Penn State wrestling off to perfect start after first session of Thursday’s NCAA Championships
(Note: Click here for the final game story on Day 1 of the NCAA Wrestling Championships. This story was written as a timely update in the middle of Day 1.)
The favorite time of the year for Penn State’s wrestlers is here.
The first day of the NCAA Championships got underway Thursday morning inside PPG Paints Arena.
The good news for PSU fans: No Nittany Lions wrestlers were eliminated during the first session. Even better news: Penn State leads the team race with 21 points. Ohio State trails by 5.5 points with Oklahoma State behind the Buckeyes by a point
Here’s a look at how each wrestler did before the second round gets underway at 7 p.m. Thursday:
133 Pounds: Roman Bravo-Young (No. 10 seed)
Tournament record: 1-0
Current round: Second Round
Recap: Bravo-Young gave up the first takedown of his match against Ohio’s Mario Guillen (No. 23 seed). It was the only points of the match for Guillen. The Penn State freshman hit two beautifully timed duck-unders. The second duck-under had RBY take Guillen to his back for two near-fall points. In the end, the Tuscon, Ariz., native won 8-2 in his NCAA Championships debut.
Bravo-Young gets a rematch in the second round with Iowa’s Austin DeSanto, who beat RBY in the Big Ten quarterfinals two weeks ago.
141 Pounds: Nick Lee (No. 3 seed)
Tournament record: 1-0
Current round: Second Round
Recap: In last year’s NCAA Championships, Lee was stuck and pinned in his first-round match. This year it was Lee doing the pinning. He built up a 6-1 lead on Purdue’s Nate Limmex (No. 30 seed). Lee used a reversal for that sixth point and then stuck Limmex in 3:38.
Lee takes on Old Dominion’s Sa’Derian Perry (No. 19 seed) in the second round.
149 Pounds: Brady Berge (No. 12 seed)
Tournament record: 1-0
Current round: Second Round
Recap: Berge looked solid in his NCAA debut. He controlled his match against Fresno State’s Khristian Olivas (No. 21 seed) from start to finish. He didn’t score a ton of points, but he still got the win. He earned two takedowns with ease, used an escape in the second period and amassed 1:47 in riding time for the final point in a 6-2 victory.
Berge will take on Princeton’s Matt Kolodzik (No. 5 seed), who finished third last season, in the second round.
157 Pounds: Jason Nolf (No. 1 seed)
Tournament record: 1-0
Current round: Second Round
Recap: Nolf looked as if he didn’t want to be out on the mat very long in his first-round match against Duke’s Ben Anderson (No. 33 seed). The senior showed why no one has been able to beat him. After a few back and forth jabs with Anderson, Nolf took Anderson to his back and pinned him in 43 seconds. The pin was Nolf’s 60th of his Nittany Lions’ career.
Nolf gets a Big Ten foe in the next round in Rutgers’ John Van Brill (No. 16 seed), who was the last person to beat Nolf — an injury default last season.
165 Pounds: Vincenzo Joseph (No. 2 seed)
Tournament record: 1-0
Current round: Second Round
Recap: Joseph got to wrestle in his hometown for the first time since graduating high school. He seemed to be fueled by the crowd.
Joseph scored all the points in his match against Clarion’s Evan Delong (No. 31 seed). It was 6-0 Joseph when he looked for more near-fall points. Instead, he stacked Delong and pinned him with three seconds left in the first period. It was the third pin of the day for Penn State.
Joseph takes on Missouri’s Connor Flynn (No. 15 seed) in the second round.
174 Pounds: Mark Hall (No. 1 seed)
Tournament record: 1-0
Current round: Second Round
Recap: Hall put his offense on display against North Carolina’s Devin Kane (No. 33 seed) in the first round. Hall had four takedowns in his 10-2 major decision win. One came on a fireman’s carry, and another came with a cement mixer that he just couldn’t finish with a pin. Hall recorded those takedowns in the third period and added a riding-time point to have five total points in the period.
Hall’s win was the fourth bonus-point victory of the day. He now takes on Cornell’s Brandon Womack (No. 16 seed).
