Blue White Illustrated

work. Now that I can put myself on that great list of names coming out of this program, I just think the things that hap- pen behind the curtain, those can go un- seen, but being a part of the program and seeing how hard these guys work, it does- n't surprise me that we're winning na- tional titles the way that we are. "These guys are really tough. Just in the practice room, for the last five or six weeks we've just been beating up each other. Whoever steps out in front of us, we're just ready to compete regardless." About 38 months later, the words are somewhat different but the message is the same when it comes to who – or what – pushes Hall to excellence. "Kind of all of us," he said. "There are so many amazing guys in here. Some guys pushed me through their words. Some guys pushed me when I watched them. They don't have to say anything to me. So, you know, we just have a lot of exam- ples of greatness in here. "And I think that's what makes every- one just want to be so good when they wrestle. We have so many people in the room who are constantly looking for that next step in their wrestling career. So, whether it's by words or whether it's by example, or any other way, there are a lot of people in here who are pushing me. And it doesn't really come down to names." But Hall has made sure that Penn State fans will remember his. ■ Lions open Big Ten slate with two victories Even without several of its best wrestlers competing, Penn State got its Big Ten season o? to a 2-0 start. Opening their league cam- paign at Rec Hall, the Nittany Lions defeated Illinois, 22-16, on Jan. 10 and Northwestern, 30-9, two days later. Ranked third in the NWCA poll, the Lions had to rally against the Illini in the >rst of those duals. Penn State was without Roman Bravo- Young at 133 pounds, Brady Berge at 157, Vincenzo Joseph at 165, Kyle Conel at 197 and Anthony Cassar at heavyweight. Conel and Cassar are out for the season with injuries. Penn State fell behind, 9-0, a@er Illinois' seventh-ranked Travis Pi- otrowski pinned Bravo-Young's backup, Austin Clabaugh, at 133. The Lions were still trailing by nine a@er the Illini's 15th-ranked 165- pounder, Danny Braunagel, scored a 12-3 major decision over Konner Kraeszig. The rally began when eighth-ranked Joey Gunther was disquali>ed for stalling while trail- ing top-ranked Mark Hall, 17-6, late in the third period. Hall's DQ win trimmed the Illini's lead to 16-13. At 184, freshman Aaron Brooks earned a 9-4 decision over Zach Braunagel, and that win was fol- lowed by a 3-0 decision by Shakur Rasheed over Matt Wroblewski at 197. True freshman Seth Nevills, making his dual meet debut in place of Cassar, clinched the comeback victory with a 6-3 deci- sion over Luke Lu?man. With Bravo-Young and Joseph back in the lineup, Penn State romped past 13th-ranked North- western on Jan. 12. Bravo-Young opened the dual meet with a 23-8 technical fall over Dylan Utter- back, while Joseph pinned Shayne Oster in 56 seconds. ■ over Cornell's Yianni Diakomihalis. Nittany Lion Wrestling Club heavy- weights Nick Nevills and Daniel Kerkvliet both qualified at 125kg. Kerkvliet is a Penn State recruit and is slated to assume his spot in the Lions' roster next fall. Freshman Aaron Brooks (86kg) failed to qualify despite victories over Cornell's Max Dean and Iowa's Sammy Brooks. HEALTHY AND HAPPY? Well, one of two ain't bad. Two-time NCAA cham- pion Vincenzo Joseph will tell you flat out that staying healthy for the dura- tion of a five-month season is next to impossible. "Being 100 percent healthy in wrestling season is extremely rare," Joseph said. "I don't really think any- one you know is really 100 percent healthy. But [I'm] as close to it as pos- sible, I'd say. I'm feeling great and just ready to go wrestle. We've got a few matches left in Rec. Make it count." BIG-TIME BIG TEN Penn State will wrestle 10 duals during a 45-day span from Jan. 10 to Feb. 23, and nine of those duals are Big Ten showdowns. Of the marquee matches remaining, only Ohio State is home (Bryce Jordan Cen- ter, Feb. 15). The grind features three trips to the Midwest in four weekends to face Nebraska (Jan. 24), Iowa (Jan. 31), Wisconsin (Feb. 7) and Minnesota (Feb. 9). "I think we just enjoy our Big Ten schedule because it's tough, it's chal- lenging," Joseph said. "We have a lot of good teams that we get to wrestle in the Big Ten and we love challenges. We love competing. … If we wrestle better, or anything like that, it's probably just because we liked the challenge." ■ ANTHONY CASSAR Steve Manuel

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