Cassar or no Cassar, Penn State wrestlers Mark Hall, Vincenzo Joseph focused on finishing season strong

Penn State wrestler Mark Hall was breathing heavily and dripping with sweat Tuesday when he met with reporters, after just finishing a workout.

The senior past national champ and three-time finalist had just found out earlier that day — the same day as the public — that his teammate, reigning heavyweight national champ Anthony Cassar would not be returning to the lineup after sustaining a shoulder injury. The news sent shockwaves across the wrestling world, as the Nittany Lions’ hopes of winning their fifth straight NCAA title seemingly took a major hit.

But for Hall, not much had changed.

“I’m just thinking just keep doing the best I can, keep rolling up all those bonus points,” he said. “No matter what lineup, we’re going to put out our best lineup. I think that’s the most important thing. I mean it’s going to be different, but at the same time, we want our result to be the same. So we’re going to keep working through this, keep working hard and put our best foot forward.”

Added fellow senior Vincenzo Joseph: “We’re gonna have to be our best to win nationals, and I feel like that’s how it goes for every team. You got to be on top of your game if you want to win the national tournament, so we’re going to be on top of our game and we’re all excited for the second half of the year. We’re going to take it one match, one week at a time.”

Despite 2020 being an Olympic year, both Hall and Joseph have a singular focus — to go out with individual and team NCAA titles in their senior seasons.

Hall has said since the beginning of the season that while he still has dreams of qualifying for the Olympic Trails — to be held April 4-5 at the Bryce Jordan Center — his plan is to do that by winning NCAAs. If that doesn’t work out, there’s the Last Chance Qualifier a week later. Joseph did enter one qualifying tournament — the Bill Farrell in November — and had originally planned to compete at Senior Nationals, where Cassar was injured, over the break. However, he ultimately decided winning a third individual NCAA title was more important.

“I’m just really focusing on the second half of the college season,” he said. “It’s really the most important thing right now for me.”

Achieving that goal of a fifth straight team title against a top-ranked Iowa team will certainly be more of an uphill battle for the Nittany Lions without Cassar. Coach Cael Sanderson announced Tuesday that All-American grad transfer Kyle Conel will also be out the rest of the season with injury.

An injury or two, however, isn’t shaking the focus of Hall and Joseph, or the confidence they have in their team as they enter Big Ten competition this weekend with home duals against Illinois Friday and No. 13 Northwestern on Sunday.

“We have some guys that are coming back that are just going to be awesome to have in the lineup, and I’m looking forward to it,” Joseph said. “And just other guys that I’ve been watching grow into the wrestlers that they are. Like I’m freaking excited to watch (two-time All-American junior) Nick Lee tear it up the rest for the year. That dude’s awesome. I love our team and I just want to see us go out there and be the best we can be.”

Taking over at heavyweight for the Nittany Lions will be true freshman Seth Nevills. All-American sixth-year senior Shakur Rasheed has been medically cleared from his offseason ACL surgery, and is bumping up to 197 pounds to replace Conel. True freshman Aaron Brooks had his redshirt pulled against Lehigh on Dec. 6, and will wrestle at 184.

Hall is aware of the assets wrestlers like Cassar and Conel, who have already proven themselves on the big stage at the college level and have had big moments, can bring to a team. But, as a senior leader on the team, he said he also believes that his younger teammates, like four-time high school state champs Nevills and Brooks, are capable of achieving much of the same collegiately, now that they’ve been given the opportunity.

“Everyone kind of understands, you get the chance to wrestle, you better be ready to wrestle,” Hall said. “We’re always ready to go. We’re in this position for a reason, and I think that reason being that no matter who’s out there on the mat, they give 100%.”

After this weekend, the competition won’t get any easier for the No. 3 Nittany Lions. They’ll host No. 24 Rutgers next weekend before heading on the road for back-to-back weekends against No. 2 Nebraska and the top-ranked Hawkeyes — and that’s just January.

The Penn State wrestlers, however, aren’t backing down from a challenge.

“We just enjoy our Big Ten schedule because it’s tough, it’s challenging,” Joseph said. “We have a lot of good teams that we have to wrestle in the Big Ten. And we love challenges, we love competing. And I think if we wrestle better, it’s probably just because we like the challenge.”

With less than three months of wrestling left in their college careers, Hall and Joseph aren’t letting outside factors — teammates’ injuries, Iowa national title talk, the Olympics — distract them from their goals of getting their hands raised at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis in March.

“Every day I just come in, look for something I can get better at and look for ways that I can put myself in the best position to win, and keep to winning,” Hall said. “And just keep looking forward to my next competition. Because they are numbered.”

Illinois (3-1) at No. 3 Penn State (3-1)

When: 7 p.m., Friday

Where: Rec Hall

Radio: WRSC 93.3 FM or WQWK 103.7 FM

Online: BTN+ (paid subscription), Flowrestling.com (paid subscription)

No. 13 Northwestern (2-1) at No. 3 Penn State (3-1)

Note: Northwestern wrestles Purdue on Friday

When: 2 p.m., Sunday

Where: Rec Hall

Radio: WRSC 93.3 FM or WQWK 103.7 FM

Online: BTN+ (paid subscription), Flowrestling.com (paid subscription)

Note: Team rankings are from the National Wrestling Coaches Association’s weekly coaches poll.

This story was originally published January 9, 2020 at 4:57 PM.

Lauren Muthler

Centre Daily Times

814-231-4646

Lauren Muthler is managing editor at the Centre Daily Times who also covers Penn State wrestling and any other interesting stories that come up.