Blue White Illustrated

I f there's one thing that stands out about the Big Ten wrestling tournament, it's that a team knows exactly where it stands when it's over. And Penn State stands 9rst as it now sits and waits for the big event – the sea- son-ending NCAA championships, at which it will try to win its eighth title in nine seasons. The Big Ten tourney is a grueling two- day event that can be both unforgiving and reward- ing. It lets a team know its strengths and exposes its weaknesses, and usually before a lot of people. Penn State reaped the awards this season and showed o: its strengths as well, outscoring Ohio State 157.5-122.5 March 9-10 at Williams Arena in Minneapolis. It was the Lions' 9rst conference crown since 2016, even though they have won three consecutive NCAA titles in that span. Penn State took a 23-point lead into the 9nals and ex- tended that by a 10-spot. The Lions will send nine wrestlers to the NCAAs in Pittsburgh, and four of them will go as conference champions. Jason Nolf at 157, Mark Hall at 174, Bo Nickal at 197 and Anthony Cassar at 285 captured gold, Nolf shared conference Wrestler of the Year honors with Nickal, Nolf shared the tournament's Outstand- ing Wrestler award with Iowa's Alex Marinelli, and Cael Sanderson won Coach of the Year honors for the 9;h time in his 10 seasons at Penn State. That's quite a ride, and 11,778 people wit- nessed it on day two. "It feels good," Cassar said of the team title. "Last year we lost it, and even though it's not the nationals, we never like to lose. I'm happy that my team can get this win." That wasn't the only thing Cassar felt good about. His victory over Minnesota's previously unbeaten freshman Gable Steveson in the 9nal was one of the high- lights of the tournament. Neither Cassar (25-1) nor Steveson (33- 1) took a shot in the opening three minutes, and each let the other escape when they were in the top position. Steveson struck 9rst with a slick duck-under and go-be- hind, then li;ed Cassar high and brought him to the mat with quite an impact. He made that look easy, but Cassar countered with an escape and converted a two-pointer of his own by getting in on a low single-leg and quickly forcing Steveson to his butt and gaining control. With 19 seconds le;, Steveson trailed 4- 3 and needed to escape to send it to over- time. He didn't get it. Said Cassar, "I knew he wasn't getting out." "We're both big, powerful guys and elite wrestlers and we're not the usual heavy- weights," Cassar added, "so I had to wrestle a smart match. There's a lot going on out on the mat, more than you guys can see. There are positions where you don't see a shot, but I felt one coming and he felt one coming. There's a lot more going on in there that you don't see, so I was active the whole time." So was Nolf, who scored a 12-4 major decision over Nebraska's Tyler Berger with 9ve takedowns in a dominating per- formance. Hall survived yet another one-point bout with Myles Amine of Michigan, winning this one 3-2. He upped his sea- son record to 26-0 with a 9rst-period takedown that stood. Hall was wrestling in front of family and friends, having graduated from Apple Valley High School in Minnesota. The team worked out there on the day before the tournament started. Nickal also was dominant in the 9nals, thumping Ohio State's Kollin Moore, 10-3, with four takedowns, one of which was a sweet counter o: of a great shot by Moore. Nickal had pinned Moore in a February dual meet. "Our last match was one scenario and then it ended, so this match was the 9rst time I really got to get a feel for him," Nickal said. "I knew he had good leg attacks, but I think that he was probably a little more wary and a little more aware of his position. He wrestled a good match, so hopefully I'll get to wrestle him again soon." Penn State won four of six matches in the 9nals. Vincenzo Joseph dropped a 9- 3 decision to Iowa's Marinelli at 165, and Shakur Rasheed medically forfeited to Ohio State's Myles Martin at 184. Joseph was unable to counter a Marinelli bearhug muscle-move and ended up on his back. He trailed 6-1 in the second period, and while he was able to take down Marinelli in the third, Marinelli escaped and sealed his win with another takedown. "The match was won by my attacks, not [Joseph's]," Marinelli said. "I don't care what he has, I care what I have. That was the game plan." Sanderson called Marinelli a great wrestler. "He just got the job done. We can learn and move forward and get ready for Pittsburgh. I think Marinelli went out to win the match. He scored the points and did a nice job," Sanderson said. Rasheed's forfeit at 184 was a big sur- prise, especially to Ohio State coach Tom Ryan. "No one knows why," Ryan said. "We found out before the match. I don't want to speculate. "I would probably say the fewer times they wrestle Myles, maybe they can catch him in something. I don't know. We were surprised. We didn't know until the match. … Maybe something happened." Sanderson called the decision precau- tionary, based on the suggestion of the medical sta: to not take a risk. Nick Lee placed third at 141, Roman Bravo-Young was 9;h at 133 and Brady Berge was sixth at 149. Berge also med- ically forfeited down to sixth place. Sanderson said that decision, too, was precautionary. ■ Nittany Lions romp to Big Ten championship | SANDERSON

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