Here’s where Penn State wrestling stands after Day 2 of the NCAA Championships
Penn State had four semifinalists when the night began on Friday.
When the action was over, the Nittany Lions had four finalists, and two other wrestlers claim All-American honors.
Penn State has the most finalists with four and Iowa has three, making it no surprise that they are the top two in the team race. The Hawkeyes’ 109 points lead the way as the Nittany Lions have 94.5 points.
Oklahoma State sits third in the team race with 86.5 points. Arizona State and Michigan round out the top five in that order.
Here’s where each wrestler stands after the second day is complete:
125 Pounds: No. 23 Robbie Howard
Record after day: 2-2
Current round: Eliminated
Recap: The true freshman was doing well in his first NCAA Championships. He opened with a revenge win over Ohio State’s Malik Heinselman.
He came up a little short in the second round against Utah Valley’s Taylor LaMont. Howard rebounded nicely with a gutsy 9-7 win over Chattanooga’s Fabian Gutierrez.
Howard raced out to a 3-1 lead to start the match. In the second period, Howard needed a late reversal to turn a 7-6 lead into a three-point lead. Gutierrez’s riding time point was the lone point in the third period to give Howard the 9-7 win.
The New Jersey native was then eliminated when Minnesota’s Patrick McKee took him down and then pinned him in 2:04.
133 Pounds: No. 2 Roman Bravo-Young
Record after day: 4-0
Current round: Finals
Recap: RBY says he has dreamed about being a NCAA finalist all of his life.
His dream came true on Friday night after he topped Virginia Tech’s Korbin Myers 5-3.
“It feels good. The national finals is pretty cool,” Bravo-Young said during a Zoom press conference. “It’s time now to make it happen.”
RBY got to his offense early by earning a takedown 47 seconds in the bout. Myers was able to escape before the period was over to make the score 2-1.
A Myers escape in the second period was the lone point. In the third period, RBY chose to start on his feet and it paid off with a takedown. Myers escaped one more time, but couldn’t getting anything offensively as RBY added a riding time point.
Bravo-Young will take on Oklahoma State’s Daton Fix Saturday night in a match he said he’s looking forward to.
“I’m going to go out there and let it fly. I’m in the finals,” Bravo-Young said, “so why not put on a show, which is what I like to do. It’s going to be a fun match, I’ll tell you that much.”
RBY was unable to get his offense going against Virginia’s No. 10 seed Louie Hayes in the quarterfinals. However, he did what he had to do to become the first semifinalists and All-American for the Nittany Lions on Friday.
RBY scored the first points of the bout with a takedown with 1:41 left on the clock in the first period. A quick escape in the second period for Bravo-Young were the lone points to give him a 3-0 lead.
In the third period, Hayes was unable to get a takedown, but earned a point from a second stall call on RBY. The Penn State wrestler had a riding time point to secure the 4-1 win.
141 Pounds: No. 2 Nick Lee
Record after day: 4-0
Current round: Finals
Recap: Lee took on a familiar foe in Rutgers’ Sebastian Rivera in the semifinals. Lee edged Rivera in the Big Ten semifinals two weeks ago.
The beginning and ending were the same this time around, with Rivera scoring first and Lee winning in the end. After the final whistle blew, Lee had a giant smile on his face knowing he made his first NCAA final.
“Not really a relief, it was just happy that things coming together for you at the end,” Lee said in a Zoom press conference. “I’ve been working a lot and everyone has, but it’s fun when it goes your way.”
Rivera scored the first points of the bout late in the first period to lead 2-0. Lee picked up the lead after the second period thanks to an escape and takedown.
In the third period, Lee really turned it on to the tune of a takedown and near-fall points. He tacked on a riding time point for a 9-3 win.
Lee will take on Iowa’s Jaydin Eierman in the finals, which is a rematch of the Big Ten finals. Eierman topped Lee in that matchup.
“I’m feeling good. It’s been a great couple of days,” Lee said. “It was a really fun bracket to watch.”
Lee started his day with a continuation of an offensive outburst in his quarterfinals match with North Carolina’s Zachary Sherman. Leading up to Friday morning’s match, Lee had outscored his opponents 32-3.
Lee recorded his first points of the match 45 seconds in against Sherman. He’d add another takedown and two near-fall points for a 6-1 lead after one period.
The now four-time All-American in Lee added a takedown in the second and third periods and amassed over four minutes of riding time for an 11-3 major decision win.
