“I have tremendous respect for Penn State,” said West Virginia coach Craig Turnbull. “I feel very fortunate to come away with a win in a tough environment.”

After dropping its first match at 133, West Virginia reeled off six straight victories to take a commanding 20-3 lead. Junior Shane Cunanan got things going with a 16-6 major decision over No. 17- ranked Scott Moore.

“We got the momentum right where we needed it,” said Turnbull of Cunanan’s major decision.

No. 19-rated Billy Smith followed with a win over Nate Wachter at 149 and No. 6-ranked Joe Carr had an 11-5 victory over freshman James Woodall at 157.

No. 7-rated Tom McMath improved his record to 16-2 with a vic-tory over Doc Vecchio at 165, and outstanding sophomore Greg Jones scored a 23-8 major decision over freshman Todd Brennan at 174. In the big upset of the day, West Virginia’s Ryan Wilman downed No. 9-ranked Mark Becks at 184. Becks came into the match with an impressive 14-1 record that included a victory over the nation’s No. 1-ranked wrestler.

Top 10 -- West Virginia is ranked 10th in the latest IntermatWrestle.com poll. WVU was ranked eighth from December 2-January 2, its highest ranking since February 13, 1998. The Mountaineers have been ranked in the Top 25 all season.

Rocking The Ranked -- The last time the Mountaineers defeated a ranked team was last weekend, with a 23-15 win over No.17 Penn State. WVU’s only other match with a Top 10 team this year was a 24-16 loss at No.6 Iowa State.

McMath Starts Roll In Vegas -- Tom McMath, who was unranked prior to the Las Vegas Invitational, beat the odds as he rolled through the 165 bracket at the tournament Nov.30-Dec.1. McMath defeated No.4 Chris Vitale of Lehigh 7-6 in the finals. He also notched a 5-4 win against No.8 Carl Fronhaufer of Pitt. It was McMath’s second tournament title this season as he was also the champion at the Navy Classic. The win vaulted McMath into the Top 10 in both na-tional polls, where he has been since(6th by AWN and 7th by Intermat).

Cunanan The Conquerer -- Shane Cunanan has already made an immediate impact since transferring from Oregon State to WVU. Cunanan, a 141-pound junior from Spokane, Wash., defeated No.2 Sean Gray of Virginia Tech and No.7 Aaron Holker of Iowa State in back-to-back weeks. For his efforts against Holker, Cunanan was named WVU’s athlete of the week and the EWL’s wrestler of the week.

The Return Of Greg Jones -- WVU has an uncanny history of great athletes with the name Greg Jones, but this year’s wrestling squad may have the finest of them all. Jones, a freshman from Slickville, Pa., went 23 straight matches (dating back to last season) before losing a match, falling one short of the record set by his brother Vertus in 1999-2000. His streak ended in a hard-fought 9-8 loss to No.2 Otto Olson of Michigan. Jones is currently ranked fourth in both major national polls, the highest of any Mountaineer this season.

Carr Can Go -- Senior Joe Carr has lofty expectations for himself this season and has started the season on track to accomplish all of his goals. A three-time NCAA qualifier, Carr is off to a 17-1 start this year. He was a champion at the WVU Open and the Navy Classic and finished runner-up at the Las Vegas Invitational. In Vegas he defeated No.7 Rocky Smart before fallling to No.1 Bryan Snyder in the finals. Carr has an 87-30 career record and ranks tied for 9th on WVU’s all-time top 10 wins list. Carr leads the team in wins (17), winning percentage (.944), and major decisions (6).

Strength In The Middle -- While talent abounds throughout the Mountaineer line-up, the middle weight classes are proving to be a major strength of the squad. Through classes 141-174, the WVU starters are a combined 78-14 with a winning percentage of .848. Last week against Penn State, the group went 5-0 and scored 17 dual meet points, which included two major decisions. Today’s opponent, Ohio State, is also strong in those weight classes. OSU is a combined 70-25 with a winning percentage of .737 at those weights.

Terrific Tournaments -- Perhaps one of the major reasons WVU has jumped in the polls is because of the team’s success in tourna-ments. The Mountaineers recorded a second-place finish at the Navy Classic on Nov. 17, which included the crowning of six individual champions (Brandon Lauer, Billy Smith, Joe Carr, Tom McMath, Greg Jones and Brent Miller). WVU was equally as impressive at the Las Vegas Invitational, where the team added another strong second-place finish behind fourth-ranked Michigan and in front of nationally-ranked teams Lehigh, Pitt, Arizona State, Edinboro, Nebraska, Oregon State and Fresno State. McMath finished first, while Smith and Carr took second place at the tournament. Jones suffered a tough loss in the semi-finals but rebounded for third place. Lauer recorded two pins and two technical falls before falling in the semi-finals.