Blue White Illustrated

During the season, Frank Molinaro can be seen in Penn State's corner, bouncing from his seat, hollering commands to wrestlers as an assistant coach entering his third season. But as soon as it ends, he's the one at the center of the mat competing, and this off-season it's been at the highest level. In early April, Molinaro, a 27-year-old native of Barnegat, N.J., four-time Penn State All-American and 2012 NCAA champion at 149 pounds, earned the most prestigious accolade of his wrestling career. At the U.S. Olympic trials in Iowa City, Iowa, Molinaro claimed gold in the 65-kilogram weight class, securing a place on the 2016 Olympic team. "The closer I got to the tournament was the most prepared I ever felt," said Molinaro, who entered as a No. 9 seed. "I think the hardest part was just ac- cepting that I was going to do it. Once I accepted that [and] I put the time in, then it was my tournament to take. I just kind of went out there and had fun." Molinaro started the tournament by navigating the challenge bracket with a 3-0 record. He downed former Michigan NCAA champ Kellen Russell, 14-1, in the first round and then took down top- seeded Brent Metcalf, a former Iowa champ, 3-3, winning by criteria in round two. He followed up those victories with a 5-5 criteria win over Ohio State four- timer Logan Stieber in the semifinals to set up a best-of-three championship se- ries with 19-year-old phenom Aaron Pico. Molinaro lost the first of three bouts, 4-2, before winning the second, 4-3. In the final match, he earned his bid by using a four-point move to edge Pico, 4-4, on criteria. Nittany Lion sophomore Zain Rether- ford, just two weeks removed from win- ning the 149-pound NCAA crown, took third at 65kg and earned a spot on the U.S. national team. Retherford went 5-1 in Iowa City, including a 5-1 first-round win against 2015 World Team Trials champion James Green. Despite claiming a spot on the Olympic team, Molinaro has yet to se- cure a place at the Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro. That's because the United States is still in search of a qualifying spot at 65kg. Molinaro was in Ulaanbaatar, Mongo- lia, April 22-24 for his first qualifying tournament. He won his opening-round match over Xuan Dinh Nguyen of Turkey, 10-0, but fell to another Turkish wrestler, two-time world medalist Yakup Gor, 6-4, in the second round. Had Gor gone on to reach the final, Molinaro would have remained alive in the consolation bracket, but those hopes were dashed when Gor lost in the semi- finals. One final qualifying tournament is set to take place May 6-8 in Istanbul. Moli- naro will be required to place in the top two in order to earn a ticket to Rio. TEAM AWARDS At the annual end-of- the-season banquet in mid-April, a total of 15 awards were handed out to Nittany Lion wrestlers for the year's accom- plishments, both on and off the mat. Retherford earned the Outstanding Wrestler Award and also claimed the award for most bonus points and the Joe Scalzo Award for most team points. He also shared the Bill Koll Award for most pins (15) and earned an academic achievement honor with the highest grade-point average (3.72) among third- year grapplers. Senior 125-pound national champ Nico Megaludis took home three awards, including the team's Total Commitment awards and the Perseverance Award. He also claimed the fifth-year wrestler aca- demic excellence award with a 3.51 GPA. Senior All-American Jordan Conaway won the Kaye Vinson Most Improved Award, while All-America classmate Morgan McIntosh was honored with the team's leadership award. Molinaro wins Olympic trials, seeks spot in Games | to-be Anthony Cassar might be the early favorite to take over McIntosh's post. Cas- sar redshirted his =rst season at PSU, going 15-8. He trained with the Nittany Lion Wrestling Club this past season, but due to personal and family reasons, he didn't enroll in school. Therefore, he wasn't part of the Nittany Lions' o@cial lineup but still lost a season of eligibility. It was unclear as of mid-April when he'll re-enroll, but Cassar has been one of the most improved wrestlers inside the Loren- zo Wrestling Complex since he arrived from Rocky Hill, N.J., two years ago. At heavyweight Nick Nevills is expected to be the starter aAer missing almost all of his redshirt freshman season due to a pectoral injury he su?ered during pre- season practice. He returned in time to give it a shot at Big Tens but wasn't in the proper shape to compete at his highest level. The top 285-pound prospect in the country when he signed with PSU out of Clovis, Calif., Nevills is expected to com- pete with the best in the weight class aAer he's had a chance to get fully healthy during the o?-season. It will be another six months before many of these unsettled weight classes are =gured out, but the wheels are already in motion. With the steady >ow of in- coming freshmen who have multiple state titles to their name, the possibilities are almost limitless. And it's di@cult not to have an eye toward what comes next. Sanderson certainly does. Immediately aAer the NCAA tournament wrapped up in March at New York's Madi- son Square Garden, he began looking ahead. "We're happy we won," he said before taking a breath. "But we're excited about the future also." ■

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