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Penn State Wrestling’s top 10 dual meets in the Cael Sanderson era

By Chris Snyder

The crowd reacts as Aaron Brooks of the Penn State Nittany Lions gets a pin during the second period of a 184-pound bout against Rocky Jordan of the Ohio State Buckeyes at Bryce Jordan Center on February 04, 2022 in State College, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Bryan Bennett/Getty Images)
The crowd reacts as Aaron Brooks of the Penn State Nittany Lions gets a pin during the second period of a 184-pound bout against Rocky Jordan of the Ohio State Buckeyes at Bryce Jordan Center on February 04, 2022 in State College, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Bryan Bennett/Getty Images) /
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Penn State Wrestling
Bo Nickal of the Penn State Nittany Lions wrestles Chandler Rogers of the Oklahoma State Cowboys(Photo by Hunter Martin/Getty Images) /

No. 8

February 21, 2016
University Park, Pa
No. 2 Oklahoma State 18, No. 1 Penn State 29

The No. 2 Oklahoma State Cowboys rode into town in late February of 2016 to see if they could spoil Penn State Wrestling’s perfect record up until then.

This dual meet didn’t exactly live up to the billing most wrestling fans would expect when the No. 1 and No. 2 teams in the nation clash, but it was still an exciting match.

On a side note, as most of you already know, there are ten weight classes in college wrestling. And in this dual meet, six of the No. 1 wrestlers at their respective weight class took to the mat. As star-studded as the field was, unfortunately, there were only three ranked head-to-head matches.

Speaking of ranked matches, the dual started off at 125 where No. 4 Nico Megaludis (PSU) riled the rowdy Rec Hall crowd up when he pinned No. 6 Eddie Klimara (OSU) to give the Nittany Lions the 6-0 lead right out of the gate.

No. 5 Jordan Conaway (PSU) breezed to an easy decision victory in the next match and No. 1 Dean Heil (OSU) took care of business against an unranked Jimmy Gulibon (PSU) to make the score 9-3 in favor of Penn State.

No. 1 Zain Retherford (PSU) won a hard-fought decision over No. 12 Anthony Collica (OSU) and No. 1 Jason Nolf (PSU) pinned his opponent late in the contest to extend Penn State’s lead to 18-3.

But Oklahoma State wasn’t finished. At least not yet.

No. 1 Alex Dieringer (OSU) blew through Geno Morelli (PSU) for a technical fall to show the Cowboys still had life.

Unfortunately for Okie State fans, No. 1 Bo Nickal was up next. And he earned a technical fall of his own to push the score to 23-8 with three matches remaining in the dual.

No. 13 Nolan Boyd (OSU) was awarded an injury victory as No. 6 Matt McCutcheon (PSU) wasn’t able to finish the match after aggravating a previous injury to his knee early in the second period.

The dual meet then finished with No. 1 Morgan McIntosh (PSU) pinning his Cowboy foe and No. 5 Austin Marsden (OSU) earning the major decision over football standout Jan Johnson (PSU).

So there you have it, not only did Penn State crush their Big-12 rivals, they also won the 2016 NWCA National Dual Championship Series title. The 2015-2016 Nittany Lion team also won it’s sixth straight Southern Scuffle and third B1G Regular Season title during the regular season.

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