Penn State brings home a long-sought wrestling title

It had been 58 years since Penn State won a national wrestling title, so long that perhaps only Joe Paterno could recall it.

So on Saturday night, when the young Nittany Lions officially captured the team title at the 2011 NCAA Wrestling Championships, maybe it was appropriate that they partied like it was 1953.

Muted at first after two upset losses in individual championships, the winners' mood brightened a bit as the wrestlers gathered in a Wells Fargo Center hallway awaiting the NCAA trophy presentation, then erupted into smiles, waves, and shouts when they reached the awards platform.

Despite losing two of three individual-championship matches, Penn State emerged as the winner of a competition that many had conceded to more-experienced Cornell.

They won because - despite Saturday night's losses - they were the only school to advance three wrestlers to the finals. Curiously, it was the least accomplished of that Nittany Lions trio, ninth-seeded Quentin Wright at 184 pounds, who triumphed.

That win, combined with second-place finishes by Frank Molinaro (149) and David Taylor (157), both of whom were initially devastated after their defeats, was good enough for 1071/2 points, 14 better than Cornell's total.

"These guys want to win real bad," Penn State coach Cael Sanderson said. "Yeah, we're a team, but we compete as individuals. And when you don't have success, it can be tough."

Iowa was third with 861/2 points. Surprise Arizona State, sixth with 621/2 points, was the only school to win two individual titles. Lehigh, whose heavyweight, Zach Rey, took home that title, was eighth.

Nebraska's Jordan Burroughs, a Winslow Township, N.J., native, won at 165.

Penn State's long-sought second national title - it remains the only Eastern school to have won one - came in Sanderson's second year in State College. After the 2009 season, Penn State lured the Iowa State legend, who went 159-0 as a collegian, from coaching his alma mater.

"At some point, I'm going to have to step back and take a look at what we just accomplished," Sanderson said. "It's unbelievable, but it's all kind of a blur right now."

Sanderson's reputation, his recruiting abilities, and a team dominated by freshmen and sophomores suggest the title might not be his last. Taylor, unbeaten until his loss Saturday night, said Sanderson was the reason he came to Penn State.

"I had my mind pretty much made up when I was a kid," the Ohio native said. "I thought Cael could be a coach somewhere I wanted to wrestle for. He was my idol growing up."

The Philadelphia championship set an all-time attendance record of 102,460 over its three days and six sessions.

Saturday's sixth straight sellout, flavored by the blue and white of thousands of Penn State supporters, shook the South Philadelphia arena during several of the 10 title matches, especially when one-legged Anthony Robles of Arizona State won at 125 and when his teammate, Bubba Jenkins (157), upset Taylor.

Jenkins had wrestled two years at Penn State before transferring after Sanderson took over and the two clashed.

"[Nothing personal] towards David. Definitely towards Cael," Jenkins said. "He didn't think I was good enough or the right kid to win it at that weight class or any weight class. I wanted to go 149.

"But he had other ideas. And he got rid of me. And one man's trash is a whole country's treasure."

Penn State's Molinaro (149) also lost, as Cornell's sophomore Kyle Dake, the champion at 141 a year ago, won a second straight title, by 7-1.

After those two losses, Wright had to go against second seed Robert Hamlin of Lehigh, and won, 5-2.

"When they came in and they were really upset, I knew that it didn't go good for them," Wright said. "So Coach just took me out of the room and said, 'Hey, you're on your own. This is your match. Don't feed off what happened there. Just go out there and do what you can do.' "

Fortunately, Penn State entered the night with an insurmountable lead.

It had clinched the title during Saturday's first session, at 1:48 p.m., when Ed Ruth (174) defeated Cornell's Mack Lewnes to earn third place. Earlier in the wrestlebacks, or consolation round, the Lions' Andrew Long (133) also had taken a third, beating another Big Red wrestler, Mike Grey.

With the pressure off, Penn State got to savor the pomp of the three-day event's Saturday night finale - the award ceremonies, the parade of all-Americans, the drama of 10 individual championships that were enhanced by the spectacle of a single, raised mat at the center of the vast arena's spotlit floor.

The wrestling title continued a superb year for Penn State athletics.

Its women's volleyball team won a fourth straight national championship in the fall. Paterno's football team earned an Outback Bowl bid. Both the men's and women's basketball teams advanced to the NCAA tournament.

And a wealthy donor's multimillion-dollar contribution will build an arena for a hockey team that soon will be officially sanctioned.

And while the final night might not have produced the celebration they were hoping for, the Nittany Lions name will be in the record books forever.

"It's taken all of us, every guy on the team," Wright said. "Half the guys on our team are here sitting in the stands cheering us on. . . . Cael has done a really good job of making us gel together."