Nittany Lions Prep for Broncos
UNIVERSITY PARK – No. 1 Penn State (5-0) will visit Rider (3-3) on Saturday, Dec. 19, for a 4 p.m. dual in Lawrenceville, N.J. The dual meet will air live on The Comcast Network (TCN). The Nittany Lions will be looking to finish the first semester undefeated and maintain momentum heading into the 2016 Southern Scuffle on Jan. 1-2 in Chattanooga.
Rider enters the dual meet with a 3-3 mark, 0-1 in the EWL, and has not wrestled since a 27-19 win over Big Ten foe Northwestern back on Dec. 5. Rider is being led by a trio of talented middle weights. B.J. Clagon is ranked No. 14 at 149, Chad Walsh is No. 20 at 157 and Conor Brennan is No. 15 at 165.
Penn State leads the all-time series 5-0, including a 30-3 win in Rec Hall last year. Penn State also won the last meeting at Rider, a 34-8 win on Nov. 16, 2013.
Penn State features a talented line-up with nine ranked wrestlers and five returning All-Americans. All-American Morgan McIntosh is ranked No. 1 at 197 and is 8-0 on the year and All-American Zain Retherford is ranked No. 1 at 149 with a 9-0 mark to lead Penn State’s nine ranked wrestlers. Red-shirt freshman Jason Nolf is ranked No. 3 at 157 with a 10-0 record and All-American Nico Megaludis is ranked No. 4 at 125 with a 9-1 mark. Red-shirt freshman Bo Nickal is ranked No. 5 at 174 with a 10-0 record, giving Penn State five wrestlers ranked in the top five.
All-American Jimmy Gulibon is ranked No. 6 at 141 at 5-2 while All-American Jordan Conaway is ranked No. 6 at 133 with an 8-1 record. Sophomore Matt McCutcheon is ranked No. 13 at 184 with a 7-1 record. Junior Geno Morelli makes his rankings debut as a Nittany Lion with a No. 19 nod at 165 and is 11-2 on the year. Red-shirt freshman Shakur Rasheed (Coram, N.Y.) has also been ranked and started at 165 and is 6-3 on the year while true freshman Jan Johnson (Mohnton, Pa.) has been out of the line-up at 285 with an injury. Red-shirt freshman Devon Van Cura (Washington, N.C.) started at 285 for Penn State against Wisconsin this past Sunday.
Penn State is coming off a 36-7 win over No. 15 Wisconsin in front of nearly 13,000 fans in the Bryce Jordan Center this past Sunday. Retherford and Nolf got pins (their fifth and sixth of the year respectively) while Megaludis, Nickal and McCutcheon picked up majors.
Penn State will look for its sixth straight Southern Scuffle title at the 2016 Southern Scuffle, hosted by Chattanooga on Jan. 1 and 2, 2016. The Nittany Lions’ next home dual is not until Friday, Jan. 15, when the Lions host Nebraska at 7 p.m. in Rec Hall.
#1 PENN STATE NITTANY LIONS (5-0, 1-0 B1G)
WT NAME EL HT/HS REC
125 #4 Nico Megaludis Sr. Murrysville, Pa./Franklin Regional 9-1
133 #6 Jordan Conaway Sr. Abbottstown, Pa./New Oxford 8-1
141 #6 Jimmy Gulibon Jr. Latrobe, Pa./Derry 5-2
149 #1 Zain Retherford So. Benton, Pa./Benton 9-0
157 #3 Jason Nolf Fr. Yatesboro, Pa./Kittanning 10-0
165 #19 Geno Morelli Jr. DuBois, Pa./DuBois 11-2
Shakur Rasheed Fr. Coram, N.Y./Longwood 6-3
174 #5 Bo Nickal Fr. Allen, Texas/Allen 10-0
184 #13 Matt McCutcheon So. Apollo, Pa./Kiski Area 7-1
197 #1 Morgan McIntosh Sr. Santa Ana, Calif./Calvary Chapel 8-0
285 Jan Johnson Fr. Mohnton, Pa./Governor Mifflin 1-1
Devon Van Cura Fr. Washington, N.C./Washington 6-4
RIDER BRONCS (3-3, 0-0 EWL)
WT NAME EL HT/HS REC
125 Brenden Calas Jr. Clark, N.J./Seton Hall Prep 2-5
133 Zach Valcarce So. Villas, N.J./Lower Cape May 0-3
OR Rob Deutsch Sr. Cherry Hill, N.J./Eastern Regional 4-4
141 Paul Kirchner Jr. Somerville, N.J./Somerville 7-4
149 #14 B.J. Clagon So. Toms River, N.J./Toms River South 5-6
157 #20 Chad Walsh So. Cherry Hill, N.J./Camden Catholic 8-2
165 #15 Conor Brennan Sr. Brick, N.J./Brick Township 10-0
174 Wayne Stinson So. Wrightstown, N.J./Northern Burlington 5-5
184 Steve Nelson Jr. Haddonfield, N.J./Haddon Township 0-2
197 Ryan Wolfe Jr. New Castle, Del./Caravel Academy 8-3
285 Mauro Correnti So. Delran, N.J./Holy Cross 6-4
Team ranking is Intermat Tournament Power Index (TPI) as of 12/15/15
All Individual Rankings are Intermat as of 12/15/15
