Blue White Illustrated

I n early January, Penn State's starting 174-pound freshman was named Big Ten Wrestler of the Week after winning an individual championship and helping lead his team to a title at the Southern Scuffle. He was also named the tournament's outstanding wrestler with his 9rst three victories coming by way of bonus points, and in the 9nal round he won by decision against an opponent from the Atlantic Coast Conference. The match before that, he defeated a wrestler from Cornell who had previously been ranked No. 1 in the national polls. Sounds familiar, doesn't it? If it does, it's because those are the results from Ed Ruth's redshirt freshman year in 2011 – before he became a three- time NCAA champion for the Nittany Li- ons. They're also – almost identically – the results from Bo Nickal's 2016 title per- formance in Chattanooga, Tenn. Head coach Cael Sanderson calls Nickal "a student of the game." So when asked about the parallels between his and Ruth's breakout performances, Nickal shared a memory of watching the 9rst of Ruth's three Scu;e championships on the In- ternet, when Nickal was still a youngster in Allen, Texas. "At that point I didn't really know a ton about Ed Ruth," Nickal said. But as he watched, he thought, "This guy's legit. He's the real deal. So, it's kind of cool looking back on the Penn State history and the history of the program in recent years. It's just been awesome to watch a lot of exciting matches and really good guys who have come through the program. So, it's cool to carry that tradition a little bit." Four of Nickal's teammates – Nico Mega- ludis (125), Zain Retherford (149), Jason Nolf (157) and Morgan McInotsh (197) – also won individual championships en route to PSU's sixth consecutive team title at the Scu;e, annually one of the top most competitive regular-season tour- naments. The performance helped set Penn State up on a run of four consecutive dual meet victories and gave it an undefeated mark heading into the match at Illinois Jan. 23. Additionally, three starters – Retherford, Nolf and McIntosh – remain undefeated. Nickal, however, su:ered the 9rst loss of his collegiate career just two dual meets a

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