Penn State’s Bartlett and Van Ness Take 3rd Place, Dean 7th at NCAA Wrestling Championships

After locking up the program’s 10th team title in 12 years on Saturday morning, Penn State wrestling continued piling on the points with a 5-0 run through the consolation medal round at the NCAA Championships in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Junior 141-pounder Beau Bartlett and redshirt freshman 149-pounder Shayne Van Ness both claimed third place, while senior 197-pounder Max Dean finished his collegiate career with a seventh place finish.

The trio are among eight Nittany Lions to earn All-America status at the championships — Bartlett and Van Ness for the first time and Dean for the fourth time in his career.

Roman Bravo-Young, Carter Starocci and Aaron Brooks will wrestle for their third individual titles in Saturday night’s finals. Levi Haines and Greg Kerkvliet will be competing for their first championships.

Penn State put away its 11th overall team title early in session 5. Heading into the championship finals, the Nittany Lions have 127.5 points. Iowa is second with 82.5, followed by Ohio State (70.5), Cornell (68.5) and Missouri (60.5) to round out the top five.

The finals get underway at 7 p.m. EDT on ESPN and ESPN+.

Beau Bartlett – 141 pounds

Sixth-seeded Bartlett took an early lead against No. 11 Clay Carlson of South Dakota State in the consolation semifinals, getting two first-period takedowns for a 4-1 lead. The Nittany Lion junior escaped to start the second and padded his advantage with another takedown to move ahead 7-1. Bartlett closed it out with another takedown and turned Carlson for two back points, adding on a riding time point for a 12-3 major decision.

In the third-place bout, Bartlett and No. 11 seed Lachlan McNeil of North Carolina battled to a scoreless first period. McNeil escaped after taking bottom to start the second for a 1-0 lead. Bartlett, however, responded in the third with an escape then took down McNeil and rode out the final period for a 4-1 decision and a third-place finish. He concludes his season with a 27-3 record after going 5-1 in the national tournament.

Shayne Van Ness – 149 pounds

Redshirt freshman Van Ness, the No. 12 seed, continued a strong tournament run in the consolation semifinals against No. 4 Caleb Henson of Virginia Tech. Henson got on the board first with a second-period escape, but Van Ness answered with a takedown. Henson escaped to tie it 2-2 heading into the final period. Van Ness took care of business in the third, escaping for a 3-2 lead then getting a late takedown for a 5-3 decision.

Van Ness took a first-period lead against No. 3 seed Kyle Parco of Arizona State in the third-place bout, countering a Parco shot for a takedown and a 2-0 lead after one. Parco escaped to start the second to narrow the lead, but Van Ness dominated the third, escaping and scoring two takedowns for a 7-2 decision to claim third place. He finishes the season with a 5-1 record in Tulsa and 24-7 on the year.

Max Dean – 197 pounds

Ninth-seeded Dean fell behind early in the seventh-place bout against No. 10 seed Jacob Cardenas of Cornell, who got behind Dean early for a fast takedown. Dean escaped then scored a takedown of his own out of a scramble to move ahead 3-2 at the end of the first. Dean escaped to start the third and that would be it for the scoring. Cardenas chose neutral to start the third and couldn’t break through on the Nittany Lion. With the 4-2 decision, Dean wraps up his final college season with a 5-2 record at the championships and a 25-5 mark on the year.

Over the course of his career at Cornell and Penn State, Dean went 105-18 as a four-time All-American. At Penn State he was 48-6 and won the 197-pound Big Ten and national titles in 2022.