Blue White Illustrated

GOLD STANDARD I t was Vincenzo Joseph and Mark Hall who replaced Jason Nolf and Bo Nickal as the Penn State wrestling program's dynamic duo, just as Nolf and Nickal had previously re- placed David Taylor and Ed Ruth, with all of those competitors combining to keep alive one of the most important trends of the Cael Sanderson coaching era. That unforgiving element known as gradua- tion once again will trump this latest pair of Penn State aces, but not before Joseph and Hall attempt to become four-time finalists and win their third and second NCAA gold medals, re- spectively, at the NCAA championships March 19-21 in Minneapolis. They earned that right March 7-8 at the Big Ten tournament at Rutgers, as Joseph placed second at 165 pounds, while Hall claimed the title at 174. Joseph's 3-2 loss to Iowa's Alex Marinelli in the final was his first defeat of the season, but shortly afterward Hall gave the Lions their first individual title of this year's conference meet, building a 7-2 lead against another Hawkeye, Michael Kemerer, and hold- ing on for an 8-5 victory. Those two wrestlers have manned their weight classes in the Nittany Lion lineup for four consecutive seasons. They both crave an- other gold medal to add to their collection, but they also have the composure and maturity to deal with whatever happens in Minneapolis. Joseph once said he never tried to prove him- self to anyone. "If I'm trying to prove myself, it's trying to prove myself to myself, really," he said in typical wry Joseph fashion. "I rarely go into a match like, 'I'm going to win this match, I'm going to win this match.' "I consider all the outcomes before I wrestle, and it helps me stay calm and relaxed knowing that whether you win or lose, everything is the same after. It's just a sport." Hall, always a deep thinker and straight shooter, had similar sentiments after losing in the 2018 NCAA finals to Zahid Valencia – the "just a sport" mantra. But he, too, has an inter- nal drive that's almost always in overdrive. "Setting new standards is just like expecting a lot of myself, expecting more of myself than what maybe someone else will expect out of me," Hall said. "I just think, if I mess up in any way or if I don't really accomplish the things that I want, no one will be more disappointed than I will. "At the same time, that's just the way life goes and you're not always going to accomplish every single thing you set out to do. And I think just having that standard in my life, just push- ing myself and doing everything that I can to accomplish that... if I do or I don't, I just want to put myself in the best position to do that." Hall and Joseph have helped position Penn State to experience all kinds of success during the past four seasons. Until this season, neither wrestler had been part of losing a dual meet. | T O U R N A M E N T P R E V I E W CROWD PLEASER Joseph will be attempting to win his third na- tional champi- onship after capturing the title in his first two seasons. He was the runner- up at 165 pounds last season. Photo by Steve Manuel Nittany Lion seniors Vincenzo Joseph and Mark Hall get set to conclude their title-winning careers by vying for even more NCAA championship hardware

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