Penn State clinches 8th NCAA wrestling title in 9 years as Roman Bravo-Young, Nick Lee finish up

(Note: You can find an updated story on how Penn State finished up Saturday’s NCAA Wrestling Championships right here. The story below was written between sessions as a mid-day update Saturday and does not include the finals bouts.)

For the fourth straight year — and the eighth time in nine seasons — Penn State is the NCAA wrestling champion.

Much like four years ago when the current streak began in New York, the Nittany Lions dominated so thoroughly that they had the title secured by Saturday afternoon — before the finals took place.

Penn State has five wrestlers looking for NCAA individual titles in Jason Nolf (157 pounds), Vincenzo Joseph (165), Mark Hall (174), Bo Nickal (197) and Anthony Cassar (285) on Saturday evening. However, Roman Bravo-Young (133) and Nick Lee (141) finished up their tournaments earlier Saturday in the medal round.

The Nittany Lions had 123.5 points after the fifth session was completed. The program’s all-time point mark in the NCAA Championships is 146.5 points. They won’t set the team points record, which is 170.

Still, Penn State’s nine total NCAA team titles puts it third overall all-time in the NCAA.

Wrestling resumes at 7 p.m. Saturday with all the championship matches taking place. In the meantime, here’s a look at how Bravo-Young and Lee did Saturday morning and afternoon:

133 Pounds: Roman Bravo-Young (No. 10 seed)

Tournament record: 4-3

Finish: 8th

Recap: Bravo-Young knew what he was in for when he took on Minnesota’s Ethan Lizak (No. 6 seed) for seventh place.

“I knew it was going to be hard to get out of bottom,” RBY said. “I’m beat up. My body is hurt. It was my seventh match. I’m exhausted.”

Lizak has a nickname of “The Backpack” because of his strong ride game. The Golden Gopher put it on display, amassing 2:57 in riding time in an 8-5 decision over RBY.

Still, Bravo-Young came out strong by scoring the first points of the match with a takedown 27 seconds into the first period. Once Lizak got an escape and a takedown, that’s when it changed. RBY’s only other points in the match were a reversal and a stall point in the 8-5 decision. For the true freshman, finishing eighth and experiencing the NCAA Championships for the first time is now a motivating factor.

“A lot of people doubted me because I’m still young,” he said. “Some people don’t think I have the strength. I proved a lot of people wrong, but that’s not where I want to be. I’m going to win this in a couple of years or next year, that’s my goal. I know I can do that after being here.”

141 Pounds: Nick Lee (No. 3 seed)

Tournament record: 4-2

Finish: 5th

Recap: Lee had to wrestle two matches during the fifth session.

He took on Minnesota’s Mitch McKee (No. 7 seed) for fifth place. The pair wrestled for third in the Big Ten Championships two weeks ago. At that time, Lee earned a 12-4 major decision.

Saturday, Lee came away with more bonus points against McKee. The sophomore tallied two quick takedowns on McKee in the first period to hold a 4-1 advantage.

Lee was in the down position to begin the second period, and hit a reversal 10 seconds into the period. It was over for McKee at that point because Lee caught McKee in a headlock and pinned him in 3:22. Lee finished fifth for the second straight year.

“I’m not where I want to be,” Lee said. “Obviously, I want to be a national champ, so it’s pretty clear. I did some things better and some things not as well. I just have to improve from now until next year.”

His day began against Oklahoma’s Dom Demas (No. 9 seed). The day didn’t start well either.

Demas came out and rattled off five takedowns on Lee. Lee tried to make a late flurry to recover, but the hole was too deep to come out off. Demas knocked Lee into the fifth-place match with a 13-9 decision. A Lee win would’ve allowed him to finish as high as third.

Finals Matches (in order set by NCAA)

285: Oklahoma State’s Derek White vs. Penn State’s Anthony Cassar

125: Virginia’s Jack Mueller vs. Iowa’s Spencer Lee

133: Oklahoma State’s Daton Fix vs. Rutgers’ Nick Suriano

141: Cornell’s Yianni Diakomihalis vs. Ohio State’s Joey McKenna

149: Rutgers’ Anthony Ashnault vs. Ohio Staet’s Micah Jordan

157: Penn State’s Jason Nolf vs. Nebraska’s Tyler Berger

165: Virginia Tech’s Mekhi Lewis vs. Penn State’s Vincenzo Joseph

174: Penn State’s Mark Hall vs. Arizona State’s Zahid Valencia

184: Cornell’s Max Dean vs. Northern Iowa’s Drew Foster

197: Penn State’s Bo Nickal vs. Ohio State’s Kollin Moore

NCAA Championships

Saturday 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), George Mason (GM), 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 123.5, 2. Ohio State 96.5, 3. Oklahoma State 84, 4. Iowa 72, 5. Michigan 62.5, 6. Missouri 62, 7. Cornell 55.5, 8. Minnesota 53.5, 9. Nebraska 52, 10. Virginia Tech 46

5th Place Match

141: Nick Lee, PSU, pinned Mitch McKee, Minn., 3:22

7th Place Match

133: Ethan Lizak, Minn., dec. Roman Bravo-Young, PSU, 8-5

Consolation Semifinals

141: Dom Demas, O, dec. Lee, PSU, 13-9

This story was originally published March 23, 2019 at 1:26 PM.