ST. LOUIS -- Amid the thunderous cheers of the Penn State faithful, Nico Megaludis stepped into the spotlight at Scottrade Center with an improbable chance of winning a national title at the NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships.
Megaludis, a Franklin Regional product, wasn't burdened with having the pressure of being in a must-win situation, in part, because the Nittany Lions clinched their second consecutive team title during the medal rounds Saturday morning.
The Nittany Lions entered the championship round with five finalists -- Megaludis (125), Quentin Wright (184), Ed Ruth (174), David Taylor (165) and Frank Molinaro (149). All but Megaludis and Wright captured gold as Penn State easily outdistanced the competition, including Big Ten rivals Minnesota and Iowa, which finished second and third, respectively.
Pitt, with Matt Wilps (197) and Tyler Nauman (149) earning All-America honors, placed 15th with 35 points. Edinboro, led by 197-pound finalist Chris Honeycutt, was 17th with 32.5 points, and Clarion's 32 points left it 18th.
With their coronation complete following the morning session, Penn State pursued an unlikely five individual championships. No one, though, envisioned the 10th-seeded Megaludis surviving three seeded opponents -- including No. 2 Zachary Sanders of Minnesota in the quarterfinals.
The unheralded freshman, largely overshadowed by his All-American teammates, entered the title bout a prohibitive underdog against No. 1 seed and 2010 national champion Matt McDonough.
Megaludis, with coach Cael Sanderson frantically screaming encouragement, battled McDonough to scoreless tie in the opening three minutes. McDonough carried a 1-0 lead into the third period, but Megaludis slipped free to tie the match.
Megaludis seemingly had McDonough set up for a 2-point takedown, but McDonough regained control and scored a takedown to lead, 3-1, with 1:12 left.
"I couldn't think about the miss," said Megaludis, who took McDonough the distance in a four-point setback during the dual season. "I did all I could, but I couldn't get control of the match."
McDonough captured his second title in three years but admitted it wasn't easy.
"You get it on the leg, and your mind says, 'Man, he's flexible; he's strong,' but your heart says, 'I'm not coming away with no takedown,' " McDonough said. "I'm not getting a stalemate. I'm ending it right here."
The Nittany Lions ended any of their challengers' chances of dethroning them when 157-pounder Dylan Alton won his third-place match, 6-2, against No. 3 seed Jason Welch of Minnesota.
Molinaro then captured his first NCAA title with a methodical 4-1 victory over Minnesota's Dylan Ness in an uneventful match in which Molinaro cemented a 38-0 season.
Molinaro, guarding an injured right knee, acknowledged afterward that he thought his season was over after his knee popped during his second-round match against Oregon State's Scott Sakaguchi.
"The end of my second match, I got real tired, and it was a dogfight," said Molinaro, the 2011 runner-up. "I turned my knee down and kick away hundreds of times. For some reason, when I did it that time, the inside of my knee, my whole knee popped out, and it kind of popped back in. I didn't know what to expect.
"I just lost it. I just thought it was all being taken away from me right there. It hurt this whole tournament, to be honest with you."
Unlike Molinaro, Taylor barely broke a sweat in earning a technical fall over Lehigh's Brandon Hatchett early in the third period. Taylor, who was favored to win last year's title before an injury derailed him in the quarterfinals, was easily the most dominant wrestler during the three-day competition with four pins.
While Taylor overpowered his opponents, Ruth used quickness and strength to subdue Stanford's Nick Amuchastegui in the 174-pound final. Ruth jumped to a 4-0 lead with in the first period, then went up 8-2 just 40 seconds into the second before cruising in the third for an impressive 13-2 victory.
"Seeing the blood, sweat and tears my teammates put into their matches was inspiring," said Ruth, who avenged last year's semifinal lost to Amuchastegui. "I really fed off what David did in his match."
The sixth-seeded Wright, the defending champion, wasn't nearly as inspired. He had two major decisions and a pin on his tournament resume, but Cornell's Steve Bosak wasn't impressed, winning the 184-pound final, 4-2, in overtime.
Honeycutt lost, 4-2, to top-seeded Cam Simaz of Cornell.
