Blue White Illustrated

Watch the throne David Taylor began visualizing this team's success five years ago. Now the Lions are only one tournament away from a historic fourth consecutive national crown. But there's a major issue: Everyone is gunning for them avid Taylor and Ed Ruth 1rst met 1ve years ago as unknowing high school seniors, long before they be- came the two most transcendent teammates in Penn State, if not college wrestling, history. But before they were even introduced, Taylor knew they had to be teammates. Taylor has always lived and breathed the sport, studying the country's top wrestlers. At the time – March 2009 – he knew about Ruth and knew he had the potential to be one of the greatest. Taylor was already committed to Cael Sanderson, his childhood idol, and he thought that if he could somehow get Ruth on their team, they could reach national cham- pionship heights. So, of course, the re- cruiting pitch flowed from Taylor. And it went like this: Join us and you'll become better than you ever thought you could be… at Iowa State. "He almost got me, too," Ruth recently recalled. "He was really convincing. He asked, 'Don't you want to reach your full potential?' Yeah, I do. Everything he said, he made me believe it." Sanderson, of course, was still head coach of his alma mater. Ruth had already signed a letter of intent with PSU in No- vember, but since the Nittany Lions were without a coach a2er Troy Sunderland le2, there was an outside possibility that Ruth could back out of his declaration. Then a cosmic shi2 occurred that would alter the entire landscape of college wrestling. Taylor's idea of he and Ruth teaming up came to fruition, but it wasn't in Ames. Less than a month a2er the future national champs met as members of the USA Dream Team in Oklahoma, Sanderson took the head coaching job with the Nittany Lions. Ruth didn't have to leave his home state to suit up with Taylor, who was grant- ed release from his Iowa State scholarship. Five years later – almost how Taylor had forecasted in 2009 – they are set to go down as two of the most decorated stu- dent-athletes in university history, and perhaps two of the most talented college wrestlers ever. That much was evident before their 1nal matches in Rec Hall, and Taylor was the very last wrestler to be introduced on senior day, Feb. 23. Prior to the opening whistle, Dean DeVore calmly announced Taylor's career accomplishments to the crowd: "53-0 all-time against Big Ten D ESPN EXPANDS COVERAGE OF NCAA TOURNAMENT ESPN will provide unprecedented television coverage of the 2014 NCAA Championships March 20-22. Both the semifinal and final rounds will air live on ESPN. All other sessions will air live on ESPNU. | competition. His career record is 125 wins and three losses, and he's sixth on Penn State's all-time wins lists. Twenty-eight career majors, 41 career tech falls, and 38 career pins, second on Penn State's all- time pins list – :ve shy of the record, by the way. One hundred seventeen of his 125 wins have come with bonus." DeVore continued to recite Taylor's gaudy list of accomplishments until he got to the end and bellowed, "Ladies and gentlemen, DAVID TAYLOR." Then with David's fa- ther, Dave, to his right and with his le= arm linked with mother, Kathy, they walked toward the center of the mat to have their pictures taken by a dozen pho- tographers. In front of 6,483 fans, almost everyone was cheering in a bittersweet standing ovation. "I started crying, to be honest with you," said Taylor. It might have been the most memorable dual meet experience of his career, although his 165-pound match vs. Clarion's Michael Pavasko lasted only 11 seconds. And Sanderson said it should even have been shorter. "I thought it was a six-second pin or a :ve-second pin," he said. "It was just at the wrong angle for the referee to call it, but that's how it is. David went out the way he wanted to go out." And he wasn't :nished. Taylor took home his fourth title at the Big Ten tournament in Wisconsin on March 9, adding to his regular-season-ending numbers that De- Vore called out at Rec Hall, with one pin, one tech fall and a major decision, be- coming the :rst four-time Big Ten champ in PSU history (beating Ruth by fewer than 30 minutes). Taylor then went into the NCAA Championships as the clear- cut favorite at 165 pounds and the No. 1 pound-for-pound wrestler in the country, according to FloWrestling.com. Taylor – by himself – holds a more sur- prising distinction this season. He is the only preseason No. 1-ranked wrestler to enter the postseason with an unblemished record. Of the seven returning NCAA champs, all seven have been beaten this season. Even Ruth su;ered a loss at the 2014 Southern Scu

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