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hurt as a freshman so I couldn't really picture being in their shoes. Just seeing how hard and dedicated those guys work, it's unbelievable to be a part of what we have. We have the other guys like Zain and Jason and Bo who just go out and put on a show for everyone, which is really unbelievable for them and the team and fun for us, too." Although pleased with his performance after injuries kept him out of the tourna- ment a year ago, Nevills, a sophomore, is hoping to improve upon his fifth-place finish next season and perhaps join the upper echelon that his teammates did. Of course, they all will be back. Only Gulibon has exhausted his eligibility, and four of the five champions have at least half of their collegiate careers ahead of them. That means that of the 146.5 points Penn State amassed, wrestlers who scored 142 of them could return to the starting lineup next season. While a perfect final round, which fol- lowed an undefeated run in the semifi- nals, had the coaches smiling – "It's just crazy," Cael Sanderson said. "This is very special" – what makes them even happier is that they have an opportunity to do it all over again next year. "The awesome thing is these guys can still improve," assistant coach Casey Cunningham said. "They've got a lot of areas that they can improve in, and that's exciting." Here's a look at how the Lions' five na- tional champions fared at nationals: ZAIN RETHERFORD Facing third-seeded Lavion Mayes of Missouri, Retherford surrendered the first takedown of the 149-pound final, but that was the first and perhaps only mistake he made during the entire tour- nament. He won his first three matches by tech- nical fall in an average of just about two periods without allowing a takedown, be- fore pinning Iowa's Brandon Sorensen in the semifinal in 2 minutes, 37 seconds. The battle with Sorensen was a rematch of last year's NCAA final, which Rether- ford won, 10-1. This time Retherford's win set up a showdown with Mayes in the final, and although he was taken down in the opening 30 seconds, the Penn State junior went on to score the next three takedowns in a row before turning Mayes three times for four near-fall points apiece. The key, Retherford said afterward, was "not really getting down on myself. I've been taken down before. I was feeling kind of nervous a little bit, but more ex- cited nervous, so that's the signal: It's go time. It's the national finals. Let's go." The scoring binge that Retherford used to counter Mayes' early takedown led to yet another technical fall, this one coming NCAA TOURNAMENT BY THE NUMBERS 8.6 million ESPN's viewership across the three days and six sessions of the NCAA Wrestling Championships, both online and through television. It was a 6 percent increase from 2016. 750,000 Viewers who tuned in on tel- evision and online to watch the NCAA ;nals on March 18, a 12 percent increase from last year and the event's best rating in four years. 111,454 Total attendance for all six ses- sions in the Scottrade Center in St. Louis, ranking third all-time. 19,657 Attendance number for the Saturday night championship round. 146.5 Team points for the Lions, the most in school history, surpassing their performance in 2012 by 3.5 points. 142 Points scored by PSU wrestlers who have at least one remaining year of collegiate eligibility. 63 Zain Retherford's winning streak, which now includes two national and Big Ten titles and dates back to the ;=h- place match of his true freshman season in 2014. The junior 149-pounder has the NCAA's longest active streak. 44 Consecutive victories by two-time defending champions Isaiah Martinez of Illinois (165 pounds) and Gabe Dean of Cornell (184) heading into the ;nals. Both of those 44-match winning streaks came to an end at the hands of Penn State wrestlers. 17 With his title at 174, Mark Hall be- came the 17th true freshman in NCAA history to win a national championship. He's the ;rst true freshman in PSU his- tory to accomplish the feat. 12 With his title at 165, Vincenzo Joseph is only the 12th redshirt freshman in NCAA history to win a national championship and the ;rst redshirt freshman in PSU history to accomplish such a feat. With his title coming one weight class before Hall's, Joseph is o<- cially the ;rst PSU wrestler with fresh- man eligibility to win an NCAA crown. 11:07 Bo Nickal won the Gorriaran Award for the most falls (three) in the least amount of time. 8 All-Americans who are from Penn- sylvania out of a total of 49 quali;ers. Ohio led all states with a total of 10 All- Americans. It had 31 quali;ers. 7 Of 10 weight classes, seven national championships were won by wrestlers from the Big Ten. 6 Total number of All-Americans for Penn State. 5 Number of Penn State individual champs, a total that tied an NCAA record. The Nittany Lions became the fourth team to accomplish the feat, join- ing Iowa's 1986 and '97 teams, and Oklahoma State's 2005 team. Before PSU did it this year, no team had ever won championships in ;ve consecutive weight classes. 2 Opening-day starters for Penn State who did not compete in the postseason due to injury. Nick Suriano (125) injured his lower leg Feb. 19 in the dual-meet ;- nale and was ruled out of NCAAs just one day before the opening session. Jered Cortez (133) injured his shoulder in a December dual meet and was unable to return. – T.O.

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