UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The Penn State Nittany Lions (14-0, 9-0 B1G) closed out their third straight unbeaten dual meet season by pinning a 55-0 shutout on Buffalo in sold out Rec Hall. The Nittany Lions win over the Bulls allows head coach Cael Sanderson‘s team to end the campaign with a 14-0 overall. Penn State already won the 2018 Big Ten Regular Season (Dual Meet) title with a 9-0 mark. Buffalo falls to 5-12.
Three seniors got the call in their final dual collegiate dual meets, led by Zain Retherford (Benton, Pa.) at 149. The Nittany Lions have now won 45 straight dual meets dating back to the end of the 2014-15 campaign. Penn State dropped a 21-18 dual at Oklahoma State on Feb. 15, 2015 and closed out the year with a win over Rider. The Nittany Lions went 16-0 in 2015-16, 14-0 in 2016-17 and 14-0 this year. While this was a non-conference win, Penn State will head into next year with a 25-dual win streak in Big Ten action as well. The sell-out crowd of 6,431 was the 41st straight sell-out in Rec Hall, giving the Nittany Lions 45 sellouts in its last 47 home duals (41 straight in Rec Hall and four of six in the near-16,000 seat Bryce Jordan Center).
The dual began at 125 where senior graduate transfer Carson Kuhn (Sandy, Utah) was set to close out his collegiate dual career in front of a rowdy Rec Hall crowd. Kuhn, who transferred from Boise State in January, received a forfeit victory as Buffalo did not weigh in a competitor. Senior Corey Keener (Schuylkill Haven, Pa.) wrestled in the final dual of his collegiate career at 133. The transfer from Central Michigan dominated Justin Patrick, rolling to an 8-3 victory with 1:52 in riding time to put Penn State up 9-0 early.
True freshman Nick Lee (Evansville, Ind.), ranked No. 8 at 141, dominated Nicholas Cassella before picking up the fall at the 4:37 mark. Lee’s pin set up Retherford’s career dual finale at 149. Retherford, ranked No. 1 nationally, said goodbye to Rec Hall with his 52nd career pin. The Lion said goodbye to the Rec Hall faithful with a pin over Nick Palumbo at the 4:10 mark. The win improves the Lion senior to 23-0 on the year. With No. 1 Jason Nolf (Yatesboro, Pa.) out one more time at 157, redshirt freshman Bo Pipher (Paonia, Colo.) stepped in and picked up his first dual win as a Nittany Lion by pinning Eric Fasnacht at the 1:53 mark. Penn State led 27-0 at intermission.
Sophomore Vincenzo Joseph (Pittsburgh, Pa.), ranked No. 3 at 165, posted a strong and workmanlike 16-8 major over Noah Grover to open up the second half, putting the Lions up 31-0. Sophomore Mark Hall (Apple Valley, Minn.), ranked No. 2 at 174, then notched PSU’s fourth pin of the dual, picking up the fast fall of Derek Holcomb at the 0:56 mark. Junior Bo Nickal (Allen, Texas), ranked No. 1 at 184, notched his eighth fast fall in under 1:00, taking down and sticking Brett Perry in just 0:11. The fall is tied for second all-time at Penn State for fastest pin (David Taylor in 2014). Dylan Alton holds the record with a pin at the 0:08 mark in 2013.
Junior Shakur Rasheed (Coram, N.Y.), ranked No. 5 at 197, kept Penn State’s pin parade going by getting the fall over Buffalo senior Joe Ariola at the 1:57 mark to put the Nittany Lions up 49-0. Junior Nick Nevills (Clovis, Calif.), ranked No. 4 at 285, took on Buffalo’s Nolan Terrance in the final bout of the dual. The Lion junior took Terrance down twice early and, on the second one, took the Bull down to his back, reset himself briefly and picked up Penn State’s seventh pin of the dual at the 2:48 mark. Nevills’ fall secured a 55-0 shutout win, clinched a new PSU record for points in a dual meet (55) and tied the all-time record for pins in a dual (7). The points and pins records were both set on Jan. 25, 1983, when the Lions used seven pins to beat Millersville 54-0.
The shutout was Penn State’s first of the year and the Lions picked up 25 bonus points off seven pins (Lee, Retherford, Pipher, Hall, Nickal, Rasheed, Nevills), a forfeit (Kuhn) and a major (Joseph). The Nittany Lions posted a gaudy 24-1 takedown advantage in the dual. Retherford now has 118 career wins, 13th all-time at Penn State. He has 52 career pins (16 this year), third all-time and just one shy of the Penn State record of 53 held by David Taylor and Josh Moore. While Nolf stays at fifth all-time with 44 career pins, Nickal has 14 this year and 39 for his career, sixth all-time. Rasheed has 12 this season and 20 for his career and Hall has 10 this year and 22 for his career, both just out of the top 20 all-time in Penn State history.
A total of nine individuals were honored as part of Senior Day. In addition to Kuhn, Keener and Retherford, Lions Jered Cortez, Matt McCutcheon, Devon Van Cura, Ethan Wissler, Kenny Yanovich as well as affiliate club member Shannon Dougherty were recognized.
Penn State will now prep for the 2018 Big Ten Championships on March 3-4 in East Lansing, Mich. The NCAA qualifier for the conference, the two day event will take place in Michigan State’s Breslin Center and begins on Saturday, March 3 at 10 a.m.
