Penn State crowns three All-Americans at University National Freestyle Wrestling Tournament
EVANSTON, Ill – Three Penn State wrestlers earned freestyle All-American honors this past weekend at the University National Freestyle Championships in Evanston, Ill.
Seniors Adam Smith (Newport, Pa.) and Jarrad Turner (Hudson, Ohio) wrestled their way to third and seventh place finishes, respectively. True-freshman Jake Strayer (South Fork, Pa.) placed fourth. Nine Nittany Lions in all competed in the event which also serves as a qualifier for the University World Team Trials to be held in Colorado Springs, Col. May 26-28. Smith and Strayer received automatic bids to that event and will join red-shirt freshman Phil Davis, who qualified by virtue of his All-America finish at the NCAA Championships. Turner is among the candidates to receive an at-large bid to the Trials, while Eric Bradley, who joined Davis in earning NCAA All-America honors, is not expected to compete.
Smith, who concluded his collegiate wrestling career with his third straight NCAA appearance this year, posted a 4-1 mark in the tournament and defeated Tanner Gardner of Stanford in the third place match at 121 pounds. His biggest win came when he defeated former All-American Mark McKnight of Buffalo in the quarterfinals. Smith lost a closely contested match to Nick Simmons of Michigan State in the semifinals. Simmons went on to win the title. Strayer, who red-shirted this season at Penn State, went 4-2 in the tournament as he lost his third place bout at 132 pounds to Eric Lemont wrestling for Sunkist. Strayer forced the match to three periods under the new freestyle rules, but lost 1-1 in the third as Lemont scored last for the victory.
Turner, who finished his collegiate career this year at Penn State, went 5-2 in the tournament as he won his seventh place bout at 145 pounds over Ryan Lange of Northwestern.
Other Nittany Lions who competed in the event included sophomores Brian Cantalupi (2-2), James Yonushonis (3-2), and A.J. Cummins (1-2) and freshmen Mark Friend (1-2), Philip Bomberger (0-2) and Andrew Winfield (0-2).
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