Penn State wrestling claims Big Ten title for first time since 2016 with 4 champs

Penn State wrestling fans can breathe a sigh of relief — the Nittany Lions were finally able to claim their first Big Ten title since 2016.

Penn State coach Cael Sanderson, who was named the conference’s coach of the year, chuckled Sunday night when asked if the monkey was off the back after not winning the conference the previous two seasons.

“This is a tough tournament,” Penn State coach Cael Sanderson said. “It depends on the makeup of your team. There have just been some outstanding teams. It’s a honor to be a part of this conference and add to the depth to a tough conference.”

The Nittany Lions claimed four Big Ten champions along the way in Jason Nolf, Mark Hall, Bo Nickal and Anthony Cassar.

As for the that team race, Penn State ran away with the title. The Nittany Lions scored 157 points, which is the most in program history. It was 6.5 points more than the last Big Ten title-clinching team.

Ohio State finished in a distant second, 35 points behind. Iowa (107.5) and Minnesota (103.5) were the only other schools to score more than 100 points.

“I think the guys wrestled pretty well,” Sanderson said. “Not everyone is happy, but that is usually how a tournament like this goes. It’s the conference meet, so we are not going to get too excited about it, but we are grateful for the success we had this weekend.”

Here’s a look at how all nine of the Nittany Lions’ wrestlers finished Sunday in the Big Ten championships (125-pounder Devin Schnupp was eliminated Saturday):

133 Pounds: Roman Bravo-Young

Tournament record: 4-2

Finish: 5th

Recap: Bravo-Young looked out of his element in the first period against Iowa’s Austin DeSanto in Sunday’s consolation semifinals.

DeSanto made four takedowns look easy on the true freshman in the first period as he built up an 8-3 lead. Bravo-Young didn’t help his cause in the second period by giving up a stall point and trailed 10-3 to start the third period.

The Penn State wrestler seemed to get a feel for things early in the third period and got things rolling. However, it was a little too late as he dropped a 13-8 loss.

Bravo-Young moved into the fifth-place match against Michigan’s Stevan Micic, who was the No. 1 seed. Micic medically forfeited out of the championships on Saturday, so Bravo-Young finishes fifth in his first Big Ten championships.

141 Pounds: Nick Lee

Tournament record: 3-1

Finish: 3rd

Recap: Lee had no problems finishing third again in the Big Ten championships.

He took on Minnesota’s Mitch McKee and faced a hostile crowd. Lee trailed 3-2 after the first period but cranked it up in the second period.

Lee recorded nine points — six right before the buzzer — to boost his advantage to an 11-4 lead going to the third. The sophomore rode out McKee for the final frame to collect a 12-4 major decision.

Lee got paired up with Wisconsin’s Tristan Moran in the consolation semifinals. When the two met earlier in the season, in January, Moran handed Lee his only loss of the regular season in a 12-10 sudden-victory win.

Lee look poised and ready to avenge that loss from the opening whistle. He raced out to a 7-1 lead after two periods using three easy takedowns on Moran.

Lee continued to roll into the third period with his fourth takedown, a stall point from Moran and a riding-time point for a dominant 11-3 major decision.

149 Pounds: Brady Berge

Tournament record: 2-1 (medical forfeits don’t count as losses)

Finish: 6th

Recap: Penn State tweeted out early in the third session that Berge was not going to wrestle on the day.

PSU stated that he was officially medically forfeiting, but the actual reason is unknown. He didn’t appear to get injured on Saturday. It has been rumored that he has struggled with the weight cut, but Sanderson has declined to address that speculation.

On Sunday, Sanderson said that if it was the national tournament then Berge would’ve been wrestling.

With that medical forfeit, Berge doesn’t suffer any losses but finishes sixth in his first Big Ten championships. He will get a shot to compete in his first NCAA championships in Pittsburgh.

157 Pounds: Jason Nolf

Tournament record: 3-0

Finish: Champion

Recap: Nolf took on Nebraska’s Tyler Berger, who went on Twitter after his loss to Nolf in the teams’ dual in January and said he was going to take five heads on the way to a NCAA title, including Nolf’s.

Nolf seemed as if he wanted to make Berger eat his own words. Nolf earned three easy takedowns in the first two periods to hold a 6-3 advantage.

In the final frame, Nolf tacked on two more takedowns along with an escape and a riding-time point for a 12-4 major decision.

“Yeah, I just want to keep scoring points,” Nolf said, when asked if he was focused on getting the major decision. “When I move my feet and faking, I’m way better, so I just stayed focused on doing that.”

As for winning his second Big Ten title, Nolf didn’t seem to have a care in the world. He was also named co-wrestler of the year with Bo Nickal and the co-outstanding wrestler of the championships with Iowa’s Alex Marinelli. He still doesn’t care about the accolades.

“It’s whatever. I’m looking forward to nationals,” he said.

165 Pounds: Vincenzo Joseph

Tournament record: 2-1

Finish: 2nd

Recap: As his team was able to snap a skid, Joseph still hasn’t been able to beat Marinelli or get his first Big Ten title. However, he can sure get those NCAA crowns.

The pair squared off on Sunday and Joseph scored the first points of the match with an escape in the second period. Later in the period, though, Marinelli out-muscled Joseph to his back and recorded a six-point takedown, near-fall combination to hold a 6-2 lead to start the third period.

It was all Marinelli from there. Joseph tried desperately to get back into the match, but Marinelli slipped a Joseph takedown for a counter takedown and went on to win 9-3.

“Marinelli is a great wrestler. He just got the job done,” Sanderson said. “We can learn, move forward and get ready for Pittsburgh.”

