With the Nittany Lions’ last home dual on Sunday, seniors Vincenzo Joseph and Mark Hall are preparing to wrestle their final dual in front of a Rec Hall crowd.
The seniors have both had storied careers during their tenures at Penn State. They have combined to win more than 200 matches as well as three NCAA Championships. They will be fighting to add even more hardware to their collection as their final season comes to a close.
Both grapplers have come a long way since their first duals as Nittany Lions. Shockingly, Joseph and Hall both lost in their debut varsity bouts. Hall lost in his first ever dual meet 7-5 against Alex Meyer of Iowa. Joseph lost in his debut dual in Rec Hall 18-12 to Keaton Subjeck of Stanford. Both wrestlers, though, went on to win national titles that same year.
Joseph and Hall have weathered some learning experiences during their years in a Penn State singlet. For Joseph, one match stuck out significantly when reflecting back on his career.
“My first match at Rec Hall where I just got crushed. It was my first memory, like dang welcome to college wrestling.” said Joseph, referring to the beating he took from Subjeck three years ago.
Growing and maturing was a big key to the success of both wrestlers down the stretch of their career.
“I have had a lot of ups and downs,” Hall said. “I think I have done a lot of growing and maturing throughout the years. Finding new values and standards for myself I think has been my biggest improvement.”
For Joseph, having a good supporting cast in the wrestling room helped him tremendously in improving and staying focused.
“It’s definitely a growing experience,” he said. “We have such good role models and leaders in our coaches and the [Nittany Lion Wrestling Club] guys and the upperclassmen when I was younger. I am really appreciative of it.”
After Sunday’s 2 p.m. meet against American, the two will never wrestle another dual in Rec Hall. Both have wrestled in some of the most famous arenas around the word, but looking back, they said they agree there’s nothing quite like performing in front of the Nittany Lion faithful.
“There is something about wrestling in Rec Hall you can’t really describe,” Joseph said. “It has some feeling about it that just makes it a special place.”
“It doesn’t compare,” Hall added. “Rec Hall is the pinnacle of college wrestling.”
As March approaches, Hall will try to add a second NCAA title to his resume. Even though he’s had a lot of success, the 174-pounder wants to be remembered for something other than just winning matches.
“When I leave here, I wanna be known as a good wrestler and as a guy who went out there and was consistent,” Hall said. “But also, I am really looking forward to leaving my mark as someone who was devoted and pushed themselves and the people around them to be the best that they can.”
Even though they are coming up on their last regular season match, there is still a lot of wrestling left in the season. The Big Ten Championships are still two weeks away, and the NCAA Championships will follow two weeks after that. Joseph wants to stay focused and not dwell too much on wrestling his last match in Rec Hall.
“I am extremely grateful to have been apart of this program,” Joseph said. “And you know we’re not done yet. We still got over a month to go so I am not trying to be focused on ‘oh yeah I am almost done.’”
