Penn State Ready for Quest of Fifth Title

AdminNovember 4, 2014Last Updated: November 5, 2014

1 minute read

UNIVERSITY PARK – On Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2014 the Pennsylvania wrestling media converged on the Lorenzo Wrestling Center at Penn State University to meet for the Wrestling Media Day.

The Nittany Lions earned their fourth consecutive NCAA National Championship and by all expectations, head coach Cael Sanderson will do everything in his power to be sure Penn State has a shot at a fifth title.

The competition will be tough on this quest and Coach Sanderson has no illusions that his toughest competition will come from right within the Big Ten Conference.

Of particular interest to Record readers is the status and prospects of fifth year seniors, Andrew and Dylan Alton. The former Central Mountain multiple state champions have had issues with injuries that has forced them to miss and/or delay opportunities on the mat for the Nittany Lions, testing their resolve relentlessly.

Coach Sanderson revealed, when asked in the press conference, that the Nittany Lions would be going with Cody Law at 157 this Sunday against visiting Lehigh University. Indicating another late start for the 157 pounder, duplicating the situation of a year ago.

“Dylan needs a little more time following his surgery after last season,” Sanderson explained.

Sanderson also commented, “Andrew is a late December, early January situation. I’m not sure but I’m always going to be optimistic. I’m going to stick with that.”

“The Alton situation has been tricky because they have been battling injury after injury. That’s a different type of game than getting your confidence back. I think if healthy, obviously they wouldn’t be in this situation,” Sanderson observed, “ That’s the hand that they’re dealt. This is their last opportunity. We’ll see. It’s going to take a lot of hard work, focus and commitment.”

Here is Coach Sanderson’s thoughts and comments in response to the media, uncut and unedited. For comments about the Alton twins from Coach Sanderson, check out the 3:24 and 6:15 marks of the video.