: Ibrahim Banduka, George Mason – W, 16-1 (TF; 4:56)
Rd. 2: Sean Russell, Edinboro – W, 9-1 maj. dec.
Rd. 3: Ben Willeford, Cleveland State – L, 4-5 (TB) dec.
Cn. Rd. 4: Tomorrow
2-1 overall
Penn State’s 133 agate:
#5 Jimmy Gulibon (1st seed)
Rd. 1: bye
Rd. 2: Drew Templeman, Wyoming -- W, 12-4 maj. dec.
Rd. 3: Eric Montoya, Nebraska – W, 13-1 maj. dec.
Qtrs: Tomorrow
2-0 overall
Penn State’s 141 agate:
Kade Moss
Rd. 1: Ryan Dunphy, Cornell – WBF (1:43)
Rd. 2: Mike Longo, Appalachian State – L, 0-2 dec.
Cn. 2: Logan David, Cornell – W, 6-2 dec.
Cn. 3: Evan Botwin, Duke – WBF (1:50)
Cn. 4: Tomorrow
3-1 overall
Michael Waters
Rd. 1: Randy Cruz, Lehigh – L, 2-13 maj. dec.
Cn. 2: Zach Isenhour, George Mason – W, 14-1 maj. dec.
Cn. 3: Franco, Ferraina, Drexel – W, 11-1 maj. dec.
Cn. 4: Tomorrow
2-1 overall
Penn State’s 149 agate:
#17 Zack Beitz (8th seed)
Rd. 1: bye
Rd. 2: Nick Adams, Northern Colorado – W, 12-3 maj. dec.
Rd. 3: Beau Donahue, North Carolina St. – W, 7-1 dec.
Qtrs: Tomorrow
2-0 overall
Luke Frey (10th seed)
Rd. 1: Cole Graves, The Citadel – WBF (3:55)
Rd. 2: Jake Elliott, Wyoming – W, 6-5 dec.
Rd. 3: Justin Arthur, Nebraska – W, 9-3 dec.
Qtrs: Tomorrow
3-0 overall
Penn State’s 157 agate:
#8 Dylan Alton (5th seed)
Rd. 1: bye
Rd. 2: Rodney Shepard, North Carolina State – W, 4-0 dec.
Rd. 3: Jake Salazar, Michigan – W, 3-1 (SV)
Qtrs: Tomorrow
2-0 overall
Cody Law
Rd. 1: bye
Rd. 2: Craig Eifert, Cornell – L, 4-7 dec.
Cn. 2: Wally Maziarz, Buffalo – W, 2-0 dec.
Cn. 3: Daniel Luty, Campbell – W, 10-2 maj. dec.
Cn. 4: Tomorrow
2-1 overall
*Jason Nolf
Rd. 1: bye
Rd. 2: Greg Flournoy, George Mason – W, 9-4 dec.
Rd. 3: #4 Brian Realbuto, Cornell – W, 7-4 dec.
Qtrs: Tomorrow
3-0 overall
Penn State’s 165 agate:
Garett Hammond
Rd. 1: Richard Hicks, The Citadel – WBF (2:39)
Rd. 2: Jesse Shanaman, Cornell – W, 4-3 dec.
Rd. 3: #1 Alex Dieringer, Oklahoma State – L, 4-14 maj. dec.
Cn. 4: Tomorrow
2-1 overall
Penn State’s 174 agate:
#4 Matt Brown (2nd seed)
Rd. 1: Jack Wedholm, Army – WBF (2:33)
Rd. 2: Dylan Morris, Stanford – W, 18-3 (TF; 6:30)
Rd. 3: Jadaen Bernstein, Navy – W, 16-5 maj. dec.
Qtrs: Tomorrow
3-0 overall
*Bo Nickal (11th seed)
Rd. 1: Jordan Ellingwood, Central Michigan – W, 13-2 maj. dec.
Rd. 2: Ken Radford, The Citadel – W, 10-4 dec.
Rd. 3: Andy McCulley, Wyoming – L, 3-4 (TB2, RT)
Cn. 4: Tomorrow
2-1 overall
Penn State’s 184 agate:
Matt McCutcheon (6th seed)
Rd. 1: bye
Rd. 2: Nicky Hall, North Carolina State – W, 10-4 dec.
Rd. 3: James Suvak, Virginia – WBF (2:21)
Qtrs: Tomorrow
2-0 overall
Penn State’s 197 agate:
#4 Morgan McIntosh (4th seed)
Rd. 1: bye
Rd. 2: Owen Scott, Cornell – W, 5-0 dec.
Rd. 3: Derek White, Nebraska – WBF (2:59)
Qtrs: Tomorrow
2-0 overall
Penn State’s 285 agate:
#6 Jimmy Lawson (2nd seed)
Rd. 1: bye
Rd. 2: L, medical forfeit
0-0 overall
Jon Gingrich (6th seed)
Rd. 1: Kacee Hutchinson, Appalachian State – WBF (4:28)
Rd. 2: George Famutimi, Cornell – W, 12-1 maj. dec.
Rd. 3: #16 Tanner Harms, Wyoming – W, 13-3 maj. dec.
Qtrs: Tomorrow
3-0 overall
Nick Ruggear
Rd. 1: Jacob Aiken-Phillips, Cornell – W, 8-2 dec.
Rd. 2: Nathan Butler, Stanford – W, 3-2 dec.
Rd. 3: #14 Collin Jensen, Nebraska – L, 3-9 dec.
Cn. 4: Tomorrow
2-1 overall
*Nick Nevills
Rd. 1: bye
Rd. 2: Jacob Kettler, George Mason – W, 6-0 dec.
Rd. 3: Denzel DeJournette, Appalachian State – W, 7-6 dec.
Qtrs: Tomorrow
2-0 overall
Patrick Donghia
Assistant Director of Athletics Communication
Penn State University
Ph: 814 863 3164 – Cel: 814 777 8105 -- email: pad11@psu.edu