STATE COLLEGE, Pa., 12/06/09 - Several members of the Michigan State
wrestling team competed with some of the nation's top wrestlers in the
Nittany Lion Open, hosted by Penn State, on Sunday (Dec. 6) in State
College, Pa.
"We had about half of our starters and a lot of young kids wrestle today
at a really tough tournament," said MSU head coach Tom Minkel. "For the
most part, we wrestled pretty well and got a lot of good experience."
Sophomore Joe Rizqallah led the Spartans' effort as he placed sixth in
the heavyweight class. Senior Kyle Bounds took seventh in the 165-pound
weight class.
"Kyle had an excellent tournament although he lost a couple of tough
matches, and so did Joe," said Minkel. "It was nice to see both of them
come out and wrestle hard today."
Eric Olanowski was nearly the Spartans' third top-eight finisher on the
day but fell in the eighth-place match to Matthew Snyder, 8-7, in a
tie-breaker.
The Spartans will now have a few weeks of rest before returning to
action on Dec. 29-30 at the Midlands Championships in Evanston, Ill.
"Our priority right now is to get healthy in these next few weeks so we
can go into midlands at full strength," Minkel said.
Nittany Lion Open Results in PDF 
