Phil Davis, 2008 NCAA Division I 184-pound champ for Penn State, will be competing at UFC 109: Relentless at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas on Saturday, February 6.

Davis, who signed with UFC just last month, will be facing former World Extreme Cagefighting champion Brian Stann, who played football at the US Naval Academy.

A four-time NCAA All-American wrestler, Davis built a 116-20 collegiate career with the Nittany Lions. The 25-year-old Harrisburg, Pennsylvania native owns a 4-0 professional MMA record, having competed inside the Palace Fighting Championship, Ultimate Warrior Challenge and Ultimate Cage Fighting Challenge promotions. In Davis’ most recent MMA event in June, he submitted David Baggett with a rear-naked choke in 3:37.

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http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-7334-College-Wrestling-Examiner~y2010m1d8-2009-NCAA-champ-Phil-Davis-to-make-UFC-debut-February-6

By Stephen Hennessey and Jocelyn Syrstad
Collegian Staff Writer

Bubba Jenkins admits he wasn’t even in shape at this point last season.

Each practice, even though the season has not started, has been harder than last year’s most difficult practice, redshirt sophomore Clay Steadman said.

The wrestlers were used to training for an extended period of time in the Lorenzo Wrestling Complex, but not spending a Friday night there for breaking a team rule.

Welcome to the Penn State wrestling team’s version of Friday Night Lights.

The itinerary entails sweeping the filth off the practice mats with a broom, cleaning with a mop and running up and down the length of the four giant practice mats, paper towel in hand, to dry the floor that has been the training ground for 98 NCAA All-Americans. After cleaning, wrestlers study in the bleachers of the facility, without any conversation, cell phones or iPods.

“It’s something you don’t want to get, but it’s really easy to get,” freshman wrestler Ed Ruth said. “As soon as you get it, you’re like, ‘I’ve got Friday Night Lights.’ It’s not really a surprise when you get it, it’s just that in public school they give you disciplinary actions, but they give you like a strike or a demerit or something to build up to that. But this, you just get it right away. It’s like sink or die.”  Read more... (1909 words, 1 image, estimated 7:38 mins reading time)

by SEAN KEELER

State College, Pa. — The wrestling room is bigger than a VFW hall, the mats wide as a country mile. Four high-definition televisions hang on the walls, each one placed strategically a few feet apart from the next.

“It’s a nice room,” Cael Sanderson says. “But obviously a room’s not going to win for you.”

He smiles. Penn State’s Lorenzo Wrestling Complex opened in 2006 to the tune of $4 million. Tucked neatly into the west side of campus, it’s more a penthouse than a palace, but every corner sparkles.
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“I think it was just a lot of bad information that was out there as to why I made the decision,” Sanderson said of the stunning coup that brought the former Iowa State wrestling coach here from Ames five months ago. “But really, that wasn’t the reason that I took the job. I was just looking at a long-term opportunity here.”

At the most recent NCAA wrestling championships, a dozen Pennsylvania natives were named to the All-American team; two were natives of Iowa. Steve Sanderson, Cael’s father, told The (Penn State) Daily Collegian last spring that his son had discussed a move to State College for at least a year, if the job ever came open.  Read more... (634 words, estimated 2:32 mins reading time)

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. – The Varsity “S” Club and Penn State wrestling head coach Cael Sanderson invite all Penn State wrestling alumni returning for the 2009 Homecoming weekend to join the current wrestling team and staff for a day full of Homecoming festivities.

On Oct. 17, before Penn State and Minnesota clash in Beaver Stadium, the Penn State wrestling team would like to open up a conditioning session for those returning former student-athletes as a chance to view the 2009 wrestling team and coaches. Following practice a tour of the Lorenzo Wrestling Complex will be given for all attendees.

With head coach Cael Sanderson making his debut appearance as a Nittany Lion and the transition of the coaching staff in full motion, there will be a meet and greet session for alumni to connect with the new faces of Penn State Wrestling. Food and beverages will be provided for the Penn State wrestling members and families during the meet and greet session.

The Schedule of Events goes as followed:
Open Conditioning Session at Lorenzo Wrestling Complex 9:00 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.
Tour of Lorenzo Wrestling Complex 10:40 a.m.- 11:15 a.m.
Meet and Greet with Coaching Staff 11:20 a.m.- 12:30 p.m.
Penn State vs. Iowa Homecoming Football game 3:30 p.m.  Read more... (322 words, estimated 1:17 mins reading time)

The Manheim Central school board approved the hiring of former Penn State coach Troy Sunderland as its head wrestling coach during a school board meeting Tuesday night.

Sunderland, who resigned from Penn State on April 4, replaces Shane Mack, who had coached the Barons since 2005.

The coaching job will be Sunderland’s first at the high school level. Sunderland served as an assistant at Penn State and Navy before replacing John Fritz as the Nittany Lions’ head coach in 1999.

Sunderland, 38, led Penn State to an 8-12-2 record and 17th-place finish at the NCAA Championships during his final season at Penn State. Sunderland went 115-90-2 and coached 27 All-Americans in 11 years at Penn State.

Sunderland becomes the 15th head coach in Manheim Central history. The Barons, who compete in District 3, have recorded more than 700 dual meet wins since the school introduced the sport in 1926. The program has produced eight state champions and 13 PIAA runner-ups since 1943. The school also conducts one of the state’s top high school tournaments — the Manheim Holiday Tournament.