184 Pounds: Shakur Rasheed (No. 2 seed)
Tournament record: 1-0
Current round: Second Round
Recap: Rasheed gave Penn State fans minor heart attacks as he nearly got himself pinned against Princeton’s Kevin Parker (No. 31 seed). But, Rasheed rebounded by hitting numerous reversals — three to be exact. Those points, along with a takedown, near-fall points and riding time, gave him an 11-2 major decision — the fifth of the day for Penn State. Rasheed amassed exactly six minutes in riding time.
He’ll next take on North Carolina’s Chip Ness (No. 15 seed).
197 Pounds: Bo Nickal (No. 1 seed)
Tournament record: 1-0
Current round: Second Round
Recap: Nickal made sure to keep the pace with Nolf in the pin category. Nickal built up an 8-1 lead thanks to two takedowns and four near-fall points. Nickal then put Rider’s Ethan Laird (No. 32 seed) to his back and pinned him in 2:34. It was Penn State’s sixth bonus-point victory of the day.
Nickal next gets Fresno State’s Josh Hokit (No. 16 seed), who is also a starter for the Bulldogs’ football team.
285 Pounds: Anthony Cassar (No. 2 seed)
Tournament record: 1-0
Current round: Second Round
Recap: Cassar made sure to put an exclamation point to end the Nittany Lions’ first round. He came out and kept the perfect pace in the first round with nine wins and no losses. Cassar was leading Franklin & Marshall’s Antonio Pelusi (No. 31 seed) 5-0 when the senior sucked Pelusi back to his back. Cassar earned the fall in 4:20 for Penn State’s seventh bonus-point victory of the day.
Cassar now gets Utah Valley’s Tate Orndorff (No. 15 seed).
NCAA Championships
Thursday at Pittsburgh
Team key: Air Force (AF), American (A), Appalachian State (AS), Arizona State (ASU), Army (AWP), Binghamton (B), Bloomsburg (BB), Brown (BW), Bucknell (BK), Buffalo (BF), Cal Poly (CP), Campbell (CB), Central Michigan (CM), Chattanooga (Chat.), Clarion (C), Columbia (CU), Cornell (Co.), Cal State Bakersfield (CSB), Drexel (DX), Duke (D), Edinboro (E), Franklin & Marshall (FM), Fresno State (FS), Gardner-Webb (GW), Illinois (Ill.), Indiana (Ind.), Iowa (I), Iowa State (ISU), Kent State (KS), Lehigh (L), Lock Haven (LH), Maryland (M), Michigan (Mich.), Michigan State (MSU), Minnesota (Minn.), Missouri (Miss.), Navy (N), North Carolina State (NCST), Nebraska (Neb.), North Carolina (NC), North Dakota State (NDSU), Northern Colorado (NCO), Northern Illinois (NI), Northern Iowa (UNI), Northwestern (NW), Ohio (Oh.), Ohio State (OSU), Oklahoma (O), Oklahoma State (OST), Old Dominion (OD), Oregon State (ORST), Penn State (PSU), Penn (P), Pittsburgh (Pitt.), Princeton (PT), Purdue (PD), Rider (R), Rutgers (RT), SIU Edwardsville (SIU), Stanford (S), The Citadel (TC), Utah Valley (UV), Virginia (V), Virginia Tech (VT), Virginia Military Institute (VMI), Wisconsin (W), Wyoming (WY)
Team scores: 1. Penn State 21, 2. Ohio State 15.5, 3. Oklahoma State 14.5, 4. Iowa 14, 5. Minnesota 13.5, 6. Missouri 12, 7. Michigan 10, 8. Nebraska 9.5, T9. Northern Iowa 9, T9. Virginia Tech 9
First Round
133: Roman Bravo-Young, PSU, dec. Mario Guillen, Oh., 8-2; 141: Nick Lee, PSU, pinned Nate Limmex, P, 3:38; 149: Brady Berge, PSU, dec. Khristian Olivas, FS, 6-3; 157: Jason Nolf, PSU, pinned Ben Anderson, D, :43; 165: Vincenzo Joseph, PSU, pinned Evan Delong, C, 2:57; 174: Mark Hall, PSU, major dec. Devin Kane, NC, 10-2; 184: Shakur Rasheed, PSU, major dec. Kevin Parker, PT, 11-2; 197: Bo Nickal, PSU, pinned Ethan Laird, R, 2:34; 285: Anthony Cassar, PSU, pinned Antonio Pelusi, FM, 4:20
This story was originally published March 21, 2019 at 3:49 PM.