Penn State wrestling secures 6 semifinalists after Session I of the Big Ten championships
Penn State couldn’t have asked for a better start to the Big Ten Wrestling Championships on Saturday as freshman Brandon Meredith upset the No. 3 seed at 125 pounds.
From there the Nittany Lions had mixed results, but secured six semifinalists and have nine of 10 wrestlers still alive in the tournament. All six semifinalists assured themselves a trip to the NCAA Championships in two weeks in Minneapolis.
As far as the team race goes, the Nittany Lions sit in third place with 56.5 points. They trail Nebraska by two points for second. Iowa leads the race with 72 points. Northwestern and Minnesota round out the top five as No. 4 and No. 5, respectively.
Wrestling is set to pick back up at 6:30 p.m., but here’s a look at how each wrestler stands after the first session:
125 Pounds: Brandon Meredith
Record after session: 1-1
Current round: Consolation second round
Recap: Meredith started his first Big Ten Championships with a memorable match.
He is the No. 14 seed, which is last in the weight class. He took on Minnesota’s Patrick McKee, who was the No. 3 seed.
Meredith scored the first points of the match 14 seconds in with a takedown. McKee escaped rather quickly to trail 2-1 to enter the second period.
McKee added another escape in the second to tie the bout up going to the final frame. Meredith had choice and went neutral as he had riding time advantage.
Meredith neutralized McKee’s numerous attacks. He finished with 1:07 in riding time and picked up the 3-2 win to stun McKee.
Meredith was then kicked into the consolation bracket after losing to Northwestern’s Michael DeAugustino 8-2 in the quarterfinals. He needs one more win to qualify for NCAAs.
133 Pounds: Roman Bravo-Young
Record after session: 1-0
Current round: Semifinals
Recap: Bravo-Young took on Rutgers’ Sammy Alvarez in the quarterfinals, and it was certainly an entertaining match.
The pair scrambled through several portions of the match, much like their dual meet bout back in the middle of January.
RBY came out on top of two of those scrambles for takedowns. He nearly gave up a takedown late to Alvarez, but there wasn’t enough time for the Scarlet Knights’ wrestler.
Bravo-Young won 5-2 and a shower of boos came from the pro-Rutgers crowd.
The sophomore will take on Iowa’s Austin DeSanto Saturday night in the semifinals. DeSanto injury defaulted to RBY in dual.
141 Pounds: Nick Lee
Record after session: 1-0
Current round: Semifinals
Recap: Anyone who blinked watching Lee’s quarterfinals match with Purdue Parker Filius may have missed it.
Lee secured a takedown of Filius 10 seconds into the match. Lee then locked up a bar and half nelson on Filius to pin him in 37 seconds.
Lee takes on Nebraska’s Chad Red, who was Lee’s Indiana high school rival, in the semifinals.
149 Pounds: Jarod Verkeleeren
Record after session: 0-1
Current round: Consolation second round
Recap: As much of a stunner it was to see Meredith win his opening match, the same could be said of Verkleeren dropping his.
Northwestern’s Yahya Thomas tallied two takedowns of Verkleeren in 30 seconds. Verkleeren was able to get within 4-3 after two periods, but Thomas controlled the third period.
Thomas escaped to get a 5-3 lead. He then held of Verkleeren from scoring and added a riding time point for a 6-3 win, sending Verkleeren to the consolation bracket.
Verkleeren is still alive as he had a bye into the consolation second round. His hopes of making the NCAA Championships are still alive, too, as the Big Ten gets 10 automatic qualifiers at the weight.
157 Pounds: Bo Pipher
Record after session: 0-2
Current round: Eliminated
Recap: Pipher didn’t have quite the success as his other teammates. He suffered losses in each of his two matches to be eliminated.
His first match came against Michigan’s Will Lewan. It was a match that Pipher could have had, but a takedown from Lewan in sudden victory handed Pipher a 5-3 loss.
In the first round of consolations, Pipher took on Garrett Model of Wisconsin. Model, who handed Pipher his lone bonus-point loss of the regular season, racked up an 18-1 technical fall in 6:10 to end Pipher’s season.
165 Pounds: Vincenzo Joseph
Record after session: 1-0
Current round: Semifinals
Recap: Joseph had no problems in opening his final Big Ten tournament. Should he keep up the pace he had in his quarterfinals match with Michigan State’s Drew Hughes, he’ll be well on his way to winning his first Big Ten title.
Joseph tallied seven takedowns of Hughes in two periods. He even secured a stalling point from Hughes in the first period.
Joseph racked up five of those takedowns in the second period. He added a riding time point at the end of the match for a 16-5 major decision.