Sunderland’s wife, JoAnn, was hired as Manheim Central High School’s in-school suspension monitor, according to the Lancaster Intelligencer Journal/New Era.  Read more... (226 words, estimated 54 secs reading time)

Courtesy: Charles Dorman, Athletic Communications Assistant

PHILADELPHIA – Penn wrestling head coach Rob Eiter announced a new addition to his coaching staff, and the name is a familiar one to Penn wrestling fans – two-time NCAA champion and three-time All-America Matt Valenti. He will join fellow Penn alum, Josh Henson on the coaching staff.

“It is very important for us to have Matt return to Penn,” Eiter said. “We are in the process of establishing an identity as a program, and our goals mirror what Matt accomplished while at Penn.”

Eiter went on to say that Valenti brings with him many valuable qualities when he enters the wrestling room.

“Matt is a Penn graduate and he can speak openly and knowledgably about what that means,” said the second-year head coach. “Beyond that, Matt is a flat-out good coach who interacts well with student-athletes as they strive toward success. Finally, Matt is continuing his own competitive career on the international level. It is a tremendous positive for our team to witness first-hand a competitor working at the highest level of the sport.”

The opportunity to return to Penn and work with a new generation of Quakers was a big draw for Valenti.  Read more... (493 words, estimated 1:58 mins reading time)

Penn State-bound twins cap junior careers with freestyle titles

by Guy Cipriano

Future Penn State wrestlers Andrew and Dylan Alton handled their last appearances in the Junior National Championships with the same demeanor they display everywhere else they compete.

They left the boasting to others. They didn’t drop any tears as they left the FargoDome for the final time as competitors.

“I’m sort of glad it’s the last time,” Dylan said Sunday afternoon. “I’m ready to move onto the next level.”

The Central Mountain duo will bring incredible resumes to Penn State in 2010.

Andrew and Dylan captured the 140 and 145 titles, respectively, during Saturday night’s freestyle finals in Fargo, N.D. The twins shared Outstanding Wrestler honors.

The Altons spent plenty of time atop the Fargo podium. They combined to win nine cadet and junior freestyle and Greco-Roman titles. The twins captured junior freestyle titles the past two years.

Most wrestling experts consider the tournament the nation’s premiere scholastic event. Dozens of college coaches, including Penn State’s Cael Sanderson, attended this year’s tournament, which started July 18.  Read more... (597 words, estimated 2:23 mins reading time)

AMES — Cael Sanderson is not done in Iowa just yet.

The former Iowa State wrestling coach has been in and out of Ames since shocking the wrestling world in April with his decision to leave for the head coaching job at Penn State.

Sanderson faced a great deal of criticism from Cyclone fans and, to some, will long be an unpopular figure in the state because of his career choice. Vulgar and even threatening e-mail and letters were written.

One fan, Sanderson said, went to his house, rang the doorbell and threw ISU clothing into the house at his wife, Kelly, and 2-year-old son Tate. They now don’t go to the front door when it is someone the family doesn’t know.

To avoid any kind of confrontation, the Sandersons keep a pretty low profile. Cael has shied away from public appearances and will continue to do so until ISU summer wrestling camps are over in late July.

“The only problem is that I like to eat (out) a lot,” he said. “I’m not in Ames a great deal. I just do what I have to do. I don’t go out.”  Read more... (571 words, estimated 2:17 mins reading time)

By Stephen Hennessey and Jocelyn Syrstad
Collegian Staff Writers

The signing of Cael Sanderson as Penn State’s next head wrestling coach has 149-pound Penn State wrestler Bubba Jenkins declaring a “new Penn State era” in which the Nittany Lions could challenge Iowa for the “dominating team” in college wrestling.

The announcement of the former Iowa State head coach leaving to become Penn State’s next head coach has the Nittany Lion wrestlers excited and Iowa State wrestlers shocked.

“I don’t think they could have made a better decision than what they did,” 125-pound Penn State wrestler Brad Pataky said. “His credentials are so superior. I am so excited about the decision. I’ve been such a fan of Cael, so it’s really exciting to have him as part of our program.”

Sanderson brings one of the most impressive résumés in college wrestling with him to Penn State. He won an ESPY award in 2002 for Best Male Collegiate Athlete after completing an undefeated career, the only wrestler in the history of collegiate wrestling to have an unblemished record. In each of his first three seasons as coach of Iowa State, the Cyclones finished in the top five at the NCAA Tournament.  Read more... (1006 words, estimated 4:01 mins reading time)

Cael Sanderson had an answer for why he was leaving Iowa State for Penn State.

He just didn’t know if it was a good one.

The 29-year-old head coach addressed his team Friday afternoon, then spoke with a couple recruits, and then spoke the media, telling of his stunning move to leave Ames.

An offer Sanderson said he wouldn’t have previously considered turned into an opportunity he couldn’t resist.

“A lot of the reasons for staying at Iowa State were more emotional, “Sanderson said. “This is a place that, where you can get it done here, you know. I haven’t been able to quite do that yet. I believed we were right on the edge, and so that makes it even more difficult to – to leave, but I don’t know; it’s a tough decision.

“I don’t know how long – I haven’t slept in a few days here. And it feels like it’s the right thing to do, but only time will tell.”

The latest story of a coach leaving Iowa State is probably the most confusing.

Training in Ames, Sanderson developed the most impressive resume of any collegiate wrestler ever, winning all 159 matches, four NCAA titles and then an Olympic Gold Medal in 2004.  Read more... (687 words, estimated 2:45 mins reading time)