Penn State Wrestling Wins at Wisconsin 33-11

Penn State Wrestling continued their winning ways Friday night as they traveled to Madison and took down Wisconsin 33-11, holding a remarkable 25-2 takedown advantage in the dual.

The match started at 157 where top-ranked Jason Nolf pinned Badger backup Jared Schrarenbrock in 3:48. The match moved to 165 for one of the marquee matchups of the dual as #4 Cenzo Joseph lost a late lead to returning NCAA Runner-Up (and third-ranked) Isaac Jordan after making the decision not to cut Jordan with a 4-2 lead with :20 remaining in the third period. Jordan scored a reversal, his second of the bout, and then got the winning takedown off a Joseph shot in the sudden victory period.

At 174, #7 Mark Hall avenged last week’s setback to the tune of a 17-4 major decision over Wisconsin’s Ryan Christensen. Second ranked Bo Nickal continued his dominant ways with another win by fall at 184, downing Hunter Ritter at 184 in 2:26. Number ten Matt McCutcheon rode out the entire third period, giving him a 2-0 win at 197 over #12 Ricky Robertson to make the dual score 19-3 at intermission.

Following the intermission we had the second marquee matchup of the dual as undefeateds Nick Nevills and Connor Medbery went at it. The fourth ranked Nevills had the late 3-2 lead, but #2 Medbery scored a takedown late in the third period and rode Nevills out for the win, 4-3. Then at 125, #3 Nick Suriano won by major decision over Wisconsin backup Jens Lantz 15-4.

At 133 Tristan Law, made his debut and recorded the only takedown of the bout, but was dominated on top by Eli Stickey and was defeated by technical fall 17-2, bring the team score to 23-11.

Twelfth ranked Jimmy Gulibon looked like the exact same wrestler who closed strong last week against Iowa, as he converted five attacks for five takedowns en route to a very impressive 15-3 major decision over #15 Cole Martin at 141.

Top ranked Zain Retherford closed out the match, his 49th win in a row, with a fall over Andrew Crone in 4:30, bringing us our final score of 33-11.

Wrestler of the Dual

I’ve said in this space before that Gulibon is inconsistent, but maybe, just maybe, he is turning the corner in the stretch run of his senior year.

Match-By-Match

157: #1 Jason Nolf PSU pinned Jared Scharenbrock WIS, WBF (3:48) / 6-0

165: #3 Isaac Jordan WIS dec. (SV) #4 Vincenzo Joseph PSU, 6-4 (SV) / 6-3

174: #7 Mark Hall PSU maj. dec. Ryan Christensen WIS, 17-4 / 10-3

184: #2 Bo Nickal PSU pinned Hunter Ritter WIS, WBF (2:35) / 16-3

197: #10 Matt McCutcheon PSU dec. #12 Ricky Robertson WIS, 2-0 / 19-3

285: #2 Connor Medbery WIS dec. #4 Nick Nevills PSU, 4-3 / 19-6

125: #3 Nick Suriano PSU maj. dec. Jens Lantz WIS, 15-4 / 23-6

133: Eli Stickley WIS TF Triston Law PSU, 17-2 (TF; 7:00) / 23-11

141: #12 Jimmy Gulibon PSU maj. dec. #15 Cole Martin WIS, 15-3 / 27-11

149: #1 Zain Retherford PSU pinned Andrew Crone WIS, WBF (4:30) / 33-11