Blue White Illustrated

October 2022

Penn State Sports Magazine

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O C T O B E R 2 0 2 2 47 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M T he official Penn State wrestling schedule for the 2022-23 season had not been announced as of Sept. 26. However, other schools, both inside and outside of the Big Ten Con- ference, have released their competition dates. That allows a piecemeal look at some of the opponents head coach Cael Sanderson's team will take on as it aims to defend last season's national title. Penn State will be at Lock Haven on Nov. 11. It also will wrestle at the Army Invitational on Nov. 20. Eight teams will be on hand, including Indiana and Bloomsburg. The season's second month sees Sanderson's squad go to Rider and Le- high on Dec. 2 and Dec. 4, respectively. Other matches should be scheduled. Conference matches begin in January. Penn State is at Wisconsin Jan. 6 and set to host Michigan and Michigan State on Jan. 20 and Jan. 22, respectively. Then, the biggest home bout of the year comes when Iowa travels to State College on Jan. 27. It's not yet clear if that match will be at the Bryce Jordan Center. Similarly, it's unclear whether the program will wrestle once or twice inside of the 15,261-seat venue this season. In an interview last February, Sanderson did not rule out the possibil- ity of having more meets at the BJC. "That's something that we look for- ward to every year," Sanderson said. "Each year it becomes and feels more like a home environment, and it's some- thing we should probably think about, as a program, having more matches over there." Penn State will spend at least one February date on the road. It is sched- uled to be at Indiana on Feb. 5. Rutgers will visit State College on Feb. 10, and the regular-season finale and Senior Day are expected to come when Penn State hosts Clarion on Feb. 26. The full schedule is expected to be released in October. PENN STATE ADDS ELITE RECRUIT TO 2024 CLASS Penn State locked up a pledge in late September from 2024 standout Zack Ry- der, a Westtown, N.Y., native who has excelled at the state, national and inter- national levels. Ryder is already a two-time state champion, having compiled a 45-1 re- cord while competing in the 160-pound class as a sophomore at Minisink Val- ley. He also won the U17 U.S Cadet free- style tournament at 80 kilograms (176 pounds) earlier this year in Las Vegas. That performance qualified him for worlds, where he finished third in July. "It's really incredible," Minisink Val- ley coach Kevin Gallagher told Record Online. "Out of the whole world, he's the third-best guy in his weight class. That's really incredible when you think about that." Entering his junior year, Ryder is ranked as the No. 7 pound-for-pound high school wrestler in the country by FloWrestling, and five of the grapplers ahead of him are seniors and the other is a freshman. He is rated as the No. 2 182-pounder nationally. Ryder projects as an upperweight at the next level, but because he's still growing, his weight class will be deter- mined later. "I am honored to be joining the legacy at Penn State and to be given the oppor- tunity to help carry on that legacy," Ryder told Onward State. "We're just getting started." WRESTLING PENN STATE'S 2022-23 SCHEDULE TAKES SHAPE G R E G P I C K E L | GREG.PICKEL@ON3.COM Penn State wrestles one match at the Bryce Jordan Center each season, but head coach Cael Sanderson has mulled whether to compete more frequently at the university's largest indoor sports venue. PSU has not yet released the date or opponent for this season's BJC dual meet. PHOTO BY MARK SELDERS/PENN STATE ATHLETICS

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