‘Once-in-a-lifetime’: Lehigh transfer Matt Parker grateful to be newest Penn State wrestler
Sorry, the first link isn’t working
https://www.centredaily.com/sports/college/penn-state-university/psu-wrestling/article229427469.html
We lost a little bit so hopefully this kid can step in and compete for a NC. I do keep up with penn st wrestling but not enough to where I know every weight class and who’s in every weight class. I watch the matches that are on the B1G network and always watch the NC matches. How big is this get for the team?
He isn't an instant NC or B1G contender, but at a minimum he provides more competition at 125-133. Teske is coming off of a redshirt year, but there are rumors he may not be able to hold 125 his whole career. Schnupp has showed a lot of heart and perseverance the last two years, but still had a losing record last year. Parker is a 3 time PA top 5 place winner and went 12-2 while unattached in his redshirt year at Lehigh. His brother improved dramatically at Lehigh so, hopefully, Matt has the same trajectory. I have friends who know the Parker family and by all accounts they are great people and will fit in at PSU perfectly. It sounds like Matt is pretty excited to get to work at PSU and he could provide more tournament points at 125 next year, with 3 years, I think, of eligibility remaining. I'm looking forward to see what he can do. It's kids like this that provide the backbone and mentality to your program, like James Conway and James English.
He isn't an instant NC or B1G contender, but at a minimum he provides more competition at 125-133. Teske is coming off of a redshirt year, but there are rumors he may not be able to hold 125 his whole career. Schnupp has showed a lot of heart and perseverance the last two years, but still had a losing record last year. Parker is a 3 time PA top 5 place winner and went 12-2 while unattached in his redshirt year at Lehigh. His brother improved dramatically at Lehigh so, hopefully, Matt has the same trajectory. I have friends who know the Parker family and by all accounts they are great people and will fit in at PSU perfectly. It sounds like Matt is pretty excited to get to work at PSU and he could provide more tournament points at 125 next year, with 3 years, I think, of eligibility remaining. I'm looking forward to see what he can do. It's kids like this that provide the backbone and mentality to your program, like James Conway and James English.
As a true freshman at Lehigh he went 13-2 unattached, with his two losses both coming to decent upperclassmen in Jake Gromacki & Nolan Hellickson. He actually didn't wrestle last year, he was recovering from hand surgery.
In his last two years of HS, he lost in the state championships to two very good wrestlers in close matches, one is now in the starting lineup at Lock Haven and the other at Arizona State. So he's a pretty good wrestler.
What this does is really give us amazing depth in the lower weights, something we've been missing for 3 or so seasons. I wouldn't say it's the same as having both Teasdale and Teske, but it's still a great 1-2 punch to have.
Anticipating big things from Parker can only be based on speculation at this point. There are many unknowns with the biggest one being his recovery from hand surgery. At the least I think he will be able to defeat below average guys which is something that hasn’t been done since Suriano left for Rutgers. On the upside Parker could be a lower level AA. For sure, it will be fun watching how things play out.
Unfortunately Zain bows to Yianni 6-4.
Unfortunately Zain bows to Yianni 6-4.
Yianni does things with his body that shouldn’t be possible. He’s a little like Nolf that way. No shame in losing to him. Hopefully, this will just add some motivation to Zain, but it looks like Yianni will have a very bright international future.
Unfortunately Zain bows to Yianni 6-4.
Looks like Zain may become just another guy in the weight class. Yanni established he owns the weight.
Unfortunately Zain bows to Yianni 6-4.
Looks like Zain may become just another guy in the weight class. Yanni established he owns the weight.
Am I missing something? This was Zain's first loss in a while, at a weight that is below what he was wrestling at in college. He lost by 2 points, to the reigning NCAA champion at 141... Which translates to 65kg (143 lbs.)
Seems to me that Zain might have been at a disadvantage, considering he needed to lose at least 5-6 lbs. to make weight in what... about 2-3 weeks? I don't think that can be discounted here. In fact, he was up in the match until Yianni came back and scored some points late. It's usual for kids dropping weight to lose steam in later rounds.
