The Penn State wrestling team announced its 2009-10 schedule Wednesday, and the Nittany Lions and new coach Cael Sanderson will be hitting the road to face several highly-regarded programs.
The Lions will compete in only five dual meets in Rec Hall, while the remaining meets will be held in other locations. Penn State will face Lehigh, Ohio State, Iowa, Wisconsin and Minnesota on the road, all ranked teams according to InterMat.com.
Penn State's frequent travel might be disappointing for wrestling fans looking to watch their new-look team, but junior Brad Pataky said the team is excited about its road-heavy schedule.
"Being on the road is going to make it a little challenging, but just getting into new areas and atmospheres is always good for a little bit of a change," Pataky said. "It's not necessarily a bad thing being away from home. I think it's going to be a good thing for us."
The difficult road schedule also brings a chance for revenge. The Buckeyes and Hawkeyes came into Rec Hall last season and beat the Lions by scores of 33-7 and 31-6, respectively.
Sophomore Quentin Wright laughed at the topic of revenge.
"You always want to revenge your losses," Wright said. "It's always fun to beat teams in their home gyms, so we're definitely going to have an extra fire going into these other gyms."
Pittsburgh, West Virginia and Lock Haven round out the Lions' non-conference schedule, while Penn State will also travel to several tournaments throughout the season, including the Sprawl and Brawl Duals in Binghamton, N.Y. and the Reno Tournament of Champions.
Former Lion wrestler and assistant coach Aaron Anspach said the mid-season tournaments will provide the wrestlers with some competition they don't normally face. However, for the first time since the 2006-2007 season, the Lions won't make the trip to the National Duals, even though rivals Ohio State and Iowa will be present.
"The schedule is different than in years past," Anspach said. "It's going to be a good challenge because we're going to face a lot of tough competition from around the country against some west coasts teams in the Reno tournament that we don't face traditionally. It's going to be a good test for the type of competition we'll see at NCAAs and Big Tens."
Though the Lions have only five meets at home this season -- against Bloomsburg, Michigan State, Northwestern, Illinois and Michigan -- the team hopes to even out the number of road and home meets in the future, assistant coach Cody Sanderson said.
With only a few months left until the Lions begin their season with wrestle-offs scheduled for Nov. 5, the team is anxious to begin competition.
"I think it's going to be great. I'm really excited to get the team out on the mat," Sanderson said. "We've got some experienced guys who are going to be up there, and we're going to have guys who are new to our lineup. We're going to have a few inexperienced guys so I think it's going to be great to get those guys in front of the crowd and let them get tested and let them get a taste of what college wrestling is all about."
