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After a rousing home win over Nebraska on Friday night, the Penn State wrestlers travelled to Chicago to take on #25 Northwestern. It was a laugher. Penn State stormed out to a 27-0 lead at halftime, and then kept piling the points onto the scoreboard. Mercifully, the beating ended after roughly 90 minutes, with the final score Penn State 46, Northwestern 4.
Box Score
| WT | Penn State | Result | Northwestern | Team Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 125 | #4 Megaludis | TF 24-7 | White | PSU 5, jNW 0 |
| 133 | #5 Conaway | FALL 4:39 | Malone | PSU 11, jNW 0 |
| 141 | #13 Gulibon | FFT | Oster | PSU 17, jNW 0 |
| 149 | #1 Retherford | MAJ 15-5 | #4 Tsirtsis | PSU 21, jNW 0 |
| 157 | #3 Nolf | FALL 2:13 | Petrone | PSU 27, jNW 0 |
| 165 | #15 Rasheed | DEC 6-0 | Norland | PSU 30, jNW 0 |
| 174 | #1 Nickal | FALL 1:13 | Sliga | PSU 36, jNW 0 |
| 184 | #13 McCutcheon | W, Inj.Def. | Durbin | PSU 42, jNW 0 |
| 197 | #1 McIntosh | MAJ 14-4 | Berkowitz | PSU 46, jNW 0 |
| 285 | Phipps | L, MAJ 0-10 | Jennings | PSU 46, jNW 4 |
Total Takedowns
Penn State 28, Northwestern 2
BSD Wrestler of the Meet
149lb sophomore Zain Retherford
Zain piled up six takedowns on former NCAA champ and 4th ranked Jason Tsirtsis, along with over 3 minutes of riding time. That's never happened to Tsirtsis. Ever. In the previous two years, Tsirtsis never allowed more than 8 points scored against him - and he won that match. Against Zain, Tsirtsis surrendered 15 points, and if he'd shown interest in wrestling (Tsirtsis was dinged twice for stalling), it might well have been more. Zain dominated him, neutral, bottom, and top. It was an incredible beating, both for its ferocity and surprise.
Three Completely Random, Probably Useless Thoughts
1) Jordan Conaway keeps winning. With a stacked weight class, some thought he'd struggle to make the podium this year. Now, it's difficult to picture a podium without him. And wouldn't that be awesome? The undersized, 112-lb, lightly recruited Liberty commit, who took a call from Cael when Liberty cancelled their program, becomes a 2-time All-American. Hard work pays off, kids.
2) Word from Cael this week was that both Anthony Cassar (the injured junior world team member) and Nick Nevills (the injured top-10 heavyweight) are practicing, and one or other might make it back into the lineup before too much longer. Fingers crossed, because the beatings would be then be 50-0 instead of "only" 46-4.
3) Snow. We had some. Enjoy it.