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Penn State Wrestling’s top 25 dual meets in the Cael Sanderson era

By Chris Snyder

STATE COLLEGE, PA - JANUARY 31: A view of the sell out crowd during a match between the Penn State Nittany Lions and the Michigan Wolverines on January 31, 2016 at Recreation Hall on the campus of Penn State University in State College, Pennsylvania. Penn State won 35-7. (Photo by Hunter Martin/Getty Images)
STATE COLLEGE, PA - JANUARY 31: A view of the sell out crowd during a match between the Penn State Nittany Lions and the Michigan Wolverines on January 31, 2016 at Recreation Hall on the campus of Penn State University in State College, Pennsylvania. Penn State won 35-7. (Photo by Hunter Martin/Getty Images) /
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Jordan Conaway of the Penn State Nittany Lions(Photo by Hunter Martin/Getty Images) /

No. 16

November 15, 2015
Blacksburg, Va
No. 1 Penn State 21, No. 7 Virginia Tech 15

The Nittany Lions survived a thrilling dual meet victory in Rec Hall against the Hokies in the prior season.

However, this time it was Penn State’s Wrestling turn to drive south on I-81 to Blacksburg.

Would the result be the same as the prior year?

Virginia Tech certainly wanted a say in that question. But the 2015-2016 Penn State Wrestling team was revamped and only five grapplers had competed in the dual meet the prior year.

One of the new faces the Hokies would see was No. 2 Nico Megaludis (PSU) who took over at 125. This then allowed for No. 8 Jordan Conaway (PSU) and No. 2 Jimmy Gulibon (PSU) to go up in weight to 133 and 141 respectively. Which gave the Nittany Lions a strong group to lead out of the gates if the dual started at 125.

And this is where the dual started out. I’m sure Sanderson and the team were licking their chops to get up early on Virginia Tech.

However, this isn’t how it played out. Quite the opposite actually. No. 6 Joey Dance (VT) pulled out a 4-3 decision over Megaludis and unranked Solomon Chishko (VT) shocked Gulibon in a 3-1 decision.

Only Conaway scored a victory in the first three matches thus giving Virginia Tech a 6-3 lead early on.

No problem.

That year’s Penn State team had No. 2 Zain Retherford (PSU), No. 6 Jason Nolf (PSU), and No. 14 Bo Nickal (PSU) in their lineup.

And they were each victorious in earning a technical fall and two decisions. With only three matches remaining in the dual, Penn State had built a 14-9 lead.

No. 14 Matt McCutcheon (PSU) slammed the door shut with a major decision and No. 1 Morgan McIntosh (PSU) latched the deadbolt with a decision of his own.

The Nittany Lions spotted the Hokies six free points with a forfeit in the final match and sealed the victory 21-15.

Oh, and Virginia Tech also set a wrestling attendance record* of their own when 5,097 human beings were able to witness Penn State’s greatness in person.

* – Do non-PSU wrestling fans enjoy having their soul ripped away from their body?

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