Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire (2) Penn State @ (1) Oklahoma State dual wrestling Sunday 19 Feb

Penn State coach Cael Sanderson congratulates wrestler David Taylor after he won a title during the 2014 NCAA
Championships in Oklahoma City. (Photo by Nate Billings)

Mike Gundy went back to his days at Monroney Junior High in Midwest
City by donning a singlet this week to make a video promoting OSU
wrestling. The top-ranked Cowboys host No. 2 Penn State on Sunday

in the national duals championship match.

In Gundy’s pitch, he said something that resonated. “The teams are
coached by the two greatest American wrestlers ever.”

[video:youtube]t6lAoxVXRuM[/video]

Interesting. Is it true? Well, any such declaration is dependent on
the parameters. But you can make a very good case that Gundy aced
this one.

OSU’s John Smith and Penn State’s Cael Sanderson don’t necessarily
rank 1-2 in any specific criteria. But each sits atop a particular
list.

Greatest freestyle wrestler in American history? That’s Smith. He’s
got gold medals from six World Championships or Olympics. Four
Worlds, two Olympics. No other American has won like that. Bruce
Baumgartner, who spent time as an OSU assistant coach, won five
(three World, two Olympic). Jordan Burroughs won four (three World,
one Olympic). Leroy Kemp won three Worlds. Former Sooner Mark
Schultz won two Worlds and one Olympic. Kevin Jackson won two
Worlds and one Olympic.

But no one has reached six, other than John Smith.


John Smith

Greatest college wrestler ever? Well, that’s Sanderson, and while
his record might be tied some day, it’s not likely to be broken
unless the NCAA changes eligibility parameters. Sanderson wrestled
for Iowa State from 1999-2002; he won four NCAA titles and went
undefeated, 159-0. Sports Illustrated named Sanderson’s career as
the second-most impressive college sports of all time, trailing
only Jesse Owens setting four world records in a single hour at the
1935 Big Ten Track & Field Championships.

Smith was not in Sanderson’s class as an NCAA wrestler. Smith won
two NCAA titles.

But Sanderson was not in Smith’s class as an international freestyle
wrestler. Sanderson won one Olympic gold but no Worlds.

In a lot of sports, it’s hard to determine who is the greatest.

College basketball? Is it Lew Alcindor or Pete Maravich or Oscar
Robertson?

Pro football? Is it Tom Brady or Jim Brown or any of a host of
defensive behemoths?

But individual sports are a little easier to gauge. Jack Nicklaus,
Serena Williams, that crowd.

And so it is with wrestling. John Smith and Cael Sanderson stand at
the top of their sport, on two separate podiums. And their teams
wrestle Sunday in Gallagher-Iba Arena.

Cael defends the Smith low leg.

Smith's kid has looked pretty good. Pretty sure he's a red shirt freshman.


Edited to add, good to see Burroughs mentioned. He just retired last year, probably headed to mma.

Orange Oakie did you see this? Didn't show on my cable. Did Cael/PA State win or am I eating some Oklahoma crow?

I listened to it on the radio (internet live streaming.) oSu jumped out to a 13-0 lead then PSU ran off 24 unanswered pts for the win. They are definitely a dominate team again this year. There was no live TV. Flowrestling must have had a special deal with a pay per view. I heard their feed kept shutting down, so it sounds like it was a waste of money. GIA was sold out with 14,000 fans.


Oklahoma State's Joseph Smith, left, wrestles Penn State's Jason Nolf in the 157-pound
match during Sunday's NWCA Dual Championships at Gallagher-Iba Arena. Smith, the
son of OSU coach John Smith, lost by technical fall, 24-9.

Dan Gable is still the best coach...ever.

Wow Nolf teched Smith. That's quite a feat. Smith is ranked 6th I think? OO I've given up on Flow Wrestling. I can seldom stay online with it. Didn't realize it wasn't televised, I was looking for it all day. I'm pretty sure Penn St is undefeated in Duels this year. I'm a big Cael Sanderson fan. Smith was great too. Guy has a takedown named after him. I teach it to all my kids. They're sick of hearing me yelling turn the corner.

Even with the overflow sellout, the kids didn't seem to wrestle with the same confidence they have had all year. The last six matches, the Cowboys didn't score a single takedown. PSU is at the top of their game again. Will be tough to keep them from another national championship.

If they started 13-0, they beat a very good kid at 25 or 33, I forget which but the kids a freshman and a beast. Somebody had a big day.

