Penn State takes tournament title with 178.5 team points
Wrapping up the final day at the 2012 Southern Scuffle, the No. 3 Golden Gopher wrestling team finished in fourth place with 139.5 total team points. For the second year in a row, Penn State captured the Scuffle title in Chattanooga, Tenn., gathering 178.5 points on the day. The next closest team was Oklahoma State who tallied 158.0 points. Missouri finished just head of the Gophers with 147.5 points.
Despite failing to crown a single champion at the event, Minnesota was able to pull out other top finishes. Three grapplers placed second, while others finished third in their respective brackets.
Tony Nelson, Logan Storley, and Chris Dardanes each finished runner-up. Nelson fell to Missouri’s Dom Bradley by a 2-1 decision in a tiebreaker round. The loss snaps Nelson’s 40-match win streak that dates back to last season.
Storley got a shot at Oklahoma State’s No. 1 Chris Perry and narrowly missed the championship title with a 7-6 decision loss. Dardanes also came up short of the crown, losing 3-2 to Jon Morrison, also of Oklahoma State.
Kevin Steinhaus and Nick Dardanes each took home third place. Steinhaus won over Missouri’s Mike Larson by a 7-3 decision, while Dardanes won by decision (10-4) over Chris Mecate (Old Dominion).
Southern Scuffle Results
The Maroon and Gold returns to dual competition on Jan. 11 when the team travels to Columbus, Ohio for a Big Ten meet against the Buckeyes.