Stoll, Nickal, Sanderson earn NWCA post-event awards at NCAAs

MANHEIM, Pa. -- The National Wrestling Coaches Association (NWCA) presented its NCAA post-event awards Saturday evening based off performances at the 2018 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships.

With his dramatic fall in the finals that sealed a Penn State team victory, Nittany Lion 184-pounder Bo Nickal was voted the tournament's most outstanding wrestler by member coaches of the NWCA.

Nickal scored a fall in the finals over former champion Myles Martin of Ohio State in 2:30. Nickal advanced to the finals for the third time with a major decision in the first round followed by three decisions. He joins Jeff Prescott (1994), David Taylor (2012, 2014) and Zain Retherford (2017) as the fourth Penn State wrestlers to earn this award.


Leading his team to their seventh team title in eight years, Penn State's Cael Sanderson was named the NWCA Tournament Coach of the Year. This award is awarded to the coach is voted upon by the NWCA member coaches and is awarded to the coach based off tournament performance.

Sanderson's Nittany Lions scored a 141.5 points to edge second-place Ohio State by seven points.

The Nittany Lions entered the final session of the tournament trailing the Buckeyes by six points but on the strength of four individual champions, Sanderson's team was able to capture a third straight title.

Sanderson was previously named the NWCA National Coach of the Year in 2007 when he was the head coach at Iowa State and 2013 at Penn State.

Sam Stoll became the sixth wrestler in Iowa wrestling history to earn the Manuel Gorriaran Award to wrestler with the most falls in the least amount of time at the championships. Stoll had three falls in a total time of 8:50.

The NWCA post event awards are given out each collegiate national tournament. These awards while based off of NCAA Performance are not affiliated with the NCAA.