UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Nine members of the Penn State Nittany Lion wrestling team remain ranked nationally by Intermat, all of whom appear in the top 13 at their weight classes. The Nittany Lions continued their hold on the No. 1 team ranking on Intermat's Tournament Power Index (TPI). The TPI ranks a team's potential tournament strength based on Intermat's individual rankings, not dual meet strength. The full list of national rankings is available at www.intermatwrestle.com.
Penn State is ranked No. 1 once again, a position it has held all season long in the TPI, with 96.0 points while Oklahoma State sits in second once again with 92.0. The Nittany Lions closed out the regular season with a 34-0 shut-out win at Rutgers on Sunday and improved to 13-1 on the year. The shut-out was the fifth of the season for Penn State and earned head coach Cael Sanderson his 100th career dual meet coaching victory. Sanderson is 100-19-2 in his seventh season, including a 57-9-2 mark at Penn State (in his fourth year in Happy Valley).
Sophomore All-American Nico Megaludis (Murrysville, Pa.) is ranked No. 3 at 125 with a 21-2 record, including six pins, two tech falls and four majors. Red-shirt freshman Jordan Conaway (Abbottstown, Pa.) moves up to No. 13 at 133. Conaway is 14-6 on the year with a pin and four majors. Sophomore Andrew Alton (Mill Hall, Pa) is 22-2 and ranked No. 13 at 149. Alton has ten pins, two techs and five majors. Sophomore All-American Dylan Alton (Mill Hall, Pa.) is ranked No. 5 at 157 with a 22-3 mark, eight pins and two majors.Defending NCAA Champion and two-time All-American David Taylor (St. Paris, Ohio) is ranked No. 2 at 165 and is 23-1 with ten pins, four majors and eight tech falls. Sophomore Matt Brown (West Valley City, Utah) is ranked No. 7 at 174 and is 21-4 with six pins, two tech falls and five majors. Defending NCAA Champion and two-time All-American Ed Ruth (Harrisburg, Pa.) is ranked No. 1 nationally at 184 with a 25-0 mark. Ruth has ten pins, three techs and seven majors. Three-time All-American Quentin Wright (Wingate, Pa) is now ranked No. 2 at 197 with a 24-0 record, including nine pins and four majors. Sophomore heavyweight Jimmy Lawson (Tom's River, N.J.) is ranked No. 12 with a 20-4 mark, including two pins and three majors.
Penn State will now prepare for the 2013 Big Ten Wrestling Championships on March 9-10 in Champaign, Ill., hosted by the University of Illinois. The two-day event crowns the conference champion (and Penn State is the two-time defending champion) and serves as the national qualifier for the conference's 12 teams. Action begins on Saturday, March 9, at 11 a.m. (Eastern) and concludes Sunday, March 10.