Blue White Illustrated

Pittsburgh���s Matt Wilps and Wyoming���s Alfonso Hernandez could also factor into the title equation. FAVORITE Quentin Wright, Penn State DARK HORSE Brandon Palik, Drexel 285 After battling for the starting spot throughout the season, Jimmy Lawson will represent the Penn State heavyweights in Des Moines. He played college football the past two years, so it took a few months to Penn State wins Big Ten tournament For the third season in a row, Penn State is the Big Ten tournament champion. Led by individual champs at 165, 174, 184 and 197 pounds, the Nittany Lions racked up a programrecord 151 team points during the two-day tournament at Assembly Hall in Champaign, Ill. Penn State found itself in second place after the first session of the tournament but rebounded to reclaim the top spot after the semifinal round. The Nittany Lions didn���t let up during the second day of the tournament, as they outscored second-place Minnesota by 12 points and thirdplace Iowa by 17.5 in the final standings. ���They showed a slot of resilience, just battling,��� head coach Cael Sanderson said on the Big Ten Network after the tournament. ���These two days will really give you a good idea of how tough you are. The lead kept changing, and our guys kept battling.��� All 10 of the Nittany Lion participants placed in the top eight, and they all qualified for the 2013 NCAA tournament in Des Moines, Iowa. David Taylor (165), Matt Brown (174), Ed Ruth (184) and shake off the rust and return to wrestling form. But Cael Sanderson said he saw Lawson make vast improvements late in the season, so expect him to turn some heads. Minnesota���s Tony Nelson is the defending national champion. His only loss of the season was to Missouri���s Dom Bradley, who is ranked No. 3. But Nelson proved last year that he���s a gamer and he���ll be tough to beat once the tournament gets rolling. Quentin Wright (197) were the four individual champions crowned for Penn State. Nico Megaludis (125) finished third, Jordan Conaway (133) finished fifth, Bryan Pearsall (141) finished fifth, Andrew Alton (149) finished fourth, Dylan Alton (157) finished sixth and Jimmy Lawson (285) finished eighth. Ruth was named Big Ten Wrestler of the Year, and Sanderson split Coach of the Year honors with Minnesota coach J Robinson. Lions to participate in ���14 National Duals Penn State has agreed to wrestle in the NWCA/Cliff Keen National Duals Championship in 2014 essentially under one condition: The NCAA-recognized team championship must remain the same. Members of the National Wrestling Coaches Association have made an effort during the past few years to change the official NCAA team championship so that it recognizes the winner of the National Duals. Currently, the NCAA title goes to the team that earns the most team points in individual weight-by-weight perform- Iowa���s Bobby Telford could make a splash, too, especially in front of the home crowd. If the Hawkeyes are going to make a run for the team title, they will need a few big wins from their heavyweight. FAVORITE Tony Nelson, Minnesota DARK HORSE Mike McMullan, Northwestern *Rankings from IntermatWrestle.com as of March 5. ances during the March tournament. Penn State coach Cael Sanderson has opposed changing the championship ever since the proposal was brought to the table last summer. As part of the deal, Sanderson agreed to compete in the 2014 duals ��� although a site and date have yet to be announced ��� with the understanding that the NCAA-recognized title will continue to go to the team winner of the individual tournament. ���Part of the meetings that we had [in September] was to take it off the table and quit fighting to change the [NCAA team] championship to the National Duals,��� Sanderson explained. ���We���ll participate [in 2014] just to keep our national championship the same.��� Sanderson said he doesn���t agree with the timing of the National Duals. This year���s tournament concluded on Feb. 23, with Minnesota defeating Oklahoma State, 28-9, for the championship. Sanderson said he doesn���t like the idea of putting his wrestlers through the most difficult portion of the schedule less than one month before the actual NCAA tournament. ���It just doesn���t make sense to me,��� he said. ���Reluctantly, I agreed to it.��� ��� TIM OWEN

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