Lions fail to place at National Team Duals

By RYAN HOCKENSMITH
Collegian Staff Writer

Take 13 nationally-ranked Div. I schools, subtract a head coach and three starters, and the outcome is a bad day.

That was the equation for the No. 5 Penn State wrestling team Saturday at the 1999 NWCA/Cliff Keen National Team Duals in Iowa City, Iowa.

Nittany Lions' coach Troy Sunderland did not make the trip following the birth of his son Wednesday evening and travel problems. Starters Jamarr Billman (academic inquiry), Alex Leykikh (injured elbow) and Mark Janus (injured ankle) remained in the State College area as well.

In Sunderland's absence, assistant coach Hachiro Oishi guided the Lion ship.

Penn State opened with a 23-13 loss to No. 12 Arizona State, falling to the consolation bracket. The Lions recovered from the first-round upset to defeat No. 13 Northwestern, 20-13, before being eliminated from the Duals by No. 6 Oklahoma, 22-12.

Sunderland, whose plan to fly to Iowa City Friday night was ruined by inclement winter weather, admitted feeling disappointed with his squad's performance.

"It's kind of disappointing," the first-year head coach said. "Facing that kind of competition with some guys out of the lineup … it's tough."

Sunderland listened to his squad's matches on the radio and said he would save further judgment until he could evaluate film from the Duals.

Critical to the Lions' first-round upset loss were bonus points, or lack thereof.

Arizona State racked up five bonus points on two major decisions and one fall, compared to only one major decision for Penn State.

Factor in Dana Weber's 6-4 overtime loss at 157 pounds and Penn State's trip to the losers' bracket was sealed.

The Lions rebounded with the seven-point victory against the Wildcats in the consolation opener but, in the subsequent meet, were eliminated by Oklahoma in the second round.

Despite a Jeremy Hunter win at 125 pounds and freshman Nate Parker's huge 11-4 upset of No. 10 Dane Valdez at 133, Penn State could not hang on to its early dual meet lead and was eliminated by the Sooners.

Penn State's three participating All-Americans all posted perfect days. Jeremy Hunter (125 pounds) and Clint Musser (157) defeated two ranked foes en route to 3-0 records each for the tournament, while senior Glenn Pritzlaff (174) trampled Northwestern's No. 6 Mark Bybee, 5-2, along with two other foes to also go undefeated.

Musser's day was particularly eventful. A strategy move by the Lion coaching staff pushed Musser up to 165 pounds to square off against No. 12 Steve Blackford of Arizona State. The senior co-captain responded with a 4-4 tiebreaker win against the ranked Sun Devil.

Penn State will look to get back on track next weekend. It wrestles Saturday at Rec Hall against Ohio State. The Lions then face No. 3 Iowa the following day to complete their Big Ten weekend.