Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/797655
more than half of the opponents he has faced this season. Only two of Rether- ford's 19 regular-season victories came by decision. "You don't want to get frus- trated" by the opponent's antics, he said, "because then you get tired and you start getting mad." In order to persevere through the obsta- cles thrown in front of him, and take them in stride, Retherford draws on experi- ences from before he arrived at Penn State. As the NCAA's most dominant reg- ular-season wrestler, he relies on the re- silience and grit that he refined during high school – and not just on the wrestling mat, where he was a two-time PIAA Class AA champion. In a sport that has strong geographic roots in rural Pennsylvania, Retherford is a throwback, an old-school brawler with a style that is reminiscent of wrestlers from previous generations, one that partly stems from his lifestyle back home. Retherford's family lives on a homestead. There's a produce stand out front by the road where they sell water- melons in the summer and pumpkins in the fall. (Just the right size for Zain to squeeze.) Some of his old workouts, too, involved farm chores on the property of former Benton coach and PSU All-American Russ Hughes. In fact, when Retherford committed to the Nittany Lions as one of the best recruits in the country in Sep- tember 2012, he had just finished the day tossing and stacking hay bales at Hughes' farm before conducting one of his first phone interviews about it. "I like doing that manual stuff," Rether- ford said recently. "You get stronger on the farm, for sure. I miss it." Hot days in the sun, frigid tempera- tures in the winter – the work instilled in Retherford a determination to get the job done, no matter what the condi- tions. Even if you're getting punched in the face. He's found that the route to a second consecutive title has been difficult, but not too difficult. His life as a student- athlete is built around classes and wrestling practice, and the in-season routine could almost be considered easy compared to his days on the farm in Co- lumbia County. "We get to train, we have school, but there's not physical [activity] after," said the finance major. "You get done training for the day, you go home and the mental part of it, you just get that done. There aren't pigs to take care of or anything like that." His dedication to both folkstyle during the school year and freestyle in the off- season rarely affords Retherford the chance to make it home for extended stays. He no longer helps out on the Hughes' farm, as Russ is now an assistant coach at Bloomsburg and Retherford's family operation requires his assistance whenever he can lend it in the summer. Penn State wrestler Geno Morelli has been chosen one of two Wayne Duke Postgraduate Award recipients by the Indianapolis Big Ten Commu- nity Partnership. The award is an an- nual scholarship recognizing one male and one fe- male Big Ten senior pursuing a post- graduate degree. It salutes achieve- ments in academics, athletics, extracur- ricular activities and leadership. Ohio State soccer player Lindsay Agnew is the other recipient of this year's award. Morelli, a resident of DuBois, Pa., transfered to Penn State in 2014 after two years at Pitt. While with the Pan- thers, he was a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference's Academic All- Conference team, as well as a first- team National Wrestling All-Academic winner. At Penn State, he enjoyed his best season in 2015-16, going 21-12 at 165 pounds and earning an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament. Ranked as high as No. 10 during the season, he went 2-2 at nationals to help the Nit- tany Lions claim the team champi- onship. Now a senior, he holds a 3.95 GPA in energy business and finance and has also been an Academic All- Big Ten selection. Morelli went 10-1 this year, includ- ing three pins, and will end his colle- giate career with a 66-37 record and eight pins. He is the third Penn Stater to win the honor since its inception in 2008. Morelli has been involved in Penn State's summer wrestling camps and clinics and is a member of the Nittany Lion Wrestling Club. In his spare time, he volunteers with the KaBOOM Playground Project, which constructs playgrounds in low-income areas. He is the third Penn State student to receive the Wayne Duke Postgraduate Award. Agnew and Morelli were honored in Indianapolis during the Big Ten Women's Basketball Tournament on March 4 at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. In recognition of the Big Ten's lead- ership in fully integrating athletics into the academic mission of its member institutions, the Indianapolis Big Ten Community Partnership initi- ated the Wayne Duke Postgraduate Award in 2008. Each Big Ten institu- tion was asked to nominate one male and one female student for 2017, with a $10,000 scholarship awarded to each winner. ■ Morelli named winner of postgraduate scholarship MORELLI