Bucknell wrestling accomplishes long-sought goal with Penn State dual
The Bison were able to hire former Michigan State standout and Bloomsburg coach
On Friday, the Bison will accomplish another goal they had set when the program was reinstated -- to sell out the 4,000-seat
"It's a significant milestone for the program from its reinstatement, and I think it's important to the alumni base, the Bucknell wrestling alumni base, central Pennsylvania, and most importantly our benefactor
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Who will start this weekend for Penn State wrestling? Coach
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Penn State heavyweight
Wirnsberger said they've tried to sell out Sojka before, by bringing in teams such as
The tickets set aside for Bucknell fans sold quickly, Wirnsberger said, the Penn State fans and organizations started calling about tickets before they were even available to the general public. Approximately 4,200 tickets have been sold.
"It's exciting to be a part of an event like this,"
Wirnsberger said he recognizes that there might be quite a bit of blue and white in the stands come Friday, but he's excited to give his wrestlers that experience of competing in a dual with national media attention and a sold-out arena.
"It's something that's not necessarily familiar for us; it's more familiar for a program like Penn State, and that's why it's good for these guys to be under the gun in that type of atmosphere," he said. "They're going to do nothing but learn from it, grow from it, and gain the right type of experience from that atmosphere."
Bucknell, however, is no stranger to scheduling tough opponents, having wrestled the nation's top team now three years in a row, with Penn State this and last season and
"When you're facing the No. 1 team in the country, and they won seven out of the past eight national championships and half their starting lineup is ranked No. 1 in the country, that's a good position to put our guys in just as far as opportunity, opportunity to build off of their performance, that's what we plan to do, build off their performance one way or the other."
The road back to varsity status
When he first found out in 2001 that Bucknell was dropping wrestling as a varsity program, Graham said he felt "sickened."
Wrestling for the Bison from 1958-62, Graham was the co-captain for one of Bucknell's two undefeated seasons. And then, four decades later, it was wrestling, Graham said, that helped him with successfully running the
"Wrestling did more to help me develop and mature develop myself to point where I could handle most situations in insurance business," he said.
For that reason, Graham was inspired to make a donation to the school to reinstate wrestling, as well as add a women's rowing team, in accordance with Title IX requirements.
Shortly after finding out wrestling would be reinstated as a varsity sport in 2005, Graham said he was sitting at his desk in a meeting when his secretary rang in and said, "There's some man on the phone, his name is
Of course, Graham said, he was eager to speak with the legendary
Once instated as coach, Wirnsberger spent the next year "wandering around, looking for wrestlers," as Graham would tell it.
Graham recalled that Wirnsberger reached out to the 20 guys on the club team to gauge their interest and got only one response: "Division I? Are you crazy?"
Since then, the Bison have had several successful years, including the 2014-15 season when they won a school-record 15 dual matches, including 10 in a row, and had six EIWA placewinners and four
"I've been through it all here, the highs and lows of building a program from scratch, and it's kind of like figuring it out as you go along. ... But it's been great because for one, being able to build it the way you want to build it, you're able to watch it grow and develop, and when you hit that plateau, which we did about year five, year six into the program, then you re-evaluate and see where we need to go and what the next steps are for the program," Wirnsberger said.
"Thrilled" to have sold out Sojka, Graham said he's proud of what the program has accomplished since reinstatement, from former heavyweight
"There's a lot of exciting experiences I've had with Bucknell wrestling, which thank goodness, is back in place," he said.
Excitement boiling over to Penn State
The mood in Penn State's wrestling room on Tuesday, ahead of the pair of in-state duals with Bucknell and then Lehigh at home on Sunday, was one of excitement.
"This is going to be a fun weekend," Penn State assistant coach
After getting his first taste of wrestling in front a full arena of Penn State fans during the
"I'm very excited to get back on the mat after the break," he said. "This weekend should be great. It's so much fun here at Penn State with all the fans, and I hear Friday is a sellout, too. I can't wait."
For the Penn State wrestlers, Friday's dual has the added bonus of being only about 60 miles east from campus. The dual will mark the first time in program history that the
"We'll travel the same day, wrestle, then come back," senior heavyweight
Cassar said he's looking forward to the match, not only because of the shortened travel time, but also to help Bucknell realize its dream of selling out Sojka.
"I think Penn State and other top schools have the responsibility to build those other schools up, and build the wrestling community up, because it's not the biggest community but we all support each other. So I think it's a good option for both of us to compete against each other," he said.
No. 1 Penn State (1-0) at Bucknell (2-1)
When:
Where:
Radio:
Online: FloWrestling (paid subscription)
125:
133:
141: No. 4
149: No. 13
157: No. 1
165: No. 1
174: No. 2
184: No. 4
197: No. 1
285: No. 5
No. 8 Lehigh (0-1) at No. 1 Penn State (1-0)
When:
Where: Rec Hall
Radio:
TV:
Note: Lehigh wrestles Princeton on Friday night
125:
133:
141: No. 4
149: No. 13
157: No. 1
165: No. 1
174: No. 2
184: No. 4
197: No. 1
285: No. 5
___
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