The Penn State wrestling team will get its first chance to erase the memories of last year's 6-11 dual meet campaign when it opens the dual season with a Sunday double header.
Clarion and Navy will invade Rec Hall for meets at 1 p.m and 3 p.m., respectively. It will be the Nittany Lions first opportunity as a team to make a statement against the critics that had them unranked in the Intermat and W.I.N polls at season's open.
"Starting out 2-0 would definitely put us on the map," junior Mark Becks said. "We haven't been getting a lot of respect from around the country, and I think this would show people that we're a lot better than they think we are."
Though the Nittany Lions got wins over both teams the last time they faced them, coach Troy Sunderland expects the meets to be good tests for the squad.
"I think we matchup well with both teams," Sunderland said. "But they each have some very good wrestlers. We're going to have to be on our toes and ready to go."
Clarion finished 2-13 last season, and has not defeated Penn State in 19 tries. Despite that, they will pose some challenges in the upper weights. They return NCAA qualifiers at both 197 — with sophomore Eric Mausser — and at heavyweight, with classmate John Testa, the 2000 PSAC Freshman of the Year. Testa should be a good test for redshirt freshman Pat Cummins, whose second-place finish at the Penn State Open opened some eyes, especially his win over Pennsylvania's Mike Faust, the No. 1-rated high school heavyweight in the country last season.
Sunderland will put either redshirt junior Pete Mielnik or fifth-year senior Dave Heckard on the mat against Mausser, and will use the other in the Navy meet. Mielnik also is coming off an impressive performance in the Penn State Open, with a second-place showing including a semifinal pin of Penn's Mike Fickell. Navy will also present a challenge, coming off a 10-3-1 season, returning eleven lettermen. Sunderland knows what to expect out of the Midshipmen, however. He spent two years as an assistant coach in Annapolis before taking the head coaching job at Penn State, and actually helped recruit a number of wrestlers on the Midshipmen squad.
Navy placed four grapplers in the Penn State Open. Junior Mark Conley led that contingent with a second-place finish in the 141-pound weight class. Sophomore Steve Kovach made it to the semifinals of the heavyweight division before losing to Pat Cummins in overtime. He would finish fourth in the division. Captain Mark Newman finished fifth at 174 pounds, and 149-pounder Tom Storer brought home fifth place.
Sunderland has had to make a few personnel moves to accommodate the beginning of the dual season. He will register sophomore Doc Vecchio and senior Andrew Butville at 165 pounds. He has not decided exactly what to do at that weight, and will wait until after the first match to make a decision. He is leaning toward platooning the two wrestlers in the same manner as Mielnik and Heckard.
Junior Travis Hummel will wrestle at 157 pounds this week while redshirt freshman Jeremy Reitz continues to battle a skin infection. Sunderland has decided to redshirt freshman James Woodall, who finished fifth at that weight at the Penn State Open. Mark Becks will return from a skin infection to wrestle at 174, and redshirt junior Jeff Knupp is considered probable for the meet after an ankle injury at the Penn State Open.
Sunderland is pleased with the progress the squad has shown so far, and hopes to see continued improvement as the dual meet season begins.
"We're trying to keep everything positive," he said. "We had a lot of great performances last week. Now we just have to put everything together. Everyone has to wrestle up to their potential and put everything on the line for the dual meet season."
