Wes Phipps

STATE COLLEGE — Wes Phipps didn’t flinch at the idea of wrestling in front of a record-setting crowd of 15,996 people.

Two weeks before, his nerves had been much higher. This time, Phipps had found the right mindset.

Phipps, a 184-pound, red-shirt freshman wrestler at Penn State University, was ready to wrestle the University of Pittsburgh’s Aaron Rothwell Dec. 8 at the Bryce Jordan Center.

“I think my most nerve-wracking match was my first one at Rec Hall (Nov. 24 vs. Lock Haven),” said Phipps, who is a Grove City graduate. “It was my first time putting on the blue and white and going out on a big stage like that.

“BJC to me was a lot of fun. Realized it was just a wrestling match. The atmosphere was pretty crazy, 16,000 people, the elevated stage and the spotlight on you and everything.”

Phipps didn’t shrink in the spotlight, earning a 13-3 major decision over Rothwell. From the outset, Phipps was the aggressor, scoring the first takedown en route to his first win.

“He didn’t really care,” Nittany Lions head assistant coach Casey Cunningham said about the big crowd. “He had a big smile on his face and we always talk about scoring points. You want to get guys moving to score points. That’s what he did. ... In front of 16,000 people and his first time on big stage, he did a great job.”

Phipps’ first match, a 3-1 loss to Lock Haven University’s Fred Garcia, was a different story. After breaking his left wrist two months before the match, Phipps had only started practicing with it three days before. There were 6, 498 people were on hand.

But Phipps relished the opportunity.

Finding a spot in the lineup isn’t easy at Penn State. The Nittany Lions have won the last three national championships.

His injury had cost him nearly two months of training. During his time off the mat, Phipps was never far from the mat.

“He’d been off the mat for a long time, but he’d be busting his butt on the airdyne or VersaClimber,” Cunningham said. “He kept shape where it needed to be for six to eight weeks.”

When Phipps returned, he was willing to wrestle wherever he was needed. Phipps is 2-2 this season, including 2-1 at 184 pounds. Ed Ruth, a two-time defending national champion for the Nittany Lions and three-time All-American, was suspended for a DUI when Phipps returned.

That gave Phipps a chance for some experience and to utilize what Ruth taught him.

“To never stop wrestling,” Phipps said. “The guy goes and goes all the time. He’s unbelievable in scramble situations. You learn to keep on wrestling. The guy is freakishly strong, too, so you get to battle it out and it’s a fight every time you go in the wrestling room.”

Willingness to compete led to one match at 197 pounds against Ohio State’s Nick Heflin, who is ranked No. 5 in the country. Phipps lost 3-1.

“I would have rather lost by 5 or 6 and scored offensive points,” Phipps said. “ I’m not worried about making mistakes ... recover from them and learn from them. “