157 Pounds: No. 12 Brady Berge
Record after day: 2-2
Current round: Eliminated
Recap: After dealing with concussion issues last year, Berge had put together a nice season and was one win away from reaching the NCAA semifinals.
Berge took on Rider’s Jesse Dellavecchia in the quarterfinals. The pair were scoreless late in the first period.
Dellavecchia went for a shot on Berge near the edge of the mat. Berge went to twist out of the takedown on the way down, and suffered an injury.
Dellavecchia was awarded the points as Berge laid on the mat as coach Cael Sanderson and trainer Dan Monthly came to look at their wrestler’s right knee. Berge was unable to complete the match and injury defaulted to Dellavecchia in 2:39.
Berge was unable to go in the evening session, ending his season with what appeared to be a right knee injury.
174 Pounds: No. 3 Carter Starocci
Record after day: 4-0
Current round: Finals
Recap: The redshirt freshman has reached the finals in the biggest tournaments he’s wrestled in during his college career.
Starocci won the Southern Scuffle last year, wrestling unattached in his redshirt season. He lost two weeks ago in the Big Ten finals.
Now, Starocci is in the NCAA finals.
The Penn State wrestler took on Utah Valley’s Demetrius Romero, who was the No. 2 seed, in the semifinals. The pair had a scoreless first period.
Starocci’s escape was the lone point in the second period. Starocci rode Romero out the entire third period to collect a riding time point and a 2-0 win.
Starocci gets a Big Ten finals rematch with Iowa’s Michael Kemerer in the NCAA finals.
“It feels good,” Starocci said during a Zoom press conference. “Obviously, I wanted to score more points and score points for the team, but you just got to win some times.”
Starocci kept his hot postseason streak going when he took on Kent State’s Andrew McNally.
The Erie native held a 5-0 lead after two periods of wrestling. He had a takedown in the first period, and an escape and takedown in the second period.
McNally scored some points late in the third period, but it wasn’t enough as Starocci won 6-3 and earned his first All-American honor and a spot in the semifinals.
184 Pounds: No. 1 Aaron Brooks
Record after day: 4-0
Current round: Finals
Recap: Brooks said he’s been watching the NCAA championships since he was about six years old. He always dreamed about being on the big stage.
He mentioned during a Zoom press conference that he’s using that feeling as a six-year-old to help lead him now. With a 6-4 win over Northern Iowa’s Parker Keckeisen, Brooks’ dream of being a four-time NCAA champion is still alive, even though the championships were canceled last year.
“The free year that we’ve been blessed with this year gives me a chance to go out there and shoot for one of my goals tomorrow,” Brooks said. “Tomorrow is the first step to that goal. Thankfully, like I said the NCAA granted us this year and my dream is still alive.”
Brooks got the scoring done first with a takedown 1:10 into the first period. Keckeisen escaped for his lone points through the first two periods of wrestling.
The sophomore in Brooks added an escape and takedown in the second period to lead 5-1. Keckeisen add an escape and a late takedown, but Brooks had riding time to setup the final score.
Brooks will square off with former Mifflin County and District 6 star Trent Hidlay, who is now competing for North Carolina State, in the finals.
Brooks took on a familiar foe in Nebraska’s Taylor Venz in the quarterfinals. Brooks beat Venz in the Big Ten finals this season and in last year’s Big Ten semifinals.
The result was the same on Friday, as Brooks had his hand raised.
Brooks opened the bout by scoring the first points with a takedown, unlike the last time when Venz scored first. Venz escaped to make it 2-1 after one period.
Venz reversed Brooks to start the second period, and it seemed to fuel a fire under Brooks. The Penn State wrestler scored six unanswered points — an escape and a takedown to close out second period, and an escape and a takedown to open the third period.
Brooks added a riding time point for a 9-4 win.
197 Pounds: No. 15 Michael Beard
Record after day: 3-2
Current round: Seventh-Place Match
Recap: Beard had a great opportunity to make the semifinals as he took on the No. 26 seed in Oklahoma’s Jake Woodley.
Woodley had other ideas, though. As the pair scrambled in the first period, Woodley was deep on a shot and Beard had a deep whizzer. Woodley showed off some super strength and took Beard down.
Beard escaped before the first period was over to trail 2-1. Beard escaped 40 seconds into the second period to tie the bout, but Woodley snapped off another takedown for a 4-2 lead.
In the third period, Woodley kept pushing the pace as Beard looked like he was out of gas. The Sooners’ wrestler won 8-3 sending Beard to the consolation bracket.
