Blue White Illustrated

I t was a mid-January dual meet against Illinois, and for almost everyone who follows Penn State wrestling, the main event was the 157-pound showdown be- tween freshman phenom Jason Nolf and undefeated Isaiah Martinez, the defending NCAA champ. For Jered Cortez, however, the conference dual was something di:erent. A native of Carol Stream, Ill., he had been a four- time high school champ before joining the Illini, so it was a reunion of sorts be- tween new team and old – but one in which he couldn't partake. Penn State accepted a transfer from Cortez in August a;er he spent his 9rst season of college wrestling (2014-15) with a redshirt in Champaign. In accordance with NCAA and Big Ten transfer rules, he was unable to participate during in-season competition dates – at least not with a Penn State singlet on. Competing as an unattached wrestler, Cortez won all 12 of his matches, including three by technical fall and one by pin in 51 seconds. Among those victories was a strong run through the Nittany Lion Open, in which he claimed the 133-pound title by edging teammate and starter Jordan Conaway in a 5-4 tiebreaker in the 9nal. Conaway went on to place sixth at the 2016 NCAA tourney, earning All-America laurels. Cortez's strong campaign on the open- tournament circuit was preceded by another as a redshirt with the Illini. A;er winning four high school state titles at four di:erent weight classes for Glenbard North High, he 9nished 6-2 as an unattached wrestler during his 9rst year in college at 133. Now that he's been in PSU's weight room for a full school year, coach Cael Sanderson has seen continued development from Cortez, once a top-10 recruit who had the Lions No. 2 on his list coming out of high school. The team is anticipating his trajec- tory to continue upward into his redshirt sophomore campaign, during which, ideally for PSU, he will be in the starting lineup. "He is very talented," Sanderson said. "He has great speed, and obviously he's a very good scrambler. He comes from the Jesse Delgado [Illinois NCAA champion] school and [assistant coach] Mark Perry, what those guys are doing over there, so it's been good for our lightweights. "We're just trying to get him to be more aggressive and keep moving forward and using his hands more. That's the key for him to be able to dominate. He knows that, and I think he's making a lot of progress in that area." The original plan was for Cortez to spend at least his 9rst two seasons at 133. The Lions had him penciled in as Conaway's successor before possibly moving to 141 the year a;er. During his last competition date of 2016 – a 4-0 showing at the Mes- siah Open in February – he weighed in at 141. –T.O. Cortez expected to play key role for PSU in coming season HUB-Robeson Center, On-Campus

• Cover