UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The Intermat individual and team preseason rankings have been released and Penn State will head into the 2011-12 season ranked No. 1 in yet another poll. Nine Nittany Lions will head into the season with a national ranking, including three who sit at the No. 1 spot at their respective weights.
Penn State, the defending National and Big Ten Champion, will enter the season ranked No. 1 with 108.5 points in Intermat’s preseason team tournament strength index. Big Ten rival Iowa is second with 99.0 and Oklahoma State is third with 84.5. Minnesota is fourth with 77.5 while Cornell and Lehigh are tied for fifth with 65.5 each. Michigan, American, Illinois and Ohio State round out the top ten (giving the Big Ten six of the nation’s top ten ranked teams). Northwestern is ranked No. 19 as well.
Defending national champion Quentin Wright (Wingate, Pa.) is ranked No. 1 at 184 after claiming the title last year in Philadelphia. Wright went 21-6 a year ago, including nine straight at season’s end to win the Big Ten and NCAA crowns. Wright is a two-time All-American. Senior Frank Molinaro (Barnegat, N.J.) is ranked No. 1 at 149 after advancing to the NCAA finals in Philadelphia. Molinaro, a three-time All-American and the reigning Big Ten champion, carries an 88-29 career record into his final season. Sophomore David Taylor (St. Paris, Ohio) is ranked No. 1 at 165 after blazing to a 38-1 record as a freshman last year and earning All-America laurels with a spot in the NCAA finals at 157. Taylor was the Big Ten 157-pound titlist, the 2011Big Ten Freshman of the Year and 2011 Big Ten Wrestler of the Year.
Sophomore Ed Ruth (Harrisburg, Pa.) is ranked No. 2 at 174 after placing third at that weight a year ago and earning All-America laurels. Ruth, who went 38-2 overall as a freshman, won the 2011 Gorriaran Award at the NCAA Championships for most pins in the least time. Senior Cameron Wade (Twinsburg, Ohio) heads into the new season ranked No. 5 at heavyweight. Wade, who went 30-8 in ’10-11, is a two-time national qualifier and finished just one win shy of All-America status at NCAAs last year, losing in the round of 12. True Sophomore Andrew Alton (Mill Hall, Pa.) is ranked No. 5 at 141 after a breakout true freshman campaign a year ago. Alton went 30-10 with a stunning 18 pins as a rookie. Like Wade, Alton was an NCAA qualifier who finished one win short of All-America laurels in the round of 12.
Three freshmen are also ranked for Penn State. Red-shirt freshman Dylan Alton (Mill Hall, Pa.), battling for the starting spot at 157, is ranked No. 13 at that weight by Intermat after red-shirt campaign a year ago. True freshman Morgan McIntosh (Santa Ana, Calif.) is ranked No. 9 at 197 and classmate Nico Megaludis (Murrysville, Pa.) is ranked No. 19 at 125. McIntosh and Megaludis were both among the nation’s top recruits last season coming out of high school.
Fans can purchase a very limited number of available season packages by contacting Joel Diamond at 814-867-2557. Adult season tickets are priced at $42 while the youth price (18 and under) is $28. There is a $5 handling fee per purchase and the season ticket sale ends on Oct. 13. Season ticket holders will have a one day head start on the general public for purchasing single dual tickets. Season ticket holders can purchase single dual tickets on October 17 from 10:00 a.m. until 6:00 p.m. There will be a two ticket limit per match. Fans can call 814-865-5555 to order tickets, priced at $8 for adults and $5 for youth (18 and under) with a $1 handling fee per ticket. The general public and group sale then begins the next day, October 18, at 10 a.m. The prices are $8 for adults, $5 for youth (18 and under) and $5 for group sales. Penn State students receive free admission on a limited basis.
The Nittany Lions will start the 2011-12 campaign by hosting the Intrasquad Dual on Thursday, Nov. 3, in Rec Hall (it is free and open to the public). The regular season begins with a home dual against Bloomsburg on Sunday, Nov. 13. Match time in Rec Hall for the match-up with the Huskies is set for 2 p.m.