He’ll take on Nebraska’s Isaiah White in the semifinals Saturday night.
174 Pounds: Mark Hall
Record after session: 1-0
Current round: Semifinals
Recap: Hall came out like he’s on a mission to win his third consecutive Big Ten championship.
He took on Illinois’ Joey Gunther, who he stalled out of a match earlier this year in the dual. The end result — a Hall victory in less than seven minutes — was the same.
The Nittany Lions’ senior rattled off 16 unanswered points to collect a technical fall in 4:12. Hall led 14-0 after one period, thanks to three sets of near-fall points.
Hall takes on Purdue’s Dylan Lydy in the semifinals.
184 Pounds: Aaron Brooks
Record after session: 1-0
Current round: Semifinals
Recap: Brooks arrived to his mat late, which isn’t necessarily the ideal situation, but it didn’t deter the freshman.
Brooks was dominant in his first Big Ten tournament match. He held just a 2-0 lead after two periods, but he went on a scoring spree in the third period.
Brooks snapped of five takedowns en route to scoring 13 points in the final period. He added a riding time point for a 15-4 major decision in his Big Ten tournament debut.
Brooks will take on Nebraska’s Taylor Venz in the semifinals. Venz handed Brooks his lone loss of the season back at the end of January in the teams’ dual.
197 Pounds: Shakur Rasheed
Record after session: 2-0
Current round: Semifinals
Recap: Of the six semifinalists, Rasheed was the only one without a bye into the quarterfinals. However, Rasheed didn’t take long to end his first match.
He took Illinois’ Matt Wroblewski down twice in a span of 25 seconds. On the second takedown, Rasheed locked up his crossface cradle and pinned Wroblewski in 53 seconds.
Rasheed made the semifinals with a counter-takedown of Iowa’s Jacob Warner with 27 seconds remaining in the final period for a 3-1 win.
Rasheed will take on Nebraska’s Eric Schultz in the semifinals Saturday night. Rasheed lost to Schultz earlier in the season.
285 Pounds: Seth Nevills
Record after session: 0-1
Current round: Consolation second round
Recap: Yes, Penn State has nine wrestlers still alive, but Nevills’ status of coming back to wrestle Saturday night may be in question.
When taking on Rutgers’ Alex Esposito in the first round, the pair were in a scramble. The match got stopped for injury time for Nevills. During the scramble, his left knee looked to get twisted and he grabbed it immediately.
Nevills attempted to finish out the match. However, Esposito got another takedown with ease and the match got stopped with 48 seconds remaining in the second period.
Nevills injury defaulted and as he walked off the stage of mats seemed barely able to put pressure on the knee while walking down some steps.
Big Ten Championships
Saturday at Piscataway, NJ
Team key: Illinois (Ill.), Indiana (Ind.), Iowa (I), Maryland (M), Michigan (Mich.), Michigan State (MSU), Minnesota (Minn.), Nebraska (Neb.), Northwestern (N), Ohio State (OSU), Penn State (PSU), Purdue (P), Rutgers (R), Wisconsin (W)
Team scores: 1. Iowa 72, 2. Nebraska 58.5, 3. Penn State 56.5, 4. Northwestern 49, 5. Minnesota 44.5, 6. Michigan 39, 7. Ohio State 34.5, 8. Purdue 31.5, 9. Wisconsin 24, 10. Michigan State 20
Quarterfinals
125: Michael DeAugustino, N, dec. Brandon Meredith, PSU, 8-2; 133: Roman Bravo-Young, PSU, dec. Sammy Alvarez, R, 5-2; 141: Nick Lee, PSU, pinned Parker Filius, P, :37; 165: Vincenzo Joseph, PSU, major dec. Drew Hughes, MSU, 16-5; 174: Mark Hall, PSU, tech. fall Joey Gunther, Ill., 16-0 (4:12); 184: Aaron Brooks, PSU, major dec. Owen Webster, Minn., 15-4; 197: Shakur Rasheed, PSU, dec. Jacob Warner, I, 3-1
Consolation First Round
157: Garrett Model, W, tech. fall Bo Pipher, PSU, 18-1 (6:10)
First Round
125: Meredith, PSU, dec. Patrick McKee, Minn., 3-2; 149: Yahya Thomas, N, dec. Verkleeren, PSU, 6-3; 157: Will Lewan, Mich., Pipher, PSU, 5-3 (SV); 197: Rasheed, PSU, pinned Matt Wroblewski, Ill., :53; 285: Alex Esposito, R, def. Nevills, PSU, inj. def. (4:19)
