Graham grad Taylor wins first NCAA title

ST. LOUIS — Penn State sophomore David Taylor became the second Graham High School graduate — and the first since 1986 — to win a NCAA Division I wrestling championship Saturday, completing a perfect 32-0 season with a dominant victory at 165 pounds.

Taylor lost only once last season, in the national championship match. This year, he rolled to the championship match with four straight pins and then routed Lehigh’s Brandon Hatchett 22-7 in the final.

Taylor is now 70-1 in his collegiate career.

“I wasn’t getting second again,” said Taylor in an interview on ESPN after the match.

The only other Graham graduate to win an NCAA championship is Congressman Jim Jordan (R-OH), who won championships in 1985 and 1986 for Wisconsin. Dustin Schlatter, who wrestled two seasons at Graham before transferring to Massilon Perry, won a national title in 2006 for Minnesota.

Taylor won three individual state championships at Graham, and his team won state titles every season. Taylor red-shirted as a freshman at Penn State, but the Nittany Lions won the national title last season and clinched a second straight championship Friday by sending five wrestlers to the finals.

Graham grad Ben Jordan placed seventh at 165 pounds for Wisconsin.

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