As Penn State gets set to finally take the mat for the first time this season Saturday, the Nittany Lions already picked up a big win Friday by flipping one of the top wrestlers in Pennsylvania from Pitt.
Gary Steen, a 120-pounder from Reynolds High School in Greenville, announced his decision on Twitter.
After much thought and time I am excited to announce that I will be furthering my academic and athletic career at Penn State University. I want to thank my family, friends and coaches that supported me along the way. #WeAre🦁 pic.twitter.com/R5jNH0wsOz
— Gary Steen (@GarYsTeeN_) January 29, 2021
Steen has enjoyed a tremendous high school career, winning the PIAA state title as a freshman in 2018 and as a junior in 2020. He finished third as a sophomore, and he’ll be vying for his third state title this season.
Steen has a career record of 147-7 as you can see below from PA-Wrestling.com.
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| CAREER WRESTLING STATISTICS | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| HIGH SCHOOL | Record | DEC | MD | TF | F | FF-DF | |||||
| W | L | T | W% | W/L | W/L | W/L | W/L | W/L | Post-Season | ||
| 2017-2018 | Reynolds | 45 | 4 | 0 | 0.918 | 14/2 | 3/1 | 9/0 | 10/1 | 9/0 | State 1st |
| 2018-2019 | Reynolds | 42 | 2 | 0 | 0.955 | 10/2 | 4/0 | 2/0 | 22/0 | 4/0 | State 3rd |
| 2019-2020 | Reynolds | 48 | 1 | 0 | 0.980 | 15/1 | 6/0 | 2/0 | 19/0 | 5/0 | State 1st |
| 2020-2021 | Reynolds | 12 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 1/0 | 4/0 | 7/0 | |
| VARSITY TOTALS | 147 | 7 | 0 | 0.955 | 39/5 | 13/1 | 14/0 | 55/1 | 25/0 | ||
Steen originally committed to Pitt a year ago, and at the time, this is what TheOpenMat.com had to say about him:
Steen has already captured titles at the Walsh Ironman and the Powerade, while competing at 113 lbs. It was the second year in a row that Steen won the Powerade. His performance at those major tournaments has elevated him to a fifth overall ranking in the nation that weight class. Other national level credentials for Gary include a seventh-place showing in Fargo at the Junior Greco-Roman National Championships, and third place at the 2018 Ironman.
Penn State wrestles in a tri-meet today against Indiana and Northwestern. Check here for Andy Stine’s preview.
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