SOUTHERN SCUFFLE Penn State wins again
By Roger Moore CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. – Penn State is
still king in Chattanooga. The Nittany Lions, locked in a battle
with Missouri and Oklahoma State when wrestling started, showed they might not be ready to relinquish the top prize come March. The Scuffle field provided its usual competitive field, but in the end PSU, thanks to solid wrestling in the consola- tions, outdistanced second place MU, 165-150 on Jan. 2. OSU finished with 135.5 points with Nebraska (88.5) and Michigan (79.5) rounding out the top five in the 31-team field. It marked the fifth consecutive Scuffle
title for head coach Cael Sanderson’s program – PSU and Cornell tied at the top in 2010. Without the graduated David Taylor and
Ed Ruth, or the redshirting Nico Megaludis and Zain Retherford, the Big Ten school will still be tough to knock off the top rung on the ladder. “It was an amazing team performance,” Sanderson said. “We didn’t have any champions, didn’t finish real well, but we still wrestled as a team and scored a bunch of bonus points on the back side.” Usually doing it with men in the finals,
PSU took a different path this year. Matt Brown, who lost to Nebraska’s Robert Kokesh, was the only finalist. There were eight others placed among the top eight and that group accounted for a boat-load of bonus points. Missouri, winners of the first Scuffle in
2003, like PSU and OSU, showed they will have a say in the final outcome in just over two months. Head coach Brian Smith’s Tigers pushed four to the finals and had six among the top eight. Alan Waters, Lavion Mayes, and J’Den
Cox earned titles. “We always get that we are under the
radar and yet we haven’t had a losing season in fourteen years and we’ve beat- en the Iowas, the Oklahoma States,” said Smith, whose program finished 15th at the 2014 Championships. “We’ve gotten used to it, that we are not a traditional power. We have to prove it down the road.” The Cowboys had nine top-eight finish-
26 USA Wrestler
Penn State coach Cael Sanderson’s team won its fifth straight team title despite not crowning any champions.
ers, including champions Josh Kindig, Alex Dieringer, and Austin Marsden. It would not be too far-fetched to say
seven finals bouts Friday night could be previews of the big stage in St. Louis. Dieringer (15-0) dominated the field on
his way to a matchup with Virginia’s Nick Sulzer (15-1) in the 165-pound final where he won 8-2. A second period ankle pick broke a 2-2 tie and the national champion from a year ago picked up his second Scuffle title. “I knew I had to be prepared for a hard
match, so I went out and got three take- downs,” Dieringer said. “I got three take- downs, which was important, but I feel like I’m better in all three positions. Obviously, my offense is my best game but I have to keep working on every- thing.” At 125 pounds, Cornell’s Nahshon
Garrett faced off with Waters (18-0), a redshirt last year after finishing fourth in 2013. The Tiger used an early third peri- od reversal and a tough ride to win 3-1 with 1:24 of riding time. Waters’ teammate, Drake Houdeshelt
(19-1), fifth at the 2014 NCAAs, squared off with Kindig (10-0), the 2014 finalist, at 149 pounds. Tied at 1-1, a massive dis- play of strength in the third period led to a wild scramble and a takedown for the
Cowboy senior and a 4-3 win. It was Kindig’s first win against the Tiger in four bouts. “I will have to credit that (last) take-
down to freestyle and Greco,” said Kindig, a past Fargo national champion. “That takedown was all hips and power, something I was missing last year due to medical reason. It’s exciting to see myself using that power again.” The 174-pound slugfest featured Nebraska’s Robert Kokesh (20-0) and Brown (11-2), a pair of All-Americans among the top four in the current rank- ings.
Gabe Dean, Cornell’s talented sopho-
more who beat Ed Ruth here last year, met Pittsburgh’s Max Thomuseitt (14-0) in the 184-pound final. He continued to enjoy Chattanooga, pinning Thomusseit in 1:56. “This is a great tournament; I love com-
ing here,” said Dean, named the tourna- ment’s Outstanding Wrestler. “It’s great preparation for what’s coming in March.” Under the radar Duke’s Connor Hartman, who was fifth in 2014, tried to deal with Missouri’s J’Den Cox (19-0), the champion at 197 pounds as a rookie. Cox beat Penn State’s Morgan McIntosh on a riding time point in the semifinals and controlled Hartman in the title bout. “We need to take this as a team, enjoy
it a little bit, but we need to get back to work because we can’t be satisfied,” Cox said. “This is all prep for St. Louis.” And last, but certainly not least, Michigan’s Adam Coon met Marsden (13- 0) in the 285-pound final. Marsden, eighth at the 2014 NCAAs, was the better of the two, winning 7-4. The present met the future at 157 pounds. Husker senior James Green (17- 1), already a three-time All-American, wrestled Penn State freshman Jason Nolf. The Husker won 7-4. Iowa State’s Earl Hall pulled one out of
the fire in the semifinals, turning a cement mixer into a pin of Virginia All- American George DiCamillo while trailing 8-5 early in the third period. In the finals, Michigan’s Rossi Bruno, also a native of Florida, gambled late and paid for it after an attempted thrown went awry. Hall, eighth at 125 pounds at the 2014 NCAAs, went on to win 5-2.
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