Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/797655
P enn State is off to St. Louis in search of its sixth NCAA championship in seven years. It is expected to do so with a nine-man contingent. After winning the regular-season crown, the Nittany Lions are among the favorites to win the tournament title again, but they will have to fend off a host of strong competitors, from Big Ten champion Ohio State to Iowa, Virginia Tech and Oklahoma State. How do PSU's starters stack up against the rest? Let's take a look: PSU OUTLOOK Suriano was on a steady northward trajectory in his first 17 matches, racking up bonus points in the majority of his wins and losing only once – to Iowa's Thomas Gilman by one point. Then he injured his left ankle in the Dual Championship Series against Oklahoma State's Nick Piccininni and was forced to bow out of the match early. He then made a premature exit from the Big Ten tourna- ment two weeks later, and as of this writ- ing was relying on an at-large bid as a gold-standard wildcard candidate. Once he's selected, it's a race to heal up. FRONT OF THE CLASS Suriano, Thomas Gilman (Iowa), Joey Dance (Virginia Tech), Darian Cruz (Lehigh), Josh Ro- driguez (North Dakota State) PSU OUTLOOK After six consecutive wins and a couple of questionable no- call falls against Oklahoma State's Dean Heil in the dual meet finale, Gulibon headed into his final postseason with some momentum, just as he did two years ago when he claimed All-America honors. Then came the Big Ten championships, during which Gulibon was pinned three times, including twice in the first period. He settled for eighth place and will have an uphill climb in order to finish on the podium again. FRONT OF THE CLASS Dean Heil (Okla- homa State), Joey McKenna (Stanford), Kevin Jack (North Carolina State), An- thony Ashnault (Rutgers), Matthew Kolodzik (Princeton) PSU OUTLOOK Retherford amassed bonus points in 19 of his regular-season wins, as he finished atop the standings for the NCAA's most dominant wrestler. But in those two decisions in which he didn't score extra, Retherford had to BRACKET BUSTERS Penn State is looking to extend its dominant run at NCAAs. It won't be easy | HOLDING ON Nevills has come on strong for the Lions this season, but the sophomore heavyweight is in one of the tournament's toughest weight classes. Photo by Mark Selders/Penn State Athletics 125 Nick Suriano 16-3 Fr. | Paramus, N.J. 141 Jimmy Gulibon 14-10 Sr. | Latrobe, Pa. 149 Zain Retherford 23-0 Jr. | Benton, Pa.