Blue White Illustrated

I t's highly likely that by the end of the day on Jan. 27, Penn State will have increased its wrestling winning streak to 54 over the course of three seasons. It's the first eight days of February that will pique wrestling fans' interest nation- wide and beg the ques- tion of just who can slow down this ever-growing dynasty. Michigan (Feb. 1) at Bryce Jordan Center and Ohio State (Feb. 8) at Columbus are the only two teams that can legitimately challenge the Nittany Lions this season in sched- uled dual meets. Assuming good health for all three teams – a hefty assumption during a five- month season – both the Wolverines and Buckeyes have the potential to split the 10 bouts against Penn State. That would mean the team with the most bonus points, or the one that wins a couple of key toss-up bouts, would emerge victori- ous, and Penn State has a wealth of wrestlers who register victories by major decision (four team points), technical fall (five team points) and fall (six team points). This season alone, heading into the Jan. 18 match against Nebraska, Penn State had outscored its six opponents by a 234-30 margin. And of the 52 individ- ual victories in those six duals, 41 pro- duced bonus points for the Nittany Lions. That's what sets the Lions apart in tournaments. The strength of their lineup – four wrestlers have won at least one NCAA title and two others who are defending All-Americans – has fueled scoring onslaughts in this season's Key- stone Open (192 points) and Southern Scuffle (a tournament-record 216.5 points). The team is built around effort and im- provement. Head coach Cael Sanderson said after the Southern Scuffle that while he didn't expect perfection right after Christmas break, he did expect – and ul- timately saw – effort. "I don't think we wrestled fantastic, but if we're wrestling at our best after Christ- mas in early January… we wouldn't want that; we want to be at our best in March," Sanderson said. The team is also built on responding to individual challenges in pressure situa- tions. Sanderson is pleased with the par- ity in the Big Ten Conference and even more pleased that parity is spreading – albeit slowly – nationwide. "Our job is to do the best that we can, and we want to win all the time, but it's definitely better for the sport to have more teams in the hunt, no doubt about it," Sanderson said. Whether teams such as Michigan and Ohio State can complete their quest to continually improve and eventually knock off No. 1 remains to be seen. Bo Nickal, the Lions' two-time NCAA champion who had 51 career falls and had won 52 consecutive matches as of Jan. 13, warns that Penn State is getting better, too – and on a daily basis. "The exciting part about our team is that we have guys who are as good as they are and every single guy has things they can work on to get better at," he said. "I don't really see a limit to that and I think that's more of an attitude and a mindset. If you want to get better and you focus on improving every day, then that's what you're going to do." And that just might discreetly answer that nagging question about who can stop this particular Penn State team. ■ Bonus points could be dierence vs. Big Ten foes SANDERSON | Top-ranked Penn State won the Southern Scuffle Jan. 1-2 in Chat- tanooga, Tenn., scoring a tourna- ment-record 216.5 points to outdistance second-place Oklahoma State. The championship was the Nit- tany Lions' eighth in a row at the event. The Lions crowned six individual champions en route to the team title, and 12 of their 18 entrants placed. The title-winning wrestlers were Nick Lee (141 pounds), Jason Nolf (157), Vin- cenzo Joseph (165), Mark Hall (174), Shakur Rasheed (184) and Bo Nickal (197). Nickal won the tournament's Out- standing Wrestler award after pinning all five of his opponents, including Stanford's Nathan Traxler in the fi- nals. It was his third consecutive Southern Scuffle title. Coach Cael Sanderson was pleased to see his team crown six individual champions, and the Lions' point total easily eclipsed the previous record of 198.0, which had been held by Okla- homa State. "Coming off of Christmas break, we wouldn't expect them to be at their best. But we do expect them to give great effort, and I think they did," Sanderson said. "I think they gave a great effort. I was happy and proud of the way they finished the tournament." Following the Scuffle, Penn State opened its Big Ten season in early Jan- uary with dual meet victories over Northwestern (33-8) and Wisconsin (24-13). ■ Nittany Lions romp at Southern Scue

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