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  • Photo: Photo/Tony Rotundo

    Mark Palmer •

    Photo: Photo/Tony Rotundo

    How Penn State could take back attendance record

    Penn State no longer owns the NCAA wrestling attendance record after Iowa hosted Grapple on the Gridiron this past Saturday, with 42,287 fans at Kinnick Stadium in Iowa City to see the Hawkeyes edge Oklahoma State, 18-16.

    Folks in Happy Valley may already be plotting to take back that crown. At least those who have read Jim Carlson's column for PennLive.com Wednesday.

    As Carlson pointed out, two years ago, Penn State broke an earlier record set at Iowa by putting 15,996 fans into its Bryce Jordan Center in a dual meet vs. Pitt in December 2013. And it's difficult not to believe that the Nittany Lions and their fans would not mind bringing that attendance record back to the Keystone State.

    Cael Sanderson talks with Matt Brown at the 2015 NCAAs (Photo/Tony Rotundo, WrestlersAreWarriors.com)
    The PennLive.com sportswriter served up some possible scenarios for the Penn State mat program to have its own record-breaking outdoor dual meet at their Beaver Stadium, which, according to Wikipedia, sports an official seating capacity of 106,572. His first suggestion: Nov. 5, 2016, just less than a year away. Making that day potentially magical: the Iowa Hawkeyes football team is the scheduled opponent. Carlson claims the average temperature in State College on Nov. 5 for the past eight years has been 54, and it was 73 on Nov. 5 this month. On six of those dates there was zero precipitation; the other two dates had essentially sprinkles. Potentially good weather, topped by the possibility of two Iowa-Penn State match-ups in one day -- first in wrestling, then in football -- would be almost too powerful to ignore.

    So ... what does the PSU head wrestling coach think of the idea?

    "It's not like it's a priority but maybe something down the road,'' said Cael Sanderson.

    "I'm not a big risk-taker," Sanderson added. "I don't want to set a date and line everything up and have it rain and snow. There are just a lot of variables but it's definitely something to think about. It wouldn't be anything immediately, maybe down the road a few years, but we'll see.''

    Wrestling fans can imagine that Sanderson -- the guy who never lost an official college match wrestling for Iowa State -- doesn't like the idea of the NCAA wrestling attendance record being snatched away by Big Ten rival Iowa ... and is probably already putting his staff on the case to see about bringing back that honor to Happy Valley.
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