While all five of PSU's returning NCAA champions stood atop the podium Tuesday night, the story of the team centers around backup 197-pounder Shakur Rasheed.

After battling a minor injury earlier in the season, Rasheed returned to action in time for the Southern Scuffle and won the whole thing. He finished his tournament with three falls, all of which came under one minute, and two major decisions. For his performance, Rasheed was named the tournament’s outstanding wrestler. Anthony Cassar, who has started the first portion of the season for PSU at 197, finished in third place after faltering during the semifinal.

Rasheed was one of seven finalists for the Nittany Lions and he wasn’t the only non-starter to make the championship round. Wrestling unattached at 141, true freshman Nick Lee earned a spot in the final. In an action-packed bout against Kaden Gfeller of Oklahoma State, Lee was tied 7-7 in the second period before being turned to his back. He was ultimately pinned in 4:50 and settled for second place in his tournament debut.

From there, Penn State won titles at the following six weight classes. Senior Zain Retherford (149) won his third Southern Scuffle crown by pinning Josh Heil of Campbell in 4:39. At 157, Jason Nolf used a headlock against Duke’s Mitch Finesilver in order to pin him in 51 seconds. At 165, Vincenzo Joseph battled Northern Iowa’s Bryce Steiert to an 8-0 major decision and at 174, Mark Hall beat Lehigh’s Jordan Kutler with a 4-0 decision. With the finals starting at 184, Hall’s match was the final bout of the evening.

In the 184-pound match to start the final round, Bo Nickal won by major decision,10-2, against Drew Foster of Northern Iowa.

Penn State had a few other medal winners, including Cassar at 197, who finished third. At heavyweight, starter Nick Nevills came in fourth place after suffering a quarterfinal loss Monday night. He wrestled back to the third-place match but fell to Stanford’s Nathan Butler, 2-0, in the consolation final.

True freshman Jarod Verklereen also placed, finishing seventh. Wrestling unattached, Verkleeren beat Roman Boylan of Chattanooga, 2-1, in his last bout.

Starters who did not place include Devin Schnupp (125), Corey Keener (133) and Jered Cortez (141). Cortez bowed out of the tournament Monday after suffering an ankle injury, while teammate Matt McCutcheon (184) also exited with a medical forfeit after hurting his back.

In all, the Nittany Lion wrestlers went 56-19 overall for the tournament with 22 pins. They also recorded 12 major decisions and four technical falls. The collective effort from Penn State’s highest scoring wrestler at each weight class was enough to compile 197.0 team points. That outscored second-place Northern Iowa (127.0) and third-place Lehigh (102.0) by 70 or more points.

January 2, 2018 – Chattanooga, Tenn.

1: Penn State – 197.0

2: Northern Iowa – 127.0

3: Lehigh – 102.0

**Courtesy of GoPSUSports.com**

125: Devin Schnupp

Rd. 1: Bye

Rd. 2: Alonzo Allen, Chattanooga – L, 8-14 maj.

Cn. 2: Fabian Gutierrez, Chattanooga – L, 6-8 dec.

133: No. 18 Corey Keener (4th seed)

Rd. 1: Wade Cummings, Chattanooga – W, 12-1 maj.

Rd. 2: Gary Wayne Harding, Oklahoma State – L, 0-7 dec.

Cn. 2: George Carpenter, Penn State – W, 10-2 maj.

Cn. 3: Rudy Yates, Northern Iowa – W, 10-2 maj.

Cn. 4: Sean Nickell, CSU Bakersfield – L, 0-7 dec.

133: George Carpenter

Rd. 1: Durbin Lloren, Utah Valley – L, 1-11 maj.

Cn. 1: Brandon Bright, Gardner Webb – W, 9-0 maj.

Cn. 2: No. 18 Corey Keener, Penn State – L, 2-10 maj.

141: No. 15 Jered Cortez (3rd seed)

PT: Franco Valdes, Chattanooga – W, forfeit

Rd. 1: Alec Opsal, Air Force – W, 8-6 dec.

Rd. 2: Owen Lamb, Northern Colorado – W, 6-3 dec.

141: Nick Lee (unattached – 5th seed)

Rd. 1: Garrett O’Shea, Air Force – W, 18-3 (TF; 4:55)

Rd. 2: Evan Cheek, Cleveland State – WBF (2:58)

Qtrs: Russell Rohlfing, CS-Bakersfield – W, 15-5 maj.

Semis: No. 7 Josh Alber, Northern Iowa – WBF (6:51)

Finals: Kaden Gfeller, Oklahoma State – LBF (4:50)

149: No. 1 Zain Retherford (1st seed)

Rd. 1: Brandon Leynaud, Duke – WBF (1:20)

Rd. 2: Jon Mele, Lehigh – WBF (4:21)

Qtrs: Jamal Morris, North Carolina State -- W, 15-0 (TF; 5:43)

Semis: No. 19 Sam Krivus, Virginia – WBF (1:53)

Finals: Josh Heil, Campbell – WBF (4:39)

149: Jarod Verkleeren (unattached)

Rd. 1: Jake Keating, Virginia – W, 16-5 maj.

