Blue White Illustrated

Sanderson said of the Abbottstown, Pa., native. "Now he gets to wrestle his weight class." Newly hired assistant coach Frank Moli- naro, a national champion for Penn State in 2012, said that since returning to his alma mater this past o7-season following a two-year coaching stint at Rutgers, he has seen a change in Conaway. "I'd say the biggest di7erence is his at- titude, his personality," Molinaro said. "He kinda has that urgency that he's not just going to be going out there and trying to make guys tired. He expects to be a national champ. It's his spot now and he's taking advantage of it." KADE MOSS WT 141 YR R-Fr. A native of South Jordan, Utah, Moss arrived at Penn State last year a8er serving a two-year religious mission. Before that, though, Moss won four consecutive state titles at Bingham High. "Which is like being a 12-time state champion in Penn- sylvania," said Sanderson, a fellow Utah native, smiling. "That's a joke." During his redshirt season last year, Moss went 4-3 with two falls in open tournaments. He found more success this past o7-season, as he won a University National Greco title over the summer. But will Moss 5nd as much success as Rether- ford enjoyed last year in 5nishing 33-3 and placing 58h at NCAAs? Sanderson is hopeful. "If we didn't feel like we had somebody to step in there and wrestle [at 141], we wouldn't be giving Zain a year just to train and improve," he said. Fun fact about Moss: He 5rst met team- mate Matt Brown, also a Utah native, at his 5rst-ever wrestling practice when he was just 8 years old. Moss and Brown trained together throughout their prep careers at a local club in the o7-season, and Moss said one of the reasons he chose Penn State was because "I saw the success that Matt has had and the training that he's had." Moss's grind-it-out wrestling style might remind some of Brown. "He uses conditioning as a factor, and that's some- thing that really will pay dividends in col- Nico Megaludis doesn't know when exactly the 5nal decision was made, but he 5rst began talking about the possibility of a redshirt af- ter the national tournament last season. It was formally announced Nov. 4 that Megaludis, a two-time NCAA 5nalist and three-time All-Ameri- can, and Zain Retherford, who 5n- ished third in the country last sea- son as a true freshman, will sit out this season, with each taking a red- shirt and preparing to return to a new-look lineup in 2015. Megaludis, a senior, said he wants to use the redshirt as "a year of get- ting better" and to focus on improv- ing technique, while also taking time to re6ect on his 5rst three years of collegiate action. "I've been in competing mode most of [my career]," said the 125- pounder. "I'm going, going, going, going. You watch me in a match and I'm 600 miles per hour. Now it's time to get my technique better. In- stead of staying a8er practice and doing 10 minutes of conditioning, now I'll spend 10 minutes on technique." While it was a tough decision to redshirt one of his highest point- scorers before his 5nal season of eli- gibility, head coach Cael Sanderson said, "the good news is we'll have Nico next year. We don't have him this year, but we'll have him a year later." They'll also have Retherford, a 141-pounder, back next year. Retherford's goals for his redshirt season are similar to those of Mega- ludis. And although last year he of- ten mentioned that he'd rather com- pete than redshirt, Retherford has come to terms with the recent deci- sion. "Just having a conversation with Cael, talking about what is best for the team… in the end I'm going to do whatever the coaches feel is best for the team," Retherford said. "I fully support that." – T.O. Redshirting Lions see chance to improve SITTING OUT Megaludis, a two-time NCAA finalist, will redshirt this season and is expected to re- turn to action in 2015-16. Photo by Steve Manuel

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