When head coach Cael Sanderson last
led Penn State into St. Louis' Scottrade
Center for the 2012 NCAA Wrestling
Championships, he boasted arguably the
best starting lineup he's had during his
tenure with the Nittany Lions.
Penn State paced the field that year,
outscoring second-place
Minnesota by 25.5 points
and sending four
wrestlers into their re-
spective finals, three of
whom – Frank Molinaro,
David Taylor and Ed Ruth
– claimed individual ti-
tles.
This year's team enters
the national tournament with much
less fanfare. The Nittany Lions don't
have any No. 1 seeds. Matt Brown and
Morgan McIntosh are seeded second at
174 and 197 pounds, respectively, and
will carry PSU's individual champi-
onship hopes. And instead of being pro-
hibitive favorites for the team trophy as
they had been in 2012 – and 2011, '13
and '14 – the Lions aren't being talked
about by fans and media as likely title
contenders.
After a fifth-place finish at Big Tens,
the Nittany Lions are widely perceived
to be on the outside looking in this sea-
son. Co-Big Ten champions Iowa and
Ohio State are the favorites, and that
makes perfect sense. After all, the past
eight Big Ten champs have gone on to
S P R I N G S P O R T S R E P O R T M A R C H 1 8 N E W S L E T T E R
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O W E N . T I M . B W I @ G M A I L . C O M
M A R C H 1 8 , 2 0 1 5 B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M
1
ARCH MADNESS
Penn State is an underdog as it heads to St. Louis for NCAA tourney
TITLE
HOPEFUL
Coming
off
a
Big
Ten
championship
at
197
pounds,
McIntosh
is
seeded
second
at
NCAAs
and
is
one
of
Penn
State's
best
hopes
for
an
individual
title.
Matt
Brown
(174)
is
the
Lions'
other
second-
seeded
wrestler.
Photo
by
Cameron
Hart