Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/99533
I Photos courtesy of Penn State Athletic Communications TWO OF A KIND A first at Penn State, Andrew and Dylan Alton are back-to-back in the starting lineup BROTHERLY BOND Andrew, top photo, and Dylan will compete at 149 pounds and 157, respectively, for the 201213 season. t's easier to determine who's who during wrestling season, when black eyes become personal trademarks and wounds across the forehead serve as memory cues. But even then, it's not completely foolproof. Like most identical twins, Andrew and Dylan Alton are commonly mistaken for each other. Sometimes they'll play along, pretending to be the other one, until you catch on – if you ever do. At other times, they'll stop you right away to avoid further confusion. Because, as they said, "We get it a lot." They finished their respective freshman seasons with an identical 30 wins, which is tied for the ninth-best freshman total in school history, but their similarities only go so far. Andrew is the lighter of the two, wrestling this season at 149 pounds, but he's a smidgen taller than his 157-pound brother. Dylan has a thicker frame and broader face. Andrew is the more talkative of the two. Their collegiate wrestling careers at Penn State started off differently, too. Andrew was thrust into collegiate action as a true freshman, winning 18 consecutive matches at 141 pounds before finishing one match shy of AllAmerica laurels. "That was a real disappointment to me," he recalled. "That was hard. For a month or two, that was always on my mind; that match will always be on my mind. So I just want to push myself harder, knowing that when I get back to nationals, I'm not going to leave anything behind this year." While Andrew was a full-time starter for Cael Sanderson's first national championship team, Dylan was redshirting. The following season, Andrew took a redshirt and Dylan climbed his way into the starting lineup at 157. He followed up on Andrew's freshman season with an NCAA tournament berth of his own. With an extra year of experience under his belt, Dylan stormed through the tournament field. He claimed All-America honors with a