The following is a fictional news story. Reader discretion is advised.
FORMER PENN STATE CHAMPION WRESTLER HOSPITALIZED
October 15, 2017
State College, PA – The defending national champion Penn State Nittany Lion wrestling team officially kicked off the 2017-18 season with the start of practices this past week, but a disturbing incident quickly dampened the mood in a wrestling room known widely for ‘having fun’. Late Friday afternoon, former National Champion and 4-time All American Nico Megaludis was hospitalized for multiple physical injuries to his spine, shoulders, and head. He is listed as being in serious, but stable, condition. He is also scheduled to undergo a psychological evaluation once his physical condition improves.
Megaludis, currently a member of the Nittany Lion Wrestling Club, was participating in a game of dodgeball with the university team at the conclusion of Friday’s practice when a bizarre chain of events transpired, leading to his hospitalization. Details are still murky, but several members of the team who witnessed the incident provided some information on condition of anonymity.
“We were all having fun in the [dodgeball] game when Nico all-of-a-sudden started freaking out,” said one wrestler. “It was scary. I mean, at first, we thought he was just fooling around, but then he got out of control and started hurting himself. When we saw the blood, we realized it was no joke.”
Said another wrestler, “He seemed fine during the game until Austin (Clabaugh) pegged him (with a ball), and then he just flipped. He started yelling something about how he couldn’t let another freshman beat him in the room.”
Clabaugh is a recent addition to the team, walking-on as a true freshman. Last fall, rumors had true freshman (and now former Nittany Lion 125-lber) Nick Suriano ‘beating Nico in the room’, which apparently dealt a crushing blow to Megaludis’s confidence and, ultimately, his performance. During the ensuing year, just about anyone and everyone – even any thing, including a t-shirt– got the best of one of the most accomplished athletes in Penn State wrestling history. According to sources, being eliminated from this season’s opening dodgeball game by a walk-on freshman was the last straw for an emotionally taxed Megaludis.
Following the blow, Megaludis started hurling balls into the air and running into their paths on the opposite side of the room so that they would hit him. He would then fall violently and exclaim that he was ‘out’, only to repeat the process. Then, like in a scene from the movie Fight Club, Megaludis began to ‘wrestle himself’.
“It got pretty gruesome,” recalled head coach Cael Sanderson. “And the little bastard is so quick and wily that none of us could catch and subdue him until he had essentially knocked himself unconscious.”
The ‘match’ took Megaludis all over the wrestling room, crashing into walls and support beams, crushing his shoulders, bruising his spine, and hyperextending knees and elbows. From one front-headlock series to another, Megaludis scored takedown after takedown, each more violent than the last. At one point, he ended up in one of the trash cans, resulting in a severe laceration to his forehead. When coaches and wrestlers tried to pounce on him, he escaped from the pile and darted blindly into the weight room where he climbed up onto a piece of equipment, ultimately falling off onto his head and passing out.
Megaludis is expected to make a full physical recovery, but whether he is discharged to his home or to a specialized institution is to be determined. For the Penn State wrestling team, this is a disheartening start to the season. One member, though, sees a silver lining.
“Hey, maybe this will be what breaks Nico out of his funk. He finally beat someone in the room.”
Or did he?
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The Penn State wrestling team’s first competition of the season will be a dual meet at Rec Hall against Army on November 9th at 7:00 PM ET. For ticket information, contact the Penn State Ticket Office at 1-800-NITTANY or in person at the Athletic Ticket Office in the Bryce Jordan Center, Monday thru Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
FORMER PENN STATE CHAMPION WRESTLER HOSPITALIZED
October 15, 2017
State College, PA – The defending national champion Penn State Nittany Lion wrestling team officially kicked off the 2017-18 season with the start of practices this past week, but a disturbing incident quickly dampened the mood in a wrestling room known widely for ‘having fun’. Late Friday afternoon, former National Champion and 4-time All American Nico Megaludis was hospitalized for multiple physical injuries to his spine, shoulders, and head. He is listed as being in serious, but stable, condition. He is also scheduled to undergo a psychological evaluation once his physical condition improves.
Megaludis, currently a member of the Nittany Lion Wrestling Club, was participating in a game of dodgeball with the university team at the conclusion of Friday’s practice when a bizarre chain of events transpired, leading to his hospitalization. Details are still murky, but several members of the team who witnessed the incident provided some information on condition of anonymity.
“We were all having fun in the [dodgeball] game when Nico all-of-a-sudden started freaking out,” said one wrestler. “It was scary. I mean, at first, we thought he was just fooling around, but then he got out of control and started hurting himself. When we saw the blood, we realized it was no joke.”
Said another wrestler, “He seemed fine during the game until Austin (Clabaugh) pegged him (with a ball), and then he just flipped. He started yelling something about how he couldn’t let another freshman beat him in the room.”
Clabaugh is a recent addition to the team, walking-on as a true freshman. Last fall, rumors had true freshman (and now former Nittany Lion 125-lber) Nick Suriano ‘beating Nico in the room’, which apparently dealt a crushing blow to Megaludis’s confidence and, ultimately, his performance. During the ensuing year, just about anyone and everyone – even any thing, including a t-shirt– got the best of one of the most accomplished athletes in Penn State wrestling history. According to sources, being eliminated from this season’s opening dodgeball game by a walk-on freshman was the last straw for an emotionally taxed Megaludis.
Following the blow, Megaludis started hurling balls into the air and running into their paths on the opposite side of the room so that they would hit him. He would then fall violently and exclaim that he was ‘out’, only to repeat the process. Then, like in a scene from the movie Fight Club, Megaludis began to ‘wrestle himself’.
“It got pretty gruesome,” recalled head coach Cael Sanderson. “And the little bastard is so quick and wily that none of us could catch and subdue him until he had essentially knocked himself unconscious.”
The ‘match’ took Megaludis all over the wrestling room, crashing into walls and support beams, crushing his shoulders, bruising his spine, and hyperextending knees and elbows. From one front-headlock series to another, Megaludis scored takedown after takedown, each more violent than the last. At one point, he ended up in one of the trash cans, resulting in a severe laceration to his forehead. When coaches and wrestlers tried to pounce on him, he escaped from the pile and darted blindly into the weight room where he climbed up onto a piece of equipment, ultimately falling off onto his head and passing out.
Megaludis is expected to make a full physical recovery, but whether he is discharged to his home or to a specialized institution is to be determined. For the Penn State wrestling team, this is a disheartening start to the season. One member, though, sees a silver lining.
“Hey, maybe this will be what breaks Nico out of his funk. He finally beat someone in the room.”
Or did he?
----------------------
The Penn State wrestling team’s first competition of the season will be a dual meet at Rec Hall against Army on November 9th at 7:00 PM ET. For ticket information, contact the Penn State Ticket Office at 1-800-NITTANY or in person at the Athletic Ticket Office in the Bryce Jordan Center, Monday thru Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
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