2012 Big Ten Wrestling Championships – Team Standings After Session 2
Saturday, March 3, 2012 – Mackey Arena – West Lafayette, Ind.
1: Minnesota – 117.0
2: Iowa – 112.5
3: PENN STATE – 110.0
4: Illinois – 81.5
5: Ohio State – 76.0
6: Northwestern – 61.5
7: Nebraska – 56.5
8: Michigan – 50.0
9: Purdue – 47.5
10: Indiana – 35.5
11: Michigan State – 35.5
12: Wisconsin – 9.0
Molinaro, Taylor and Ruth Advance to Big Ten Finals with Lions in Three-Way Battle for Big Ten Title
Eight Nittany Lions secure NCAA automatic bids with all 10 still alive tomorrow
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind.; March 3, 2012 – The Penn State Nittany Lion wrestling team, led by head coach Cael Sanderson, ended the first day of the 2012 Big Ten Wrestling Championships by sending three wrestlers to tomorrow’s Big Ten Championship finals. The Nittany Lions find themselves in a heated three-way battle for the Big Ten Championship with Minnesota and Iowa.
Penn State went 3-5 in the semifinals and will have three wrestlers in tomorrow evening’s Big Ten Championship finals. Three-time All-American Frank Molinaro (Barnegat, N.J.), All-American David Taylor (St. Paris, Ohio) and All-American Ed Ruth (Harrisburg, Pa.) will wrestle for their second Big Ten titles. Penn State has secured eight NCAA qualifiers to date with one more alive for an automatic bid and all 10 still wrestling for place.
Sophomore Frank Martellotti (Pittsburgh, Pa.) and junior Bryan Pearsall (Lititz, Pa.) started Penn State off in the evening session, with both me set in consolation action at 133 and 141. Martellotti posted an 8-2 win over Joe Duca at 133 then Pearsall majored Matt Ortega of Indiana at 141. Those two wins set up the evening’s final session, including the semifinals and consolation quarters.
Nico Megaludis (Murrysville, Pa.) was Penn State’s first semifinalist, starting things off at 125. The true freshman lost a hard-fought 6-2 decision to No. 2 Zach Sanders of Minnesota and will wrestle in the consolation semifinals tomorrow. Megaludis is already an NCAA qualifier. Molinaro crushed Purdue’s Ivan Lopouchanski, ranked No. 12 nationally, in the semifinals. The three-time All-American rolled to a 15-0 technical fall at the 6:07 mark to move into the finals tomorrow. Red-shirt freshman Dylan Alton (Mill Hall, Pa.) suffered a 3-1 (sv) upset loss to sixth-seed Derek St. John of Iowa in the semifinals, with the takedown coming with under :10 left on the clock. Alton, a qualifier already, will wrestle in the conso semis tomorrow morning.
Taylor had no trouble with Illinois’ Conrad Polz in the semifinals at 165. He posted a 12-0 major over the No. 12 ranked Illini and moves into tomorrow’s Big Ten finals. Classmate Ruth also posted a convincing major, getting a 15-7 major decision over No. 10 Nick Heflin of Ohio State to move into tomorrow’s finals at 174. Two-time All-American Quentin Wright (Wingate, Pa.) suffered a 3-1 loss to No. 7 Josh Ihnen of Nebraska and will not defend his Big Ten title. He moves into tomorrow’s consolation semifinals.
True freshman Morgan McIntosh (Santa Ana, Calif.) nearly upset No. 3 Matt Powless at 197. McIntosh took a 6-5 lead with an escape at the :12 mark but Powless got a takedown with just :03 on the clock to steal the 7-6 win and send the Lion freshman into the consolation semifinals. McIntosh and Wright have already qualified for nationals. Senior Cameron Wade (Twinsburg, Ohio) dropped a 5-0 decision to sixth-seed Bobby Telford of Iowa and will wrestle in the consolation semifinals.
While the semifinals were occurring, the consolation quarterfinals were being contested as well. Martellotti dropped a tough 6-2 decision to No. 7 Chris Dardanes of Minnesota in the consolation quarterfinals. He still has a shot at an automatic bid to NCAAs in the seventh place bout tomorrow morning. He faces No. 18 Ridge Kiley of Nebraska with the winner taking seventh and a spot at nationals. Pearsall dropped a 5-2 decision to No. 9 Jake Sueflohn of Nebraska, the 5th-seed, in the consolation quarterfinals. The Lion junior will wrestle for seventh place tomorrow and could still be alive in the pool for an at-large bid, which comes out next week.
Penn State went 5-7 tonight and is 18-9 heading into tomorrow’s action. The Nittany Lions have 18.0 bonus points to date as well. The 2012 Big Ten Championship Tournament is being contested at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind., on March 3-4. Session three begins at 1 p.m. tomorrow with the championship finals starting at 3 p.m. The finals will be aired live on the Big Ten Network.