Blue White Illustrated

Penn State's Bo Nickal hasn't missed an NCAA tournament since he was in mid- dle school. Every year, he and his father, Jason, would travel to whichever city was playing host to that season's tournament. Now as a redshirt freshman who is the top seed at 174 pounds, this will be the first time the native of Allen, Texas, will be competing, and he's hoping to draw on those past experiences as a spectator when the tournament kicks off Thursday. "I think that definitely will help me," Nickal said. "I kind of know what the at- mosphere is like. Obviously not down on the mats – that's going to be a little bit dif- ferent – but at least knowing some back- ground on what it's going to be like is good. I'm excited to get out there and wrestle." What will be brand new to Nickal is the venue. Although he's traveled to various cities to watch – St. Louis, Oklahoma City, Des Moines, Iowa, to name a few – he's never been to New York before. Not as a fan, nor as a tourist. "So I'm excited to see the city," he said. "I think that's going to be pretty cool. I've seen pictures of the venue, and it's pretty cool, so I'm excited to get out there." While the Manhattan sightseeing will be kept to a minimum on this trip – "We're going to see Madison Square Garden," head coach Cael Sanderson said. "That's the plan, and we want to see a lot of it" – it's one of many experiences that await the Nittany Lions. They have advanced nine wrestlers to the NCAA Championships and are the early fa- vorites to win their fi@h team title in the past six years. In addition to Nickal, two W I N T E R S P O R T S R E P O R T M A R C H 1 6 N E W S L E T T E R T I M   O W E N | O W E N . T I M . B W I @ G M A I L . C O M M A R C H 1 6 , 2 0 1 6 B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M 1 CENTER STAGE FAMILY ACT Cody and Cael Sanderson are hoping to guide PSU to its fifth na- tional title in the past six years. Photo by Patrick Mansell Penn State is in a New York state of mind as it preps for the NCAA tourney

• Cover