Mark Hall leads the way at No. 1 as Penn State wrestlers learn their seeds for NCAAs
Despite the NCAA’s decision to hold all winter championships without fans amid coronavirus concerns, preparation for the 2020 NCAA Wrestling Championships next week in Minneapolis continues to move forward for athletes as Penn State’s seven qualified wrestlers learned their seeds and first-round opponents Wednesday.
The Nittany Lions earned three top-two seeds with No. 1 Mark Hall (174 pounds), No. 2 Vincenzo Joseph (165 pounds) and No. 2 Nick Lee (141 pounds).
Hall beat Iowa’s Michael Kemerer 8-5 last weekend to win his third consecutive Big Ten title and the top seed at NCAAs. Kemerer had beaten Hall earlier in the season during the dual on Jan. 31. Joseph and Lee also reversed the outcomes of their earlier matches with their respective Big Ten finals opponents last weekend, but this time they came up on the losing side.
Iowa’s Alex Marinelli took the top seed at 164 and Ohio State’s Luke Pletcher was the top seed at 141 pounds.
Aaron Brooks, who just became the first true freshman in Penn State history to win a Big Ten championships, earned the No. 3 seed at 184 pounds. Big 12 champ Taylor Lujan, of the University of Northern Iowa, took the top seed and ACC champ Hunter Bolen, of Virginia Tech, took the second.
Sophomore Roman Bravo-Young earned the fifth seed at 133 pounds after his runner-up performance at Big Tens. The top seed went to Big Ten champ Sebastian Rivera, of Northwestern. The No. 2 seed went to Wisconsin’s Seth Gross, who beat Bravo-Young 6-5 earlier in the season.
Sophomore Jarod Verkleeren, who went 2-2 at Big Tens, earned the No. 19 seed at 149 pounds, while six-year senior Shakur Rasheed earned the No. 21 seed at 197 pounds after a 3-2 performance at Big Tens in which he medically forfeited from the third-place match to place fourth.
The NCAA Wrestling Championships will take place March 19-21 at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis.
Here’s who the Nittany Lions will face in their first-round matches:
133 pounds: Penn State’s Roman Bravo-Young (No. 5 seed) vs. Virginia Tech’s Collin Gerard (No. 28 seed)
141 pounds: Penn State’s Nick Lee (No. 2 seed) vs. Lehigh’s Ryan Pomrinca (No. 31 seed)
149 pounds: Penn State’s Jarod Verkleeren (No. 19 seed) vs. University of Northern Colorado’s Andrew Alirez (No. 14 seed)
165 pounds: Penn State’s Vincenzo Joseph (No. 2 seed) vs. Iowa State’s Chase Straw (No. 31 seed)
174 pounds: Penn State’s Mark Hall (No. 1 seed) vs. winner of Duke’s Mason Eaglin (No. 32 seed) and Maryland’s Phillip Spadafora (No. 33 seed)
184 pounds: Penn State’s Aaron Brooks (No. 3 seed) vs. Purdue’s Max Lyon (No. 30 seed)
197 pounds: Penn State’s Shakur Rasheed (No. 21 seed) vs. Stanford’s Nathan Traxler (No. 12 seed)
