Oklahoma State returns to schedule; Lions host seven duals against nation’s best
STATE COLLEGE, Pa.; — The Penn State wrestling team is celebrating 100 years of wrestling this season and once again faces one of the nation’s toughest schedules. Head coach Troy Sunderland has announced the 2007-08 Nittany Lion wrestling schedule and Penn State will host seven outstanding duals. The Nittany Lions also meet Oklahoma State for the first time since 1999-2000.
Penn State will take part in 14 regularly scheduled matches and once again take part in the National Duals in January. In addition to a stunning slate of dual match action, Penn State will once again host Wrestle-Offs and take part in the Nittany Lion Open. The schedule once again concludes with the Big Ten Championships and the NCAA Championships in March.
The season begins in earnest on Sunday, Nov. 4, when Penn State hosts Wrestle-Offs in Rec Hall at 1 p.m. The annual event then gives Penn State a week to get ready for the season opener as the Maryland Terrapins visit Penn State on Sunday, Nov. 11, in a 1 p.m. match-up. Less than a week later, national power and Eastern rival Hofstra comes to Penn State for a 1 p.m. dual on Saturday, Nov. 17.
Penn State then takes a week off to prepare for the 2007 Nittany Lion Open, which will take place on Sunday, Dec. 2. Five days later, a superb two-match swing opens the road slate for Sunderland’s Lions. Penn State will visit regional rival Lehigh on Friday, Dec. 7, in a 7 p.m. dual. The Lions will then take to the skies and head to Stillwater, Okla., to face national power Oklahoma State on Sunday, Dec. 9. The time of that dual has yet to be determined. The match-up with the Cowboys will be the first meeting between the two teams in nearly a decade and Penn State’s first trip to Stillwater since the 1999-2000 season.
After the semester break, Penn State opens up the spring semester with a rugged home dual against regional rival Cornell. The Big Red and Nittany Lions will tangle on Friday, Jan. 4, at 7 p.m. Penn State then makes its return to the 2008 NWCA/Cliff Kean National Duals, hosted by Northern Iowa University in Cedar Falls, Iowa. The field for this year’s dual meet championship tournament is outstanding and includes Penn State, Central Michigan, Cornell, Hofstra, Indiana, Iowa State, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Northern Iowa, Northwestern, Ohio State, Oklahoma State and West Virginia.
Penn State will return to Iowa less than a week later for its Big Ten opener. The Nittany Lions will visit the Iowa Hawkeyes on Sunday, Jan. 20. The Nittany Lions then visit Ohio State on Friday, Jan. 25, for a 7 p.m. conference match-up before returning home to host Indiana on Sunday, Jan. 27, at 1 p.m. Big Ten road action continues the next week as the Lions visit Northwestern on Friday, Feb. 1 and Illinois on Sunday, Feb. 3. Penn State then hosts three straight conference duals to close out its Big Ten schedule. The Michigan Wolverines will visit what is sure to be a packed Rec Hall on Friday night, Feb. 8, at 7 p.m. Michigan State then comes to town a week later for a 7 p.m. match-up on Friday, Feb. 15. The Purdue Boilermakers visit Rec Hall for Penn State’s home finale on Sunday, Feb. 17, at 1 p.m. The Nittany Lions close out the dual match schedule with a short road trip to local rival Lock Haven on Saturday, Feb. 23, at 7:30 p.m.
“We are very pleased and excited about the schedule that we will face this year. With the new additions to our slate and a return to the national duals, we have created a schedule that will challenge our team every step of the way and prepare us for the Big Ten and NCAA Championships,” Sunderland said. We face one of the nation’s toughest line-ups every year by facing eight of the country’s best teams in the Big Ten. We also continue our outstanding non-conference schedule against some of the nation’s top teams like Hofstra, Cornell and Lehigh. Add in a new regional foe like Maryland and local rival Lock Haven and it is easy to get excited about the 100 year campaign.”
The season will conclude with the two biggest tournaments for Penn State. The 2008 Big Ten Championships will be hosted by the University of Minnesota on Saturday and Sunday, March 8-9, in Minneapolis. Two weeks later, all roads lead to St. Louis as the 2008 NCAA Wrestling Championships return to St. Louis’ Scottrade Center (formerly the Savvis Center). The three day title tourney takes place on March 20-22.
“We are very disappointed about Aaron Anspach not getting a sixth year of eligibility, but despite that, we have an outstanding group of wrestlers returning. We have two All-Americans and three other national qualifiers returning and a hungry group of guys who are ready to take their shots at becoming national champions. This schedule will serve as a superb test for our team and prepare us exceptionally well for March.”
Penn State returns seven of ten starters from last year’s team as well as two other starters from the 2005-06 campaign and another spot starter from a year ago. Two All-Americans and three more national qualifiers will help give Penn State a talented and veteran line-up. Senior Phil Davis (Harrisburg, Pa.) will be looking to claim his elusive national title and will aim to become Penn State’s fourth four-time All-American. Davis has placed seventh (2005), was national runner-up (2006) and finished fifth (2007) at 197 pounds. Junior Jake Strayer (South Fork, Pa.) earned his first All-America honor after his seventh place finish at 133 a year ago at nationals. Strayer will move up to 141 pounds this year for a run at a national title.
Senior Mark McKnight (McDonald, Pa.) is a three-time national qualifier at 125 pounds and returns for his final season with the Nittany Lions. Two sophomores who were recently named to the AWN All-Rookie Team return for their second seasons in the Lion line-up as well. Dan Vallimont (Lake Hopatcong, N.J.) went 3-2 at nationals last year and finished in the ‘Round of 12’, just one win shy of All-America status. Bubba Jenkins (Virginia Beach, Va.) returns for his second season after qualifying for nationals at 157.
Other starters returning include sophomores Dave Rella (Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio) at 165 and Mike Ward (Mayfield, Ohio) at 184. Ward split starting time at 184 last year with returning junior starter Phil Bomberger (Port Royal, Pa.). Brad Pataky (Clearfield, Pa.), who started periodically at 125 in 2005-06, and David Erwin (Urbana, Ohio), who started most of that season at 165, also return after red-shirt seasons. Erwin looks to move up to 174. A number of talented heavyweights return to vie for the spot opened up by Anspach’s graduation, including transfers John Laboranti (Scranton, Pa.) and Stefan Tighe (Erie, Pa.). Penn State went 14-5 overall last year and placed third in the Big Ten dual match standings with a 5-3 mark. The Lions were fourth at Big Tens and 11th at nationals, crowning three All-Americans with one national finalist (Anspach). The Nittany Lions also welcome one of the nation’s top recruiting classes as well.
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