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Points from everyone important for victory

By Andy Elder

For the Mirror

UNIVERSITY PARK – In March 2014, Penn State was gearing up for a run at its fourth consecutive Big Ten wrestling tournament championship, and Zack Beitz and Luke Frey were just two frustrated 149-pounders gearing down to watch.

In March 2015, Beitz and Frey, along with three other Nittany Lions competing for the first time in a Big Ten tournament, will need to shift into overdrive if Penn State has any shot of winning a fifth consecutive conference championship Saturday and Sunday at Ohio State’s St. John Arena in Columbus, Ohio.

“No question about that, we need all 10 guys scoring points and all 10 guys scoring bonus points when they have the opportunity, similar to what we did at the (Southern) Scuffle,” Penn State coach Cael Sanderson said.

“This is different teams, different dynamic, fewer teams, more competitive but same mentality. We need to use every second of every match and if we have the chance to get bonus points we have to go for it. We have to win those close matches.”

The Nittany Lions will also figure to need to wrestle above their pre-seeds. No Penn State wrestler earned a No. 1 pre-seed, but all are among the top nine at their respective weights.

PSU’s 10-man contingent will include Jordan Conaway (No. 5 pre-seed at 125), Jimmy Gulibon (3 at 133), Kade Moss (9 at 141), Beitz (6 at 149), Frey (9 at 157), Garett Hammond (6 at 165), Matt Brown (2 at 174), Matt McCutcheon (tied for 7 at 184), Morgan McIntosh (2 at 197) and Jimmy Lawson (5 at 285).

Moss, Beitz, Frey, Hammond and McCutcheon are all Big Ten tournament rookies.

Last year, Beitz and Frey had to watch as James English, who had won a wrestle-off, gutted through Big Tens on his way to writing one of the Cinderella stories of the 2014 NCAA Championships as he battled injuries to earn All-America status.

Beitz got to witness English’s run, and the tournament as a whole. It fueled his desire to return as a competitor this year.

“I got to see the atmosphere and what it was like to actually be at the Big Ten tournament and I got excited,” he said. “I (thought), ‘I want to be here next year.’ It gave me something to look forward to.”

Frey won a wrestle-off last Friday with Dylan Alton to win the 157-pound spot. Sanderson said Alton shot in on a takedown attempt early in the match and his shoulder popped out of joint. Alton finished the match, but lost to Frey.

“His shoulder keeps coming out of place. Dylan, to his credit, finished the match. Luke’s our guy. He wrestled tough, he wrestled solid,” Sanderson said.

“Our heart goes out to both the Altons. They’re seniors and to be injured again, that’s unfortunate. It’s one small piece of life here, wrestling is, and Luke’s got that opportunity to go wrestle for Penn State now and score some points now.”

Frey, who has undergone shoulder and knee surgeries and a bevy of other injuries in his time at Penn State, said he was thankful to finally have his health and an opportunity to contribute.

“It’s been coming together recently with everything. Like you said, three years with injuries and stuff, everything’s starting to come along now and starting to pick up and it feels good,” he said.

“Me and James kind of have the same case in the sense of injuries. He’s a model to look after. He’s a hard-goer. He knew what he wanted to do and he got it. I want to be like him. I want to be Luke Frey and do it and be that guy.”

Other than his late season stints at 157 in dual meets, Frey hasn’t given Big Ten teams much to use to scout him. He’ll enter the tournament as an unknown, and definitely an underdog.

“I like to be the underdog. Since I’ve been in here I haven’t really made much noise because I haven’t been wrestling often. But it’s a good feeling to not know who I am because I feel like I can surprise a lot of people,” he said. “And I know I can have fun out there and just give it my all and people are going to be able to see that coming.”

In many respects, Penn State is an underdog, too. The Nittany Lions lost several close dual meets against the top teams in the country, mostly because their least experienced wrestlers couldn’t quite do enough to get a win. Sanderson didn’t seem to agree that having five first-timers in the lineup might hurt Penn State’s chances at a fifth consecutive title.

“I don’t think that’s a big deal. I think these guys have wrestled in big tournaments. They’ve wrestled in huge matches throughout this year. These freshmen have wrestled before the largest crowd in the history of the NCAA, or second largest I should say, as far as a dual meet is concerned,” he said.

“But they’ve been in all those spots. Everywhere we go there’s a big crowd and we get t heir best and we get their best crowd. So I don’t look at it like these guys are freshmen. They are who they are and they’ve earned this and gotten themselves to this point and now just continuing on. You don’t need to go in there and learn your lessons the first time. That’s one of the reasons we’ve been able to do well at the nationals because our freshmen do well and place high. We had four-time All-Americans and that’s what it takes to win championships.”

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