174 Pounds: Mark Hall

Tournament record: 3-0

Finish: Champion

Recap: Anytime Hall has been matched up with Michigan’s Myles Amine it has always been the same result: A one-point win in favor of Penn State.

The conference title tilt was just another chapter in that same book. Hall recorded the lone takedown of the match in the first period and led 3-2 late in the match.

Amine got in on a deep single leg on Hall but was unable to convert as the Minnesota native in Hall came away with the 3-2 win.

“He got to my leg, and that was a really scary situation,” Hall said. “It was good that I won. I don’t think there was anything wrong with that match except my focus at the end.”

So, did Hall’s second Big Ten title mean a little more that he won it at home? Well, not really.

“It’d be cool to do it anywhere,” he said. “It was really fun to wrestle in Minnesota again.”

184 Pounds: Shakur Rasheed

Tournament record: 2-0 (medical forfeits don’t count as losses)

Finish: 2nd

Recap: Unfortunately for fans, Rasheed — who came into the tournament with a bulky knee brace — medically forfeited Sunday so his match against Ohio State’s Myles Martin never happened. As a result, he wound up second.

Sanderson said it wasn’t anything that was planned, and he felt bad about the decision. But Sanderson said it was precautionary based upon the suggestion from the team’s medical staff.

“Myles Martin is an unbelievable wrestler,” Sanderson said. “I felt bad about that being live on the Big Ten Network.”

197 Pounds: Bo Nickal

Tournament record: 3-0

Finish: Champion

Recap: The last time Nickal faced Ohio State’s Kollin Moore, the match lasted 1 minute, 38 seconds.

Nickal locked up a cradle and pinned Moore in that one. Sunday’s match went the whole seven minutes, so what changed?

“I don’t know; it is hard to say. Our last match was one scenario and then it ended,” Nickal said. “This match I got to feel him. I knew he had good leg attacks and stuff. I think he was a little more weary and aware of his position.”

If Nickal learned anything from this match, it was he can score a takedown at any time on Moore. The Penn State senior had a takedown in each period, two in the second period. He amassed 2:51 in riding time and cruised to a 10-3 win over the Buckeye.

“He wrestled a good match,” Nickal said of Moore. “Hopefully, I’ll get to wrestle him here in a couple of weeks.”

285 Pounds: Anthony Cassar

Tournament record: 4-0

Finish: Champion

Recap: The odds were stacked against Cassar when he took on Minnesota’s freshman phenom in Gable Steveson, who was the Big Ten’s Freshman of the Year and entered the tournament undefeated.

Cassar put a stop to Steveson’s previously perfect record — but it wasn’t easy. The first period ended at 0-0 after the pair tried to feel each other out early on.

“We are both big, strong, high-level wrestlers. This was more of a smarter match,” Cassar said. “If one of us gets underneath, it can become a dangerous position for both of us because we are both quick and strong. It was a smart match, but I feel like I wrestled well.”

Cassar trailed 1-0 to start the third period but stayed composed. He escaped but was later taken down by Steveson.

Another Cassar escape reduced the deficit to 3-2 late in the bout. It wasn’t until there were 22 seconds left when Cassar made his move. He turned a single-leg shot into a double-leg finish for the winning score in a 4-3 title victory.

“There’s a lot more going on, on the mat than you guys can see,” Cassar said. “We’re hand fighting hard and in positions where you don’t see a shot, but I felt one coming in, he felt one coming in. There’s a lot going on in there that you don’t see, but I was active the whole time, even though the scoreboard didn’t show it.”

Big Ten Championships

Sunday at Minneapolis

Team key: Illinois (Ill.), Indiana (Ind.), Iowa (I), Maryland (MD), Michigan (M), Michigan State (MSU), Minnesota (Minn.), Nebraska (Neb.), Northwestern (N), Ohio State (OSU), Penn State (PSU), Purdue (P), Wisconsin (W)

Team scores: 1. Penn State 157; 2. Ohio State 122.5; 3. Iowa 107.5; 4. Minnesota 101.5; 5. Nebraska 96.5; 6. Michigan 76.5; 7. Wisconsin 76.0; T8. Northwestern 53.5; T8. Rutgers 53.5; 10. Purdue 42.0

Finals

125: Sebastian Rivera, N, dec. Spencer Lee, I, 6-4 (SV); 133: Nick Suriano, R, dec. Luke Pletcher, OSU, 4-1; 141: Joey McKenna, OSU, dec. Chad Red, Neb., 9-2; 149: Anthony Ashnault, R, dec. Micah Jordan, OSU, 8-6; 157: Jason Nolf, PSU, major dec. Tyler Berger, Neb., 12-4; 165: Alex Marinelli, I, dec. Vincenzo Joseph, PSU, 9-3; 174: Mark Hall, PSU, dec. Myles Amine, M, 3-2; 184: Myles Martin, OSU, med. forfeit Shakur Rasheed, PSU; 197: Bo Nickal, PSU, dec. Kollin Moore, OSU, 10-3; 285: Anthony Cassar, PSU, dec. Gable Steveson, Minn., 4-3

Third-Place Match

141: Nick Lee, PSU, major dec. Mitch McKenn, Minn., 12-4

Fifth-Place Match

133: Roman Bravo-Young, PSU, med. forfeit Stevan Micic, M; 149: Thomas Thorn, Minn., med. forfeit Brady Berge, PSU

Consolation Semifinals

133: Austin DeSanto, I, major dec. Bravo-Young, PSU, 12-4; 141: Lee, PSU, major dec. Tristan Moran, W, 11-2; 149: Cole Martin, W, med. forfeit Berge, PSU

This story was originally published March 10, 2019 at 9:45 PM.