Penn State Leads After First Day Of Big 10 Wrestling Tournament

After the first of two days of the annual Big Ten Conference college wrestling tournament, Penn State was the team leader and in line to win their third straight tourney championship

The Nittany Lions, Minnesota and Iowa all had four wrestlers schedule to compete in championship matches Sunday at the University of Illinois in Champaign.

Defending NCAA champions David Taylor (165 lbs.) and Ed Ruth (184) of Penn State had both qualified for the title round, as had three-time All-American Quentin Wright (197) and sophomore Matt Brown (174).

The Nittany Lions (22-7 overall) went 11-3 in Saturday’s evening session and 4-2 in the semifinals.  They had tallied 123 first-day points to 112.5 for Iowa and 109 for Iowa.  Ohio State was fourth (92 pts.), and host Illinois (72.5) was fifth.