The No. 2 Nittany Lions rallied to stun No. 1 Oklahoma State, 27-13, at the highly anticipated NWCA Dual Championship at Stillwater, Okla., on Sunday. The Nittany Lions defeated the Cowboys 29-18 last year, but this time Penn State did it on the road — and after trailing big early.

In a matchup of unbeaten teams, the Cowboys took at 13-0 lead before the Nittany Lions surged. Top-ranked Zain Retherford got Penn State on the board with a 2-1 decision victory against No. 2 Anthony Collica at 149 pounds, and would not lose again. Mark Hall’s 3-2 win at 174 gave Penn State the lead, and his teammate Bo Nickal then pinned the Cowboys’ Nolan Boyd at 184 to increase Penn State’s lead to 21-13.

125: No. 2 Nick Suriano (16-1) vs. No. 11 Nick Piccininni (18-6): Piccininni wins on injury forfeit loss; 6-0 OSU

133: George Carpenter (1-11) vs. No. 3 Kaid Brock (22-1): Brock major decision 17-6; 10-0 OSU

PS's Suriano at 25, thats the kid. He's a freshman - a true freshman, surprised he lost. Must have really been hurt he's a tough kid. I was wondering who came out of the woodwork to beat him. He should have won against the Cowboys 25.l

Suriano didn't get beat. Was up 3-1 before he defaulted. He would have demolished Piccininni....sorry.

I am a huge Penn State fan...being a Pennsylvania native. But the Okies are my second favorite team.

I had all my picks in before the event and had OSU over PSU 19-17.

I expected Crutchmer to knock off Hall....which was a super Stall Fest....3-2 win for Hall.

And I expected Chandler to get funky and stick Cenzo. But instead he got majored.

Weigle my favorite Cowboy. Kids' a Stallion. But if he doesn't unhitch that ffffukking cart and get busy he is gonna have a very disappointing finish to the season. You can't win if you simply tie up and push for 7 minutes. When he's on and wants to score points and get busy...he's awesome. Most matches he seem like he has Zero F's to Give.

I pay $240 a year for FloWrestling....and even took 2 hours of vacation time off work to watch this.....and couldn't watch a single match due to server overload. Beyond pissed.

You Okie's miss 'Ringer....

Suriano was an undefeated 4 time New Jersey State Champ, can someone tell me why a match like this wasn't televised? Does anyone know know what happened to Suriano? I read in the recap that Gulibon almost pinned Heil twice and and he didn't get any back points, how does that happen? Penn State kicked some butt yesterday!

Go Penn State

Kudos to Penn State. To beat the Cowboys at a sold out GIA is not an easy thing to do and was well earned.

Suriano suffered a severe ankle sprain and tried, but simply could not go, hence he had to forfeit.

PSU and OSU are at a different level this year.
Just hoping that Dresser can get one of the Hokies an individual NC this year. I just can't really see where they can pull it off though.

IMHO Kevin Dresser will go down as a top ten coach when all is done.

Couldn't get the match here. Suriano has looked so tough all season, particularly for a freshman - can't see him losing that one other than injury. OSU is excellent, but could see PSU running the table except for the 133 match - what is up with PSU and that slot?

Penn State Makes Declaration For No. 1

ROBERT ALLEN
Yesterday at 5:48 PM

Oklahoma State won the first three matches but Penn State closed it out en route to a 27-13 victory oin the NWCA Dual Championships before a record-setting crowd of 14,059 inside Gallagher-Iba Arena.

STILLWATER – As expected Oklahoma State surged out to an early lead over Penn State in the NWCA Dual Championship Match, but the early lead turned out to be much larger than expected. An all-time Oklahoma State wrestling record crowd of 14,059 watched. Yes, that number is right as the fire marshal must have had a big heart allowing more fans into Gallagher-Iba Arena than there were seats for.

"I was pumped, excited because that was a great crowd," Oklahoma State head coach John Smith said afterwards. "These are like the golden days, old days. We've put some big crowds in Gallagher this year."

That huge crowd watched as second-ranked Nick Suriano of Penn State jumped out with a first period takedown but suffered an apparent sprained left ankle in the process. He was limping against the Cowboys 11th-ranked 125-pounder Nick Piccininni early in the second period and after an injury timeout that lasted for 1:28, Suriano came back but not for long before he was down again and this time could not continue. Oklahoma State had a 6-0 lead due to an injury default in a match where the Cowboys were not favored.

