Let's keep in mind for Ruth to win his freshman year he would have needed to beat Reader who kicked Amuchastegui's rear in the finals.
Best 3x NCAA Champ in PSU Wrestling History
- Thread starter mcpat
- Start date
Lapses? Losing to Nate Jackson by a point, his first year in lineup? And then returning the favor? Losing to Myles Martin by two points twice, while beating him soundly other times, including the last second score that preserved the old streak and then pinning him in the NCAA finals?
Pinning Moore, but then only decisioning him twice?
Absent Bo, Martin is a multi-time champ, and Moore is a champ. Those two guys alone, held down his bonus %.
We should all have such lapses.
Let's not forget, higher weight classes tend to have less scoring, so we should take that into account with the lower bonus %.
gotta give him credit for trying a throw on Nate - the failure leading to the points in his loss
People conveniently forget how good Reader was that year. Ruth might have won, but would've likely been an underdog, definitely nowhere near the lock people assume.
We're comparing Mount Rushmore guys. Nate Jackson probably did more post college in freestyle. Two time All American (5th and 8th). No shame in losing to him or Martin, but Bo was clearly better than both. In hindsight, I don't love the term lapse, but they're data points when trying to split hairs among Mount Rushmore types.
Lewnes was being talked about for the Hodge in the preseason of Ruth's freshman yr and Ruth hammered him. You never know how they'll match up.
I have watched that Lewnes match several times. The commentator, Cliff Fretwell, mentioned how Lewnes had not been taken down in "27 years!", then Ed proceeded to take him down four times. It was funny to hear Fretwell talking about the young kid on the edge of the mat, not knowing it was Ed's brother, Edmond. Unrelated, but I wonder what Ed's wingspan is? His ability to get to a leg and pull it in was incredible.
PSU was wrestling at Lehigh and Ed was wrestling Nate Brown. Ed had shot a single and Brown was trying to kick out away from Ruth. Ed grabbed Brown's heel and pinched it to keep him from kicking away and using a pinch hold on the heel he pulled Brown's leg in and then gathered up both legs. As Ruth was pulling Brown's leg in Brown's head just dropped to the mat as if to say what the hell grabbed a hold of me.
Technically Carter and Brooks are also three timers....... and...
Recommendation: when you see Carter next, tell him he’s a 3x NCAA Champ and see what happens.
Just so people know this match is the semis at the Southern Scuffle which was held at UNC-Greensboro. They dropped wrestling after that season and UTC-Chattanooga has hosted the Scuffle since then, This tournament was the coming out party for Ruth and Taylor an we tied Cornell for the team title without Q (injured) or Andrew Long (not cleared to compete yet).
I voted for Nolf (my favorite PSU wrestler) because in my opinion he has the least physical (looking) abilities. Put him in a lab coat and he looks right at home. The other guys, not so much.