Penn State Wrestling: Big Ten Championships Preview

Penn State wrestling is set to host the Big Ten Wrestling Championships in the Bryce Jordan Center this weekend. Although Cael Sanderson’s squad is heading into the tournament relying on youth, the Nittany Lions will have a good chance to qualify a wrestler in every weight class for the upcoming NCAA Championships to be held March 18-20 in St. Louis.

Here’s how the Nittany Lion grapplers could fare heading into the weekend:

At 125 pounds, true freshman Robert Howard has a shot at being a bracket-buster. Howard is currently listed as the 11th seed at the weight in the final seeds announced on Friday. The young freshman holds a 2-1 record on the year, but he’s someone that you don’t want to wrestle in the opening rounds of the tournament. He opens against No. 6 seed Eric Barnett of Wisconsin. Howard wasn’t cleared to wrestle when the Nittany Lions and Badgers met in February.

If he can defeat Barnett, Howard likely will have a quarterfinal rematch with Ohio State’s Malik Heinselman, who he lost to earlier in the year in a slim 5-2 decision. Expect Howard to qualify for nationals and even potentially sneak his way into the semifinals this weekend.

Roman Bravo-Young holds the top seed at 133 pounds and will have a good shot at winning his first Big Ten title. He gets a first round bye. Fans could see some fireworks in the finals with Bravo-Young and Iowa’s Austin Desanto wrestling in their fifth career matchup. Bravo-Young got the better of Desanto last year, winning both bouts between the two, including one in the Big Ten Tournament. Desanto was 2-0 against Bravo-Young in the year prior.

The 141-pound bracket might be the deepest of all the weights. Nick Lee is the No. 2 seed and will have a first round bye. He easily handled both of his potential second round opponents (Maryland’s Danny Bertoni and Ohio State’s Dylan D’Emilio) with major decisions during the regular season. In the semis, he could have a highly anticipated match with Rutgers’ Sebastian Rivera, who won the tournament at 133 pounds last year. If Lee can pull out the win against Rivera, he’ll have a shot at redemption against the top-seeded Jaydin Eierman of Iowa. Lee lost to Eierman in the 2018 NCAA Championships. Winning the tournament would give Lee the top seed heading into nationals.

At 149 pounds, another true freshman will make his Big Ten Tournament debut with Beau Bartlett. Bartlett is the 11th seed but could be another bracket buster for the Nittany Lions. He has a favorable draw and has a shot to sneak into the semifinals if he can get by Minnesota’s Michael Blockhus in the opener and upset the third-seeded Griffin Patriot of Purdue in the quarterfinals. Bartlett’s only loss this year came to top-ranked Sammy Sasso of Ohio State, when he dropped a narrow 5-3 decision. Expect Bartlett to qualify for the big dance.

Brady Berge holds the fifth seed at the 157-pound weight class. Undefeated on the year, Berge should have no problem qualifying for the NCAAs. He’ll open against Illinois’ Johnny Mologousis and likely will then have an interesting matchup in the quarterfinals against Purdue’s Kendall Coleman in what should be a toss-up match. With a win over Coleman, he’ll face off against the top seed Ryan Deakin who’s likely to win the bracket. Either way, Berge should be moving on.

Redshirt freshman Joe Lee comes into the tournament as the sixth-seed at 165-pounds. He’ll have a favorable matchup in the first round against Maryland’s Jonathan Spadafora, who Lee pinned during their regular season meeting, and a potential rematch in the quarterfinals against Ohio State’s Ethan Smith, who pinned him in the dual meet this year. If Lee can get some momentum going in the tournament, he should have a good shot at qualifying for the NCAAs.

Carter Starocci will try to keep up the hot streak as he goes into the tournament as the three-seed at 174-pounds. This weight class is nearly or just as deep as 141 and should feature some nail-biting finishes. Starocci’s only loss this year came to fifth-seeded DJ Washington of Indiana. After taking on Maryland’s Philip Spadafora (who he beat by major decision last month) in the first round, he should face Ohio State’s Kaleb Romero in the quarterfinals in a rematch from earlier in the year where Starocci pulled off a 3-1 victory in overtime. If he can put some things together this weekend, expect Starocci to make a serious run at an NCAA title.

Aaron Brooks should go on to win his second Big Ten Championship at 184-pounds. Brooks holds the top seed, gets a first round bye, and could score bonus points in every match this weekend. Wisconsin’s Chris Weiler comes in as the second-seed, and Brooks majored him 12-3 in the regular season. If Brooks does what he’s been doing all year long, expect him to be competing for a national title in St. Louis.

The 197-pound weight class is probably Penn State’s toughest draw with only six wrestlers getting automatic bids to advance to nationals. Redshirt freshman Michael Beard holds the seventh-seed going into the weekend. If he beats Rutgers Billy Janzer in round one, he will draw the veteran Miles Amine of Michigan in the quarterfinals, whom he lost to 8-5 earlier in the year. If Beard can’t pull off the upset, he’ll need to win two matches in the consolation bracket to move on. This could be the one weight Penn State doesn’t send someone to the national tournament, but if Beard wrestles at his best, he still has a good shot at qualifying.

Heavyweight is where things get very interesting for Penn State. After originally being ruled out for the year earlier in the season, Greg Kerkvliet made a surprising debut in Penn State’s season finale against Maryland and won by fall. He heads into the tournament as the seventh seed and after meeting Jack Heyob of Northwestern in the opening round will match up against Michigan stud Mason Paris in the quarterfinals. If Kerkvliet is healthy, expect that match to feature a ton of fireworks. Win or lose against Paris, Kerkvliet should move on to the NCAAs, where he could have a serious shot at making it to the finals.

The Big Ten Wrestling Championships will get underway at 10 a.m. Saturday in the Bryce Jordan Center.

Big Ten Network will air coverage of all four mats during the first session The network will broadcast Saturday’s semifinals live starting at 7:30 p.m and Sunday’s championship finals at 4 p.m. Big Ten Network+ will have the consolation action and placing bouts on Sunday.

StateCollege.com’s Geoff Rushton contributed to this report.