Oklahoma State was expected to win at 133 pounds in a big way as third-ranked Kaid Brock, the red-shirt freshman from Stillwater with a 22-1 record, was battling unranked George Carpenter of the Nittany Lions with a 1-11 mark this season. Brock charged out in the first period with two takedowns and after the second a four-point near fall. The lead kept building to 16-2 at one point, with Brock seriously threatening a technical fall, but give Carpenter credit as he navigated a late third period takedown and hung on to ride out the match giving Brock a 17-6 major decision and OSU a 10-0 lead.

Top-ranked and unbeaten Dean Heil also started fast with a first period takedown against 11th-ranked but dangerous Jimmy Gulibon. It was every bit as contentious as expected as Gulibon hopped on Heil's back several times and ate up time. In the end with a chance to win at 2-2, Gulibon released Heil and he was never able to score again in the final minute as Heil won his 33rd match in a row dating back to last season. The defending national champion won a 3-2 decision and gave the Cowboys a 13-0 team lead. Just what the Cowboys needed, but would it be enough?

"I've constantly been on a team that's been second in high school and now to Ohio State and Penn State in college," Heil said. "I'm wrestling a guy and win 3-2, maybe if I'd wrestled better and got a major then we'd have been in a better position."

Now it was time to enter Penn State's murderer's row.

Top-ranked and unbeaten Zain Retherford at 18-0 and second-ranked Cowboy Anthony Collica formed the most anticipated match of the dual, a true one versus two and it did not disappoint. A defensive battle, Retherford used his opportunity on top to earn 1:51 in riding time as the two wrestlers exchanged escapes. Collica was battling late in the third, shooting about every five seconds in the last 40 seconds of the match, but Retherford was careful and stayed unbeaten with a 2-1 decision as riding time was the deciding point. Penn State was on the board trailing 13-3.

"I thought Collica wrestled a good match, but you can't wait 'til the end and try to steal the match," Smith said. "You can't expect to get the takedown at the end. You have to wrestle every period, you have to wrestle to put yourself in a better position. He'll have a chance to improve."

The second top-ranked and unbeaten Nittany Lion in a row was 157-pound Jason Nolf at 18-0 and for the Cowboys it was sixth-ranked Joe Smith. Smith at 8-3 had his issues with injury and resulting inactivity during the season showed against Nolf. Nolf repeatedly was able to get deep into Smith and the takedowns were continuous throughout the match. Smith battled and even had a takedown of his own, but the fight to avoid a technical fall couldn't survive the riding time point, which when tacked on at the end of the match made it 24-9 in favor of Nolf and the Cowboys lead was thinned to 13-8.

By the end of the 165-pound match the Nittany Lions had it nearly back to even as fourth-ranked Vincenzo Joseph used a pair of takedowns sandwiched around an escape with a four-point near fall after the second takedown to grad a commanding 6-1 lead. An escape by the Cowboys eighth-ranked Chandler Rogers in the second made it 6-2, but in the third period Joseph got a quick escape starting in the down position and turned it into a takedown to go on to 12-4 major decision and pull the team score to 13-12 still in favor of the Cowboys.

Could 174 pounds be the turning point? Cowboys fans certainly hoped not and when ninth-ranked Kyle Crutchmer got a third period escape after starting down to tie the match at 1-1 and then proceeded to wrestle aggressively but as he got deep, the Lions seventh-ranked Mark Hall turned it around on him and maneuvered to get the takedown with seconds left. Crutchmer got an escape but it was Hall's decision 3-2 that put Penn State on top for the first time in the team score 15-13.

It got much worse just seconds later for the Cowboys as fourth-ranked Nolan Boyd, a guy that has answered the bell time and time again in the clutch in duals, took on Penn State's second-ranked 184-pounder Bo Nickal. Nickal used a quick takedown and then got Boyd in a cradle and it was over in 38 seconds with the official slapping the canvas and the fall put Penn State up 21-13.

In the third period at 197 pounds, a familiar story with a repeat as eighth-ranked Cowboy Preston Weigel had a lead in the third period, but two takedowns in the final period by the Nittany Lions ninth-ranked Matt McCutcheon resulted in a mild upset and gave the Lions an insurmountable 24-13 lead.

Penn State closed it out at heavyweight with thirrd-ranked Nick Nevils scoring a 10-5 decision over the Cowboys Derek White as John Smith left his ranked and injured 285-pounder Austin Schafer in the barn for the Big 12 and NCAA tournaments.

Penn State won every match after 141 and closed out a 27-13 National Duals Championship.

"We wrestled some mush matches," Smith said. "If we don't wrestle better, use this to improve before we go forward then we will be wrestling for second place. I like my team, but we're not as good as Penn State right now."

I believe Suriano was never taken down in his High School career, pretty amazing!