Why Penn State wrestling should be feeling good about the postseason after its win over American
Penn State wrestling has a top-five contingent in No. 1 Vincenzo Joseph, No. 1 Nick Lee, No. 2 Mark Hall, No. 2 Roman Bravo-Young and No. 6 Aaron Brooks that has the ability to outplace the top-five of any other team in the country at the NCAA championships.
The challenge for Penn State, however, heading into the postseason, is figuring out how to get more production out of the other five wrestlers in its lineup — something it’ll need to do to overtake frontrunner Iowa and pull off its fifth consecutive national team title.
But thanks to impressive performances in Penn State’s 40-3 win over American in its dual season finale Sunday by sophomore Jarod Verkleeren and senior Shakur Rasheed, and the introduction of Luke Gardner at 157 pounds, the Nittany Lions might be feeling a little bit better about their chances.
After back-to-back weeks where he took first the No. 6 then the No. 1-ranked wrestlers at 149 pounds into sudden victory, ultimately losing, No. 17 Verkleeren finally broke through with his first top-10 win of the season, a 3-1 decision over No. 8 Kizhan Clarke with a takedown with three seconds left.
“It feels good,” Verkleeren said after the win. “I think I’m getting better. That’s the goal, just keep getting better, you know, come March.”
Sunday’s win caps off a two-week period in which the 2017 PIAA champ has shown marked improvement, starting with his win over Wisconsin’s then-No. 14 Cole Martin on Feb. 7. Before that match, coach Cael Sanderson he could tell “by the look in his eye” that his wrestler had a different demeanor that week and was ready to take the next step forward.
Now he believes that “look in his eye” and hunger to win has only grown.
“He knows he can compete with anybody and he’s ready to go, and this is the time to be ready,” Sanderson said. “But yeah, I definitely think we’ve seen just a little more enthusiasm and excitement the last couple weeks, and a big win tonight over a ranked guy heading into the postseason, that’s where we want to be.”
At 197 pounds is another spot where Penn State has the potential to gain some ground on Iowa when it comes to tournament points, if Rasheed is wrestling as close to his full strength as possible. While his opponent Sunday, freshman William Jarrell, was unranked, No. 18 Rasheed looked as close to his old self as he has since returning to the mat in early January after offseason ACL surgery.
He hit his signature cross-face cradle not just once, but twice, earning the pin in 1 minute and 4 seconds.
The sixth-year senior said he was determined to end his last match in Rec Hall with a cradle, because that’s what got him “rolling” in 2018, when he became an All-American. Now that he’s felt that again, he’s ready to keep that momentum going into the postseason.
“I don’t think the match itself is going to change everything, I think it was more before the match in preparation and talking to the coaches that helped me get into right mind space for this match and going on,” he said. “There’s, what — I don’t know the math — nine, eight matches to win Big Tens and nationals. So (I’m) taking one match at a time and just giving my all, that’s what I’m focused on at this point, is giving it my all.”
While the trajectory of one of Penn State’s injured wrestlers appears to be on the upswing, that of another has sadly come to an end. Sanderson announced after Sunday’s dual that sophomore Brady Berge will not be joining the Nittany Lions in the postseason. Berge had been the projected started at 157 pounds in the preseason, before suffering a head injury at the U23 World championships in late October. He saw the mat only twice this season, going 1-1.
While Sanderson said the staff will now have to decide whether to bring Bo Pipher, who’s wrestled most of the season at 157, or Gardner, it was the later who took the mat Sunday against American’s Ethan Karsten.
Gardner used three takedowns in the third period to erase a three-point deficit and win 7-5. Those three takedowns were the most the Nittany Lions have gotten in a dual at 157 all year. While Gardner might be undersized, having previously been wrestling at 149 pounds, and might not have as much experience this season, wrestling nine matches to Pipher’s 20, he might just be the shot of energy the other half of Penn State’s lineup needs heading into the conference tournament March 7-8 in Piscataway, New Jersey.
“He hit some nice attacks, scored with a couple different shots and scrambled hard,” Sanderson said. “I think that’s something he’s feeling good about. I thought he wrestled well. You want to be scoring those takedowns at the end. That’s something that we want to see out of our program, so it’s good to see.”
While the overall performance wasn’t perfect, Sanderson said he feels his team is wrestling at its best and is “where we need to be.” And that is partially in thanks to performances like Verkleeren, Rasheed and Gardner had Sunday.
But Verkleeren in particular believes he can reach an even higher potential by March, and is eager to take back some of those close losses.
“I thought I could beat those guys, so hopefully I get another shot at it,” he said.
This story was originally published February 24, 2020 at 8:29 AM.