Rd. 2: Kalani Tonge, CS-Bakersfield – W, 11-4 dec.

Qtrs: Jered Prince, Navy – L, 5-8 dec.

Cn 4: Evan Barczak, Drexel – W, 6-4 dec.

Cn Q: No. 6 Max Thomsen, Northern Iowa – L, 3-5 dec.

7th Place: Roman Boylan, Chattanooga – W, 2-1 dec.

149: Bo Pipher

Rd. 1: Ty Buckiso, The Citadel – L, 1-10 maj. dec.

Cn. 1: Tejon Anthony, George Mason – L, 2-3 dec.

157: No. 1 Jason Nolf (1st seed)

Rd. 1: Bryce Reddington, George Mason – W, forfeit

Rd. 2: Cam Coy, Virginia – WBF (4:35)

Qtrs: Tyler Marinelli, Gardner Webb – WBF (1:43)

Semis: Paul Fox, Stanford – WBF (3:42)

Finals: No. 10 Mitch Finesilver, Duke – WBF (0:51)

165: No. 1 Vincenzo Joseph (1st seed)

Rd. 1: Michael Elliot, Appalachian State – WBF (3:22)

Rd. 2: Zach Finesilver, Duke – W, 19-4 (TF; 5:11)

Qtrs: Ebed Jarrell, Drexel – W, 10-7 dec.

Semis: No. 19 Gordon Wolf, Lehigh – W, 19-3 (TF; 5:53)

Finals: Bryce Steiert, Northern Iowa – W, 8-0 maj.

174: No. 2 Mark Hall (1st seed)

Rd. 1: Evan Schenk, Gardner Webb – WBF (0:55)

Rd. 2: Hunter Bolen, Virginia Tech – WBF (0:35)

Qtrs: Matt Finesilver, Duke – W, 12-3 maj.

Semis: No. 8 Jadaen Bernstein, Navy – W, 4-0 dec.

Finals: No. 5 Jordan Kutler, Lehigh – W, 4-0 dec.

174: Francisco Bisono

Rd. 1: No. 17 Forrest Przybysz, Appalachian State – L, 7-18 maj.

Cn. 1: Hestin Lamons, Oklahoma State – L, 4-5 dec.

184: No. 1 Bo Nickal (1st seed)

Rd. 1: Nick Mosco, North Carolina – WBF (0:56)

Rd. 2: Austin Flores, Stanford – WBF (1:34)

Qtrs: Sam Smeltzer, Virginia Tech – WBF (1:09)

Semis: Nick Reenan, North Carolina State – W, 12-4 maj.

Finals: No. 10 Drew Foster, Northern Iowa – W, 10-2 maj.

197: No. 9 Anthony Cassar (1st seed)

Rd. 1: bye

Rd. 2: Tristan Sponseller, Lock Haven – W, 13-10 dec.

Qtrs: Stephen Loiseau, Drexel – W, 4-1 dec.

Semis: Jacob Holschlag, Northern Iowa – L, 4-6 (sv) dec.

Cn. S: No. 15 Scottie Boykin, Chattanooga – W, 9-7 (sv) dec.

3rd: Stephen Loiseau, Drexel – W, 4-1 dec.

197: Matt McCutcheon

Rd. 1: Ben Stacey, Chattanooga – WBF (5:40)

Rd. 2: Anthony McLaughlin, Air Force – L, inj. def.

197: Shakur Rasheed

Rd. 1: Anthony Perrine, Gardner Webb – W, 12-3 maj.

Rd. 2: No. 18 Jacob Seely, Northern Colorado – W, 12-2 maj.

Qtrs: No. 15 Scottie Boykin, Chattanooga – WBF (0:27)

Semis: No. 14 Matt Williams, CSU Bakersfield – WBF (0:41)

Finals: Jacob Holschlag, Northern Iowa – WBF (0:46)

285: No. 3 Nick Nevills (1st seed)

Rd. 1: Price Jackson, Gardner Webb – WBF (1:42)

Rd. 2: Tyler Love, Virginia – W, 3-0 dec.

Qtrs: Mike Boykin, North Carolina State – L, 3-4 dec.

Cn. 4: Matt Voss, George Mason – W, 11-2 maj.

Cn. Q: No. 12 Jordan Wood, Lehigh – W, med. forf.

Cn. S: No. 7 Mike Hughes, Hofstra – W, 4-1 dec.

3rd: No. 11 Nathan Butler, Stanford – L, 0-2 dec.

285: Alex Nicholas

Rd. 1: Joey Goodhart, Drexel – L, 0-15 (TF; 5:00)

Cn. 1: Bubby Scherer, Virginia – W, 9-6 dec.

Cn. 2: Dustin Dennison, Utah Valley – L, 2-15 maj.