|
wrestle," Taylor recalled. "We needed him
to wrestle as a true freshman when he
probably should have been a 184-pounder.
But he stepped in a did a great job."
A>er a redshirt season last year, he's
;nding more success. By April, McIntosh
had bulked up to over 210 pounds, hitting
Penn State's weight room o>en. During
the season, though, McIntosh said he's
walking around down near 206 pounds
and feels more comfortable than ever
competing at 197. "It feels really good,"
he said. "I de;nitely feel bigger."
Again, Taylor can vouch.
"He's had a year to get in the room and a
year to mature," he said. "This year, he's a
beast. He can throw the world at you –
cradles, headlocks, arm throws, throwing
dudes on their heads. He's very talented
from every position. Morgan is very capable
of being a national champion. When he's
out wrestling at his best, he's hard to beat."
McIntosh's signature win of the season
came Feb. 9 when he defeated top-ranked
Scott Schiller, 8-4. But Iowa State's Kyven
Gadson, Oklahoma's Travis Rutt, Blooms-
burg's Richard Perry and Cox were all
ranked ahead of McIntosh prior to that
victory, and they stand in his path to a
title shot. But, focusing inward on his
own ability, McIntosh is comfortable with
his current rate of progress and is con;dent
that he'll reach his goals.
"I feel like I'm in a good spot," he said.
"I've been waiting the whole past year
for this and I'm just having a blast."
An outdoorsy type of guy from the West
Coast, McIntosh came to Penn State partly
because of its picturesque location on the
edge of the Appalachians. A hiker and
;sherman, McIntosh will show up to post-
match interviews wearing a en
treated as carefully guarded secrets, he's
always willing to o=er insight into his
physical condition – a tendency that re-
porters tend to appreciate more than
coaches. He's an agriculture major, a three-
time California state champion and a 2011
Dave Schultz Award winner.
And when he's competing on the mat,
he is a bear.
■
Megaludis defeats rival,
but the celebration can wait
Nico Megaludis stared off into space.
Drummed his fingers on the dais.
Paused before he answered each ques-
tion, beginning many of his responses
with a sigh.
In short, he did not look like an ath-
lete who had just beaten one of his
biggest rivals.
But he had. In a match he said he'd
been anticipating for 10 months, the
125-pounder had earned a 5-4 victory
over Jesse Delgado of Ilinois, who had
been responsible for two of Megaludis'
four losses last season. And those were
two incredibly big losses – in the semi-
final of the Big Ten tournament, and in
the NCAA final.
But he didn't take any bows after the
match. Didn't raise his hands in triumph.
In fact, he ran off the mat so fast, focused
on his post-match routine, that he near-
ly bowled over coach Cael Sanderson.
"Luckily I have a good grip on my shoes,"
Sanderson said. "I know to try not to get
in his way after matches. He's a passion-
ate, focused individual."
Megaludis didn't seem to want to talk
about anything that happened during
the match, either. Or how he felt after it.
"Um," he said. He paused. "You
know." He paused again. "I want to do it
when it matters. He's gotten the thing I
want, and I want to take it. So it's going
to be more satisfying when I do it."
The first two times Megaludis and
Delgado wrestled, Megaludis won. In an
exhibition at the NWCA All-Star
match, he squeaked by, 4-3. In a dual
meet, he came from behind to win by
fall.
But Delgado won, 6-3, at Big Tens en
route to the conference title, and when
the two met again for the NCAA title,
Delgado broke open a tied match by lock-
ing up Megaludis in a cradle for a five-
point move. Even more galling for Mega-
ludis, he had been in deep on a shot; Del-
gado's big move came on a counter.
Megaludis lost, 7-4, and finished as
the NCAA runner-up for the second
consecutive year. Already known as one
of the more focused competitors in the
wrestling room, he returned with even
more intensity.
"He's just 100 percent go, go, go all the
time," associate head coach Cody
Sanderson said. "It doesn't matter who
he's wrestling, where – the national fi-
nals or an open tournament – he's just
gonna go, go, go. … That's just the kind
of competitor that he is."
In the rematch Jan. 24, Megaludis
scored first on a reversal to start the
second period, and with 33 seconds left
in the period added two more points on
a takedown that brought Illinois assis-
tant coach Jeremy Hunter – an NCAA
champ for Penn State in 2000 – off the
bench, insisting that points hadn't been
correctly awarded in the flurry between
the two wrestlers.
Megaludis said he didn't remember
anything about the flurry. "I guess I
shot," he said, and although a couple of
people in the room giggled, he main-
tained his stony demeanor. Sanderson
declined comment, too: "You want me to
describe it? I'm not going to try. Those
guys get into some crazy scrambles."
After a review, the officials awarded
Megaludis a takedown and Delgado an
escape, and Delgado tied the score with
a reversal to open the third period.
Megaludis won on an escape with 55
seconds to go. And he immediately be-
gan working toward their next matchup,
likely in the Big Ten tournament. He
made it clear he didn't have time to en-
joy this one.
"I'll enjoy it more in March," Megaludis
said. He stared into the distance. "I'll put
it that way."
■
