Pritzlaff earns title, revenge

By RYAN HOCKENSMITH
Collegian Staff Writer

The end of Glenn Pritzlaff's long road came to a conclusion Saturday night.

Penn State's All-American wrestler had one destination for his career as a Nittany Lion grappler -- the first-place podium position at NCAA Championships.

Pritzlaff wrestled his final matches as a collegiate wrestler at this past weekend's tournament, held in The Bryce Jordan Center Thursday through Saturday.

What was waiting at the end of his long journey? A pot of gold -- Pritzlaff became the 174-pound national champion with a 10-4 win against Michigan's Otto Olson in the championship bout Saturday night.

After a variety of injuries and bad luck, Pritzlaff entered the final bout of his Penn State career with his dream at stake. His roadblock was Wolverines sophomore Olson, who had handled Pritzlaff 9-4 in a Feb. 19 dual.

"I didn't feel like I was wrestling up to par the last time I wrestled him," Pritzlaff said before the championship bout. "And I'm fired up to wrestle him again."

Here was his chance for both a national title and a little revenge against Olson.

Olson had his own motivational tools.

"That was three weeks ago," Olson said of the initial meeting. "He came and won Big Tens in Ann Arbor. So it would be kind of nice to win NCAAs at Penn State."

Nice, but it didn't happen.

Pritzlaff started the rematch quickly, finishing a single-leg shot with a double-leg takedown just 25 seconds into the bout with Olson for an early 2-0 lead.

An Olson escape narrowed the lead to 2-1, but Pritzlaff jumped ahead 4-1 with a duck-under that he eventually scored on with a double-leg finish. Olson again escaped to give Pritzlaff a 4-2 lead heading to the second period.

Another Olson escape counted as the only scoring in the second. The two went to the final two minutes of action with Pritzlaff clinging to a 4-3 lead.

The two battled from neutral before Pritzlaff registered his third takedown of the match, actually putting Olson to his back for two near-fall points.

After riding out Olson for the remainder of the period, Pritzlaff racked up a riding time bonus point, making the final tally 10-4 in favor of the Lions co-captain.

After the match, Pritzlaff remembered everything he had been through.

"It's been a very long journey," he said. "I've had shoulder surgery, I blew out my knee in the Big Tens my sophomore year. Last season I had a very serious ankle injury, I was out for eight weeks. And I had two ankle injuries this fall. So it's been a real long road.

"Between injuries, setbacks and disappointments in my career, it's been a real long journey."

Penn State coach Troy Sunderland said the rewards outweighed the struggles, especially winning the national title at home.

"It was a great opportunity for him to win it," Sunderland said, "and wrestle here in front of the home crowd and some of his family and teammates."