Penn State head wrestling coach Cael Sanderson was inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame on Wednesday evening. He received his plaque from Bobby Douglas, Sanderson's legendary coach at Iowa State. Sanderson's wife, Kelly, posted a pic of the plaque presentation here. The NWHOF calls its honorees 'Distinguished Members' and TheMat.com has a list of all them since the charter class of 1976. USA Wrestling's Jason Bryant caught up with Sanderson for an interview in what looks to be some kind of Elk Lodge in Stillwater, OK. I like how he started in on saying that Penn State winning nationals this year gave him a 'little bit of a cushion' to go ahead and begin competing personally again, but recognized he 'couldn't really explain it' like that and just finished with: 'all I know is I really wanna do it.'
A few World Team Trials updates after the jump.
As wresfan noted in yesterday's comments, the two international styles being competed at the World Team Trials in Oklahoma this weekend are Greco-Roman and Freestyle. Penn State's Nittany Lion Wrestling Club does not have any wrestlers competing in Greco-Roman, but has 10 doing so in Freestyle. Of the seven men's freestyle (MFS on the trackwrestling.com site, if you want to follow along on brackets; warning: the site's a little bumpy, navigationally) weight classes, three are competing their challenge brackets today and four tomorrow. The Saturday Challenge brackets aren't yet posted for the following weights:
55kg/121lbs
66kg/145.5lbs
84kg/185lbs
120kg/264.5lbs
But here are a few early results from today's action:
60kg/132lbs
NLWC's Nick Fanthorpe won his first match then dropped his second and third and is out of the tournament. His second loss was to Army's Derek Moore, who now faces Ohio State's Logan Stieber in the consis. Wisconsin's Tyler Graff defeated Iowa's Ty Clark in the consis to knock him out of the tournament also.
74kg/163lbs
NLWC doesn't have any wrestlers competing at this weight, but there are a few wrestlers Penn State (most probably David Taylor) may run into in next year's college folkstyle season. Wisconsin's Andrew Howe has advanced to the semifinals of the challenge bracket, having defeated Ohio State's Colt Sponseller in round two. New Nebraska transfer Tyler Caldwell and Cornell's Kyle Dake have each been sent to the consis after a first-round win.
96kg/211.5lbs
This is where wresfan noted NLWC's Aaron Anspach dropped the 50 pounds to get to. He got a first-round bye and then advanced to the semis by defeating Penn's Micah Burak, who won with a first-round pin. Waiting in the Championship Round set for Saturday night is US Open Champion and NLWC member Jake Varner. Iowa's Luke Lofthouse lost his first-round match and Kent State's Dustin Kilgore advanced to the semis in a big upset over JD Bergman. Intermat's preview had called this class a 'two-horse race' between Bergman & Varner.