Penn State Wrestling Fans!!!!!!!!
Just like that the season is over and we are already looking forward to what is next. Before we move on though let’s try to highlight some of the accomplishments of these guys over the last year. Winning never gets old but it never gets easier either. It takes an army of people to make this happen and each season has its challenges but time and time again the guys show up at the national tournament and let it rip! Five of our guys accomplished their goal of becoming a National Champion which is awesome but that means five other guys did not accomplish their ultimate goal so there is always something to strive for.
The Big Ten Tournament was a good start to our teams post season and they wrestled well only losing one match on the final day of competition. This put us in position to win the tournament, but it was not to be that day. In that process though we got 9 of our 10 guys through to nationals with hopes of our 10th getting in based on his season success. Unfortunately, the committee decided to take someone else but that is how it goes sometimes so 9 is what we went to battle with. We came out of the Big Ten tournament relatively healthy, so we were set up to have a great National Tournament based on how our training was going and how our guys competed in that tournament.
A week out from the National Tournament the seeds came out and there were a lot of mixed thoughts on the way some of the weights were seeded. There are seeds every year that do not make much sense, but our guys try not get wrapped up in it and just wrestle whoever is in front of them. It is hard to say if the seeds would have been different in a few weights if the outcomes for those guys would have been different, but ultimately it does not matter you just have to compete as hard as you can regardless. Our guys competed hard.
As the first round of the national tournament began our guys went out trying to score points and because of that bonus points got us out to a good start in the first couple rounds of the Nationals. All 9 of our guys scored for the team which is super important when trying to win a team Title. Then on Saturday morning even though Big Greg was banged up he laced up his shoes and went to battle for his team as the match was a 9-point swing regarding team points. With that match the team Championship was secured so the five guys in the finals did not need to focus on the team score but rather on just giving their best performance. Those five guys in the finals wrestled great and finished the National Tournament with a bang.
These Penn State Teams over the past decade have accomplished some pretty cool things including: 9 of the last 11 National Titles, 32 individual National Champions, 5 National Champions in the same year for the second time in school history and had 3 undefeated National Champions in the same year which has only happened 1 other time in NCAA wrestling history (2012 Penn State). Those are a few of the highlights but the point again is the guys have shown up time and time again on the biggest stage and competed fearlessly. There are many people who had a part in these guys success so thank you for all the support and the future support as it is very important part of keeping this going.
Up next are some freestyle events for several of our college guys and for our post grads that train in the RTC. We will have several young guys competing in the UWW Jr nationals in Las Vegas at the end of the month alongside some of our Senior level guys. Generally, we allow guys to decide on their own if they are going to compete in the freestyle events, so it varies from tournament to tournament who is competing. Some guys need recover and/or heal, some guys need to focus on school, and some guys are ready to compete, so we look at it on an individual level with each guy and help them make a good decision for themselves. It has been quite a year and it does not slow down because the season is over, but we would have it no other way.
Thank you again for all the support and we look forward to seeing what the future holds.
GO LIONS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Just like that the season is over and we are already looking forward to what is next. Before we move on though let’s try to highlight some of the accomplishments of these guys over the last year. Winning never gets old but it never gets easier either. It takes an army of people to make this happen and each season has its challenges but time and time again the guys show up at the national tournament and let it rip! Five of our guys accomplished their goal of becoming a National Champion which is awesome but that means five other guys did not accomplish their ultimate goal so there is always something to strive for.
The Big Ten Tournament was a good start to our teams post season and they wrestled well only losing one match on the final day of competition. This put us in position to win the tournament, but it was not to be that day. In that process though we got 9 of our 10 guys through to nationals with hopes of our 10th getting in based on his season success. Unfortunately, the committee decided to take someone else but that is how it goes sometimes so 9 is what we went to battle with. We came out of the Big Ten tournament relatively healthy, so we were set up to have a great National Tournament based on how our training was going and how our guys competed in that tournament.
A week out from the National Tournament the seeds came out and there were a lot of mixed thoughts on the way some of the weights were seeded. There are seeds every year that do not make much sense, but our guys try not get wrapped up in it and just wrestle whoever is in front of them. It is hard to say if the seeds would have been different in a few weights if the outcomes for those guys would have been different, but ultimately it does not matter you just have to compete as hard as you can regardless. Our guys competed hard.
As the first round of the national tournament began our guys went out trying to score points and because of that bonus points got us out to a good start in the first couple rounds of the Nationals. All 9 of our guys scored for the team which is super important when trying to win a team Title. Then on Saturday morning even though Big Greg was banged up he laced up his shoes and went to battle for his team as the match was a 9-point swing regarding team points. With that match the team Championship was secured so the five guys in the finals did not need to focus on the team score but rather on just giving their best performance. Those five guys in the finals wrestled great and finished the National Tournament with a bang.
These Penn State Teams over the past decade have accomplished some pretty cool things including: 9 of the last 11 National Titles, 32 individual National Champions, 5 National Champions in the same year for the second time in school history and had 3 undefeated National Champions in the same year which has only happened 1 other time in NCAA wrestling history (2012 Penn State). Those are a few of the highlights but the point again is the guys have shown up time and time again on the biggest stage and competed fearlessly. There are many people who had a part in these guys success so thank you for all the support and the future support as it is very important part of keeping this going.
Up next are some freestyle events for several of our college guys and for our post grads that train in the RTC. We will have several young guys competing in the UWW Jr nationals in Las Vegas at the end of the month alongside some of our Senior level guys. Generally, we allow guys to decide on their own if they are going to compete in the freestyle events, so it varies from tournament to tournament who is competing. Some guys need recover and/or heal, some guys need to focus on school, and some guys are ready to compete, so we look at it on an individual level with each guy and help them make a good decision for themselves. It has been quite a year and it does not slow down because the season is over, but we would have it no other way.
Thank you again for all the support and we look forward to seeing what the future holds.
GO LIONS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!