Shorthanded wrestlers endure difficult ties for PSU

Bubba Jenkins has only been a part of three ties in his wrestling career, and two of them came this weekend.

On a 10-hour bus ride back to State College that senior Tim Haas described as “long and cold,” the No.14 Penn State wrestling team was left to think of what could have been. Injuries and missed opportunities prevented the team from returning with victories.

“I’m sure it was a long bus ride home, both figuratively and literally,” said former Nittany Lion wrestler Ken Chertow, who announced Friday’s match in Indiana for the Big Ten Network. “Those two teams are two of the lower-end teams in the Big Ten and Penn State has traditionally been one of the best, and they’re currently not meeting that standard right now.”

The Nittany Lions tied both dual meets against No. 21 Indiana and No. 25 Purdue this weekend, 17-17. In 101 years of Penn State wrestling, this is the first time the team has had two straight ties. Both conference matches could have fallen the Nittany Lions’ way. Junior All-American Jenkins hurt his ankle in Friday’s match — preventing him from attaining bonus points against the Hoosiers and prohibiting him from wrestling at all against the Boilermakers.

“If I was healthy, we win both those duals,” Jenkins said. “But we did what we could and we didn’t lose. The mood was, ‘Yeah, another weekend without a convincing win,’ but we did what we could and came home with two ties.”

The No. 2-ranked 149-pound wrestler, who was on crutches as he talked to The Daily Collegian, said he was getting his ankle checked out by trainer Dan Monthley at 4:15 p.m. Sunday, but “as of right now, we’re just taking it day-to-day.”

Haas said Jenkins’ ankle popped Friday and stiffened overnight, which did not allow him to wrestle Saturday. He said his teammate “started to look better” Sunday as he got off the bus, and he believed it would be “one of those nagging injuries for the rest of the year,” not a serious setback. Although the team was without Jenkins and redshirt freshman 197-pounder Clay Steadman on Saturday, the dual meet did come down to the last match with the Lions (7-6-2) in the lead, as it did Friday. Redshirt freshman Cameron Wade fell 5-3 to Indiana’s Nate Everhart on Friday, and senior Jack Decker lost 2-1 in the Purdue dual, after he recorded a technical fall victory against the Hoosiers.

Adam Lynch and Colby Pisani made their dual-meet debuts with all the injuries and weight-class situations, which cost the Lions crucial bonus points.

“Having some of those guys out of the lineup definitely hurt,” said junior Brad Pataky, who defeated former NCAA champion Angel Escobedo Friday. “But we showed heart, we showed character and we showed pride. We came out there and almost won without our full lineup.”

By Stephen Hennessey
Collegian Staff Writer