Wrestlers solidify lineup for Big Tens; Thatcher nabs 190

With a little more than one month left in a season that's been kicking since late October, the Penn State wrestling team's starting lineup is finally a fait accompli.

Junior Ross Thatcher beat sophomore Brett Calabretta in a best two-out-of-three wrestle-off Wednesday at practice to the take the reins of the Nittany Lions' 190-pound spot.

"You just never know what's going to happen with a wrestle-off," Penn State coach John Fritz said. "It's just too hard to predict those kind of things. Those kind of things can go either way. We knew it would be a very competitive match and we knew, no matter who won, we would be represented well the rest of the way."

Thatcher is unique to the Lions in that he's seen time at three weights this season -- including a once-in-a-lifetime stint at heavyweight against Pittsburgh on Feb. 14.

Some debut for a guy who was giving away about 40 pounds.

Thatcher, who lost a 177-pound wrestle-off to senior Rob Neidlinger last week in practice, said he's got to get used to wrestling bigger opponents anyway.

"My weight's light for a 190 pounder," Thatcher said. "There's nothing I can do about it right now. My goal was to wrestle 177 all year, so I kept it down."

One thing Thatcher's trim weight should do is enhance his already eye-opening quickness. He said his quickness should more than compensate for strength.

"I'll think I'll have an advantage because I'm a lot quicker than some of those bigger guys," Thatcher said. "Strength is one of my concerns. A lot of those guys are going to be stronger than me. But if I go out there with the mindset I would at 177, I think I'll do all right."

Thatcher, like most of the Lions, will be working out independently with some trusted partners in the coming days to prepare for the Big Tens.

Besides the all-star coaching staff of Fritz, Hachiro Oishi, Sanshiro Abe and Kerry McCoy -- three of whom are former national champions -- Thatcher said he'll call on others to get his game going.

"I'm sure when McCoy comes back he'll help me out," Thatcher said, noting the heavyweight coach is on a trip to Cuba. "I know Tony Griffin, he graduated from here a while ago, he's been helping me out since the beginning of the year."

Junior 150 pounder Clint Musser said he'll gladly take advantage of the Hughes brothers -- Russ and John, both former standouts for Penn State who still live in State College.

Musser said there's nothing better than working out with a wrestler the caliber of John Hughes.

"The reason I'm going with John is because he's wrestling internationally these days and he weighs about like 152.2 or something like that," Musser said. "If I can beat John Hughes, there's not a 150 pounder in the country who can beat me."