Four Penn State wrestlers won individual titles as the Nittany Lions captured their first Big Ten tournament championship since 2019 on Sunday at the Crisler Center in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Roman Bravo-Young (133) and Aaron Brooks (184) became Penn State’s eighth and ninth three-time Big Ten champions, while Carter Starocci (174) won his second and true freshman Levi Haines (157) claimed his first by knocking off previously undefeated top seed Peyton Robb of Nebraska.
Max Dean (197) and Greg Kerkvliet (285) finished as runners-up after coming up short in their championship bouts. Beau Bartlett (141) claimed a third-place finish, Shayne Van Ness (149) took fourth and Alex Facundo (165) finished seventh.
All nine of those Nittany Lions qualified for the NCAA Championships, with 125 pounds the only weight at which Penn State did not earn a bid to the national tournament.
Haines was named Big Ten Freshman of the Year and Cael Sanderson won his seventh Big Ten Coach of the Year honor.
Penn State had the team title wrapped up with four weights still remaining on Sunday night. The Nittany Lions finished the two-day tournament with 147 points, outpacing Iowa’s 134.5. Nebraska (104.5 points), Ohio State (99) and Michigan (84.5) rounded out the top five
125: Redshirt freshman Gary Steen, the No. 10 seed saw his season come to an end with a hard-fought match in the 9th/10th placer bracket. Taking on Michigan State’s 11th-seeded, Tristan Lujan, the only wrestler Steen beat in a Big Ten dual this season, the Nittany Lion fell behind early but evened the score at 2-2 with a second-period escape. Lujan reclaimed the lead with a takedown in the second and an escape to start the third. Steen responded again, tying it at 5-5 with a takedown, but Lujan’s subsequent escape was enough for a 6-5 decision. Steen finished the tournament 0-3.
133: Top-seeded undefeated senior Roman Bravo-Young took the mat for his fourth and final Big Ten final, facing off against No. 6 seed Aaron Nagao of Minnesota. After Nagao managed to fight off a couple of near takedowns, Bravo-Young broke through on a double leg late in the first period to take a 2-0 lead. Taking neutral to start the second, the Nittany Lion executed another clean double for a takedown and a 4-0 lead. A locked hands penalty against Bravo-Young cut the lead to 4-1 at the end of the period. Playing to his strength, Nagao chose top to start the third and kept Bravo-Young down for the entire period. But the Gopher couldn’t turn the defending champion and got hit for a stall point late in the bout. Nagao earned a riding time point with the rideout, but Bravo-Young claimed his third Big Ten title with a 5-2 decision.
141: No. 2 seed Beau Bartlett and Purdue’s Parker Filius battled to a scoreless first period in the consolation semifinals. Filius escaped to start the second after Bartlett built his riding time over a minute, and the Nittany Lion then scored the bout’s first takedown for a 2-1 lead. Bartlett escaped at the start of the third, but Filius answered with a tying takedown. Bartlett though, had the riding time point locked up, and with another escape secured a 5-3 decision.
He advanced to the third-place bout where he took on No. 9 seed Dylan D`Emilio of Ohio State. The two wrestlers were scoreless after the first period and D’Emilio escaped at the start of the second for a 1-0 lead. Bartlett answered with an escape to start the third then dropped in on D’Emilio’s leg, adjusted and came around for a takedown to take a 3-1 lead. After a D’Emilio escape, the Buckeye shot in, but Bartlett countered, grabbing hold of his leg, pulling him in and getting the takedown as time wound down. Bartlett rode out the remainder of the period to claim a 5-2 decision and third place. He finishes the tournament with a 3-1 record.
149: No. 5 seed Shayne Van Ness met No. 7 seed Graham Rooks of Indiana in the consolation semifinals and took a 2-1 lead with a first-period takedown followed by a Rooks escape. Van Ness turned it on in the second, escaping to open the period and taking Rooks down twice for a 7-3 advantage. The Nittany Lion redshirt freshman worked for bonus points in the third, getting two more takedowns and a riding time point for a 12-4 major decision to advance to the consolation finals.
