The Penn Stater Magazine

Wrestling Team Rises to No. 1

January 25, 2011 at 6:02 pm Lori Shontz Leave a comment

In this photo from the Happy Valley Half Nelson blog, taken at a scrimmage, Cael Sanderson's expression is similar to the one he had after beating Pitt Friday night.

Most wrestling coaches win a dual meet 30-7, and they’re pretty happy. Especially if the victory comes against a traditional rival.

Penn State coach Cael Sanderson, however, wasn’t all that enthused after the Nittany Lions beat Pitt 30-7 last Friday night. He allowed that the match was better than last season’s match against the Panthers, a tie that he had labeled “painful.” But in describing the victory over Pitt, he used words like “flat” and phrases like “70 percent” and “not our best night.”

He further explained, “We’re not looking at the wins and losses. We’re looking at the attitude, the facial expressions, the hustle. That’s what’s important to us.”

Which is a large part of the reason that the wrestling team is off to the best start in its history (13-0) and rose Tuesday to the No. 1 ranking. The ascent couldn’t be better timed, given that Penn State is wrestling the powerful Iowa Hawkeyes at 2 p.m. Sunday in Rec Hall—and the match is already sold out. (And that the NCAA Championships are right down the road in Philadelphia, although those tickets are already sold out, too.)

Much of the buzz surrounding the Pitt match was about Penn State’s probable rise to No. 1; the Nittany Lions had been ranked No. 2, and top-ranked Cornell had been upset by Lehigh the night before. So it was natural that one of the reporters asked Sanderson whether he thought the wrestlers had been thinking about that possibility as well.

Sanderson paused. “That would be a mistake,” he said. I was standing at the back of the media scrum, and I could practically feel the intensity radiating off of him.

As Guy Cipriano of the Centre Daily Times wrote, “It’s no wonder Sanderson never lost in college. His expectations are different than others.” It’s fascinating to watch that attitude rub off on Sanderson’s wrestlers.

Lori Shontz, senior editor

Entry filed under: Penn State wrestling. Tags: Cael Sanderson, Centre Daily Times, Penn State wrestling.