Penn State wrestling doesn’t suffer many inconveniences throughout its season, as evidenced by its now 81-match winning streak.
81: Penn State Wrestling Blanks Indiana for 6th Dual Meet Shutout
But one inconvenience took place over the weekend, and it had nothing to do with any Big Ten opponent.
Instead, it had everything to do with the weather.
Because of a snowstorm that’s supposed to sweep the nation over the weekend, Penn State’s dual meet against Maryland— which had been scheduled for Sunday afternoon in College Park— was moved up to 5 p.m. Saturday.
This means that Penn State will wrestle two dual meets in less than 24 hours, with the Indiana bout starting at 7 p.m. the previous night.
Not ideal.
Add Nittany Sports Now as a preferred source in Google! Click here to add us.But for coach Cael Sanderson, this is a good thing in a way, too.
WHAT CAEL SAID
“I don’t think anything really changed for this evening at all,” Sanderson said in his post dual meet presser. “But yeah, just a little quicker turnaround for our guys. We just have to get down there. We generally don’t travel the same day we compete, but I think a little adversity or change in schedule is good for the guys. We had that last week a little bit, a little change with our travel. We just had to adapt and adjust. I think it’s good for them, it’s good training. We wrestle three days in a row at nationals, two days in a row at Big Tens. So it’s good for their weight management. It’s good adversity training.
THE QUIET PART
What Sanderson wouldn’t say— but that everybody understands— is that the schedule will have no impact on Penn State’s ability to handle Maryland.
If the team wanted to, it could throw out its second team and still handle the Terps.
But not thinking that way is how Penn State got to 81 straight dual meet wins, and the train isn’t slowing down anytime soon.
Penn State-Maryland will be broadcast on Big Ten+.
