Blue White Illustrated

ment. Nolf has maintained his 157-pound status for four seasons, while Nickal has moved from 174 pounds to 184 to this sea- son's 197-pound perch. Both of those senior stars are expected to be No. 1 seeds at the NCAA championships March 21-23 at Pittsburgh, and both will be vying for their third consecutive titles after finish- ing as runners-up in 2016. Nickal, while trailing Nolf in the Penn State career falls race by just three – 59- 56 – is a big-move, flashier kind of pinner than Nolf. His move from his own back in the 2018 NCAA final against Ohio State's Myles Martin – a match in which he flipped Martin to his back and pinned him in the first period – will forever be part of Penn State wrestling's legendary lore. And thinking of Penn State wrestling over the many decades, there have been a lot of legends, and there's no shortage of lore. Nickal, who was Taylor's training partner when the former Nittany Lion great won a world champi- onship in October 2018 in Budapest, won't come close to the record for most career victories, nor will Nolf, because teams wrestle fewer matches today than they once did. And for that reason, their overall team bonus-point totals will fall well short of Taylor's (648) and Ruth's (633). But their numbers are still fabulous. Nickal is 115-3 entering the NCAA tour- nament. He has 56 falls and 12 technical falls and 22 major decisions for a total of 477 bonus points for the team in four sea- sons. His three losses came by a total of five points, and his 11-9 loss to Ohio State's Martin in the 2016 final came be- cause he backfired on two big moves that resulted in him ending up on his back and yielding nearfall points. Nolf, while wrestling three fewer matches, has better numbers. He is 112-3 with 59 falls and 25 techs and 15 majors, good for 532 team points. He lost two one-point matches to Illinois' Isaiah Martinez, put together a 46-bout win- ning streak, lost by default (knee) to Rut- gers' John Van Brill in January 2018 and won his next 30 in a row after that. NCAA WRESTLING TOURNAMENT AT A GLANCE WHERE PPG Paints Arena (capacity 19,758) // Pittsburgh, Pa. WHEN March 21-23 // Day 1 Sessions 1 (first round, noon) and 2 (championship consolations, 7 p.m.) Day 2 Sessions 3 (championship quarterfinals and consolations, 11 a.m.) and 4 (champi- onship semifinals, 8 p.m.) Day 3 Sessions 5 (championship medal round, 11 a.m.) and 6 (champi- onship finals, 7 p.m.) TV ESPNU will air Sessions 1, 3 and 5; ESPN will air sessions 2, 4 and 6 COMING OUT ON TOP Nolf has been dominant throughout his career, amass- ing a 112-3 record, includ- ing 59 falls. Photo by Steve Manuel

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