Here’s how Penn State wrestlers fared at Wilkes Open
For not knowing at the start of the season whether it would wrestle in the Wilkes Open, the Penn State Nittany Lions sure seemed prepared Sunday — with half of their 22 wrestlers making the finals.
Nine of Penn State’s wrestlers competed unattached, while 13 represented the blue-and-white. Both the 125- and 174-pound finals featured all-Nittany Lion bouts, while seven Penn Staters in all collected titles: Brandon Meredith (125 pounds), Roman Bravo-Young (133), Jarod Verkleeren (149) and Mark Hall (174) won titles as attached wrestlers, while those winning unattached were Joe Lee (165), Michael Beard (197) and Seth Nevills (285).
Because this is an Olympic year, Penn State coach Cael Sanderson said early in the season that the schedule could change as things progressed. And, sure enough, the Wilkes Open wasn’t on the slate to begin the year — but it still helped plenty of Nittany Lions gain experience Sunday.
Among the non-title winners to compete for Penn State included Austin Clabaugh (133), Austin Hoopes (197), Bo Pipher (157), Creighton Edsell (174), Devin Schnupp (125), Joey Blumer (141), Konner Kraeszig (165), Paul Feite (157) and Scott Obendorfer (149). Others that competed unattached were Penns Valley graduate Baylor Shunk (125), Donovan Ball (184), Eddie Smith (197), Joe Kurtz (184), Ritchie Heywood (184) and Terrell Barraclough (149).
Pipher, Edsell, Shunk and Ball all finished second, with Shunk and Edsell falling to teammates in the finals. Feite was the only other wrestler to finish in the top three.
In all, the Nittany Lions had 19 wrestlers place, and they finished both first (attached) and second (unattached) in the team race. The Penn State athletes competing in Nittany Lions’ singlets finished with 203.5 points as the unattached guys had 125 points.
Meredith was one of the many to impress. He was the No. 2 seed and rolled to the semifinals with two pins. In the semifinals, Meredith got a bye to the finals as Schnupp couldn’t make the mat for the matchup. And then in the finals, Meredith put on a takedown clinic on Shunk, rattling off nine in a 20-6 major decision.
Shunk started his day with a 14-1 major decision and used an 11-7 win to upset No. 4-seed Terry Adams of Ursinus University. A medical forfeit put Shunk in the semfinals, where he used an 18-6 major decision to reach the finals.
Bravo-Young, who was the No. 1 seed, cruised to the finals thanks to a 23-7 technical fall and a 14-5 major decision. In the finals, he took on Lehigh’s Jarret Lane, whom he beat three weeks ago in the teams’ dual, 7-2. The result was the same with a Bravo-Young win on Sunday except the final score was 9-3.
Verkleeren, who was the No. 2 seed, bonused his way to the finals with two major decisions, a technical fall and a pin. The fall sent Verkleeren to the semifinals, where he took out the No. 3 seed with a 16-4 major decision. Verkleeren didn’t have to wrestle in the finals as Lehigh’s Jimmy Hoffman, who was the No. 1 seed, medically forfeited.
The No. 1 seed in Hall nearly pinned his way through the tournament. The only time he didn’t was in the quarterfinals, where he had an 11-0 major decision over Lock Haven’s Larry Brown. Hall even pinned Edsell, who was the No. 2 seed, in the finals in 1:51.
Edsell opened his tournament with a fall and used two decisions to reach the finals. In the semifinals, Edsell won 4-1 over Lehigh’s Edmond Ruth, the younger brother of former Nittany Lion Ed Ruth.
Lee, who was the No. 1 seed, bonused his way to the finals thanks to two pins and two technical falls. The technical falls came in the quarterfinals and semifinals for Lee. He outscored his opponents a combined 51-19 there, with the final of Lee’s semifinal match being 31-16. In the finals, Lee took care of Lehigh’s Brian Meyer 6-3.
Beard, who was the No. 1 seed, dominated on his way to his title. He had four technical falls and gave up just five points the whole time. All five of those points came in the finals, where Beard topped Binghamton’s Sam DePrez 20-5. In all, the redshirt freshman outscored his opponents 67-5.
Nevills wrestled just three matches on the way to his crown, and he had bonus points in his first and last match of the day. The No. 1 seed began with a pin and used an 8-2 decision to reach the finals. In the finals, Nevills topped the No. 2 seed in Scranton’s Keegan Connelly 17-2 for the technical fall in seven minutes.
Pipher was the No. 1 seed at his weight class. He bonused his way to the semifinals with a technical fall, pin and major decision in that order. Pipher topped Lehigh’s AJ Burkhart 7-1 in the semifinals, but fell to the No. 2 seed in Lock Haven’s Jon Ross 5-3 in the finals.
Ball was the No. 2 seed and reached the semifinals with two major decisions and outscored his opponents 27-7. He beat Kurtz in the semifinals 11-5 and fell to the No. 1 seed in Gino Sita, 8-3, in the finals.
Feite was unseeded and worked his way to the semifinals with two decisions. In the semifinals, he lost to Ross 9-0. Feite picked up a medical forfeit win in the third-place match.
The other place winners were Clabaugh (4th), Schnupp (4th), Blumer (5th), Kraeszig (5th), Hoopes (6th), Kurtz (4th) and Barraclough (5th).
