How Penn State Wrestling’s National Championship stacks up, according to TrueTan Wrestling
By Chris Snyder
Big Ten Takeaways
VBR – I’ll going to kick things off with a couple of Big Ten questions. Like him or not, Michigan’s Nick Suriano is the best wrestler in the nation at 125 and you can make an argument he’s the best P4P as well. But are you surprised with how the third period unfolded in his match with Princeton’s Pat Glory? I know referees tend to swallow their whistles at the end of matches, but he could have easily been slapped with another stall warning there late.
TTW – I am a little surprised especially with how dominant Suriano was being. However, I love Pat Glory. He is a scrapper and even when he is down by a few or more points, he will not stop coming at you. Especially from that top position.
In all reality, Suriano knew he had the lead and coasted a little. Which is sort of out of character for him, but congratulations to him. Also, congrats to the Wolverines are their champion.
Answering your question though, haha, I for sure like him, the dude wrestles hard and is a master at the sport.
VBR – Switching gears over to Northwestern’s Ryan Deakin. You have to feel good about seeing him finally win an individual title after all of the success he’s had, right?
TTW – Deakin is a guy that for the past three years you always wanted to see win, and he finally got it done. I was beyond happy to see it for him and the Wildcats. I really wanted to see a Carr vs Deakin final/rematch, but unfortunately, we didn’t get that. However, we did see Ryan Deakin on top of the stand.
VBR – I know this isn’t going to be a popular opinion amongst Penn State Wrestling fans, but it just doesn’t seem right that Alex Marinelli’s career at Iowa is over and he didn’t win a single NCAA title. I know he sometimes got way too conservative in matches when the bright lights of the NCAA Championships shined down, so how do you feel about The Bull not finishing higher than 5th in any of his NCAA appearances?
TTW – The craziest part is that his best top-side run was his freshman year where he made the semi-finals. Every other year he only made the quarters. Luckily this was his best finish which also does not seem right that he never made the consolation-finals at least once.
He will for sure be missed. He was not the flashiest by any means, but every wrestling fan knew him, he was a stand-up guy, and he will continue to support the sport. The dude battles and he was always in the mix for a title. He just never got it done like everyone thought he would.
VBR – Lastly, what a tournament and final moment for Minnesota’s Gable Steveson. If you didn’t get goosebumps watching him place his shoes at the center of the mat then you don’t have a soul. Where does this scene fall for you in terms of college wrestling moments?
TTW – This ranks up with a moment I want to tell my kids if they ever start watching NCAAs or start loving the sport. This will be a memory told by wrestling fans far, far, far in the future. One of the greatest wrestlers ever topping off a career in such a fun way.