In the third-place bout, Van Ness faced off against Iowa’s fourth-seeded Max Murin, who beat the Nittany Lion by decision earlier in the quarterfinal round. The Hawkeye sixth-year senior struck first with a low double for a first-period takedown, but Van Ness escaped quickly to cut the deficit, then escaped to start the second and tie the bout at 2-2. Murin escaped at the start of the third to retake the lead, 3-2, and that would be enough to win the decision as Van Ness kept up the pressure but couldn’t get through for the takedown. Van Ness finished the tournament in fourth place with a 3-2 record.
157: True freshman Levi Haines, the No. 2 seed, and No. 1 seed Peyton Robb of Nebraska met for a showdown in the 157 championship bout. After narrowly missing out on a takedown at the edge of the mat as the first period ended, Robb got on the board first with an escape to start the second. Haines responded with an escape to start the third, and that was all the scoring through three periods, sending the bout to sudden victory tied 1-1. Haines quickly got in on a single leg and would not be denied, fighting through Robb’s defense and throwing the previously undefeated Husker to the mat for the winning takedown. Haines’ 3-1 decision was his 20th consecutive victory as he captured his first Big Ten title.
165: Alex Facundo, the No. 4 seed, and No. 8 seed Danny Braunagel of Illinois were scoreless after the first period of the seventh-place bout. An escape to start the second put Facundo in front 1-0, and a takedown late in the period widened the advantage to 3-0. Braunagel escaped at the start of the third but Facundo held him off the rest of the way to claim a 3-1 decision and seventh place. Facundo finished the tournament with a 3-2 record and an automatic bid to the NCAA Championships.
174: Undefeated No. 1 seed Carter Starocci and Nebraska’s No. 2 seed Mikey Labriola wrestled a scoreless first period in the championship bout. The Husker got on the board first with an escape in the second but Starocci built up over a minute in riding time and scored a late takedown to carry a 2-1 lead into the final period. Starocci escaped to start the third and sealed his second Big Ten title with another takedown and a riding time point for a 6-1 decision.
184: Top-seeded Aaron Brooks continued a dominant tournament in the title match against Ohio State’s Kaleb Romero, the No. 2 seed. Brooks got in on a low shot for a takedown midway through the first period and took a 2-1 lead into the second. An escape to start the second and another takedown widened the lead to 5-1. Brooks then turned it up in the third. The Nittany Lion picked up a stall point and secured riding time before cutting Romero loose to start the period. After another stall point, he took down Romero again for a 9-2 lead. A third stall call against Romero gave Brooks two more points, and with riding time Brooks had a 12-2 major decision for his third conference crown. In his three 2023 tournament wins, Brooks recorded a tech fall and two majors.
197: Looking to defend his 2022 title, No. 1 seed Max Dean took on No. 2 seed Silas Allred of Nebraska. Allred converted a low shot into a takedown and held a 2-1 lead after one period. Dean escaped to tie it at the start of the second period, but Allred countered a Dean shot for another takedown. A Dean escape cut Allred’s lead to 4-3. The Husker took neutral to start the third and Dean worked for a shot for the go-ahead takedown. Allred, though, countered a Dean shot late in the bout for a takedown and a 6-3 decision for the title. Dean finished as runner-up after a 3-1 tournament.
285: No. 2 seed Greg Kerkvliet met Michigan’s undefeated top seed Mason Parris, the only wrestler to beat the Nittany Lion heavyweight during the dual meet season, in the title bout. Parris got on the board with a quick move to get behind Kerkvliet for a takedown 45 seconds into the first period. A Kerkvliet escape cut the Wolverine’s lead to 2-1 before the end of the first and another to start the second evened the match. Parris escaped to start the third and take a 3-2 lead, but not before his riding time fell below the one minute mark. Kerkvliet kept working for a shot, and with 17 seconds left in the period Parris was hit with his second stall call, giving the Nittany Lion a point to the bout at 3-3 and send it to sudden victory. Parris, though, fought off a Kerkvliet shot and drove him over for the deciding takedown in extra time to claim the heavyweight title and leave Kerkvliet with a second-place finish.
WHAT’S NEXT
Penn State now will gear up for the NCAA Championships, March 16-18 in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where the Nittany Lions will be favored to win a second consecutive national team title and their 10th under Cael Sanderson.
