Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1516624
M A R C H 2 0 2 4 17 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M FIVE YEARS AGO, 2019 Penn State won everything there was to win during the 2018-19 wrestling season. The Nittany Lions went unde- feated during the dual meet campaign, posting a 14-0 record, then claimed first place at the Big Ten and NCAA tourna- ments in March. The Lions' triumphant showing at nationals in Pittsburgh included three individual championships. Jason Nolf (157 pounds) and Bo Nickal (197) won their third consecutive titles, while An- thony Cassar (285) won his first. Nickal was nothing short of dominant throughout the three-day tournament, posting 3 falls and a major decision in his first four bouts. It wasn't until he met Ohio State's second-seeded Kollin Moore in the final bout of the tourna- ment that the top-seeded Nittany Lion senior was seriously challenged. Moore hung tough deep into the third period before Nickal scored a late takedown to turn a 3-1 lead into a 5-1 victory. Penn State finished the tournament with 137.5 team points, 41 more than the second-place Buckeyes. The Nittany Lions racked up 28 bonus points on 9 pins, 7 major decisions and 2 technical falls. It was a dominant effort from start to finish. 10 YEARS AGO, 2014 Penn State never had a three-time national champion prior to Ed Ruth's arrival. Only three Nittany Lions — Andy Matter, Jeff Prescott and Quen- tin Wright — had ever won two NCAA crowns. But when the second-seeded Ruth took the mat against top-seeded Jimmy Sheptock of Maryland in the 184-pound final in Oklahoma City, it was for the chance to claim his third NCAA crown in as many years, having won at 174 pounds as a sophomore and at 184 as a junior in 2013. It was clear from the beginning that Ruth was going to get that historic title. He jumped out to a 4-1 lead in the first period and never let Sheptock back into the match, amassing a 3:26 riding time advantage. Penn State needed the team points that Ruth and fellow finalist David Taylor supplied. Taylor defeated Ty- ler Caldwell of Oklahoma State, 6-0, completing a 34-0 senior season that included 16 pins, 8 tech falls and 8 major decisions. Together, the two individual champs lifted PSU to the team title. The Nit- tany Lions had gone into the final round trailing Minnesota by 2.5 points, but both of the Gophers' finalists lost, al- lowing Penn State to claim its fourth consecutive NCAA championship. 25 YEARS AGO, 1999 Senior 174-pounder Glenn Pritzlaff was hoping to bring an NCAA cham- pionship trophy back to the Penn State wrestling room, and the one thing he knew going into his final matches as a Nittany Lion was that he wouldn't have to lug the hardware very far if he emerged victorious; the tournament was being held across campus that year, at the Bryce Jordan Center. He also knew — or at least strongly suspected — that he would have to over- come Michigan's Otto Olson to claim the title. When the two Big Ten stand- outs had met in a February dual meet, Olson won, 9-4. In the rematch, Pritzlaff scored just 25 seconds into the first period, taking a 2-0 lead on a double-leg takedown. He was still leading, 4-3, in the third period when he took down Olson for the third time, and he ended up pulling away for a 10-4 victory and the first national title of a career that had been stymied by injuries. "It's been a very long journey," he told reporters afterward. "I've had shoulder surgery. I blew out my knee at Big Tens my sophomore year. Last season, I had a very serious ankle injury. I was out eight weeks, and I had two ankle injuries this fall. So, it's been a real long road. Between injuries, setbacks and disap- pointments in my career, it's been a real long journey." Maybe so, but it ended exactly where Pritzlaff had hoped, atop the podium at the NCAA Tournament. — Matt Herb This Month In Penn State Athletics History Ed Ruth wrapped up his Penn State career in 2014 by repeating as national champion at 184 pounds. He became the first three-time NCAA champ in program history. PHOTO BY STEVE MANUEL