Beard locked up an All-American spot by topping South Dakota State’s Tanner Sloan, 9-1. He then dropped a 5-0 decision to Missouri’s Rocky Elam.
Beard will take on Wyoming’s Stephen Buchanan for seventh Saturday morning.
285 Pounds: No. 9 Greg Kerkvliet
Record after day: 3-2
Current round: Seventh-Place Match
Recap: Kerkvliet had his hands full with his quarterfinals’ opponent in the No. 1 seed Gable Steveson of Minnesota.
Steveson took just 24 seconds to recorded the first points of the bout with a takedown of Kerkvliet. Steveson rode Kerkvliet out the remainder of the period.
A Steveson escape was the lone points of the second period. Steveson built up a 7-1 lead in the third period before Kerkvliet earned his second escape of the bout. Kerkvliet did pick up a takedown of Steveson late, but the Golden Gophers’ wrestler earned a 9-4 win.
Kerkvliet topped Oklahoma State’s Austin Harris, 13-5, to become a freshman All-American. He then suffered a 14-8 loss to Arizona State’s Cohlton Schultz.
Kerkvliet takes on Ohio State’s Tate Orndorff for seventh on Saturday Morning.
NCAA Championships
Friday at St. Louis
Team key: Air Force (AF), American (A), Appalachian State (APP), Arizona State (ASU), Army West Point (AWP), Binghamton (B), Bloomsburg (BB), Bucknell (BK), Buffalo (BF), Cal Poly (CP), Campbell (CB), Central Michigan (CM), Chattanooga (CT), Clarion (C), Cleveland State (CS), Cal State Bakersfield (CSB), Drexel (DX), Duke (D), Edinboro (E), Fresno State (FS), Gardner-Webb (G), Hofstra (H), Illinois (Ill.), Indiana (Ind.), Iowa (I), Iowa State (ISU), Kent State (K), Lehigh (L), Little Rock (LR), Michigan (M), Michigan State (MSU), Minnesota (Minn.), Missouri (Miss.), Navy (N), Nebraska (Neb.), North Carolina (NC), North Carolina State (NCSU), North Dakota State (NDSU), Northern Colorado (NCO), Northern Illinois (NIU), Northern Iowa (NI), Northwestern (NW), Ohio (O), Ohio State (OSU), Oklahoma (OK), Oklahoma State (OKSU), Oregon State (OSU), Penn State (PSU), Pittsburgh (PB), Purdue (P), Rider (RD), Rutgers (R), Sacred Heart (SH), SIU Edwardsville (SIUE), South Dakota State (SDSU), Stanford (S), The Citadel (TC), Utah Valley (UV), Virginia (V), Virginia Tech (VT), West Virginia (WV), Wisconsin (W), Wyoming (WY)
Team scores: 1. Iowa 109, 2. Penn State 94.5, 3. Oklahoma State 86.5, 4. Arizona State 67, 5. Michigan 58.5, T6. Missouri 56.5, T6. North Carolina State 56.5, 8. Minnesota 55.5, 9. Ohio State 45.5, 10. Pittsburgh 40.5
Semifinals
133: Roman Bravo-Young, PSU, dec. Korbin Myers, VT, 5-3; 141: Nick Lee, PSU, dec. Sebastian Rivera, R, 9-3; 174: Carter Starocci, PSU, dec. Demetrius Romero, UV, 2-0; 184: Aaron Brooks, PSU, dec. Parker Keckeisen, NI, 6-4
Consolation Quarterfinals
197: Rocky Elam, Miss., dec. Michael Beard, PSU, 5-0; 285: Cohlton Schultz, ASU, dec. Greg Kerkvliet, PSU, 14-8
Consolation Fourth Round
157: Wyatt Sheets, OKSU, med. forfeit Brady Berge, PSU; 197: Beard, PSU, major dec. Tanner Sloan, SDSU, 9-1; 285: Kerkvliet, PSU, dec. Austin Harris, OKSU, 13-5
Quarterfinals
133: Bravo-Young, PSU, dec. Louie Hayes, V, 4-1; 141: Lee, PSU, major dec. Zachary Sherman, NC, 11-3; 157: Jesse Dellavecchia, RD, inj. def. Berge, PSU, 2:39; 174: Starocci, PSU, dec. Andrew McNally, K, 6-3; 184: Brooks, PSU, dec. Taylor Venz, Neb., 9-4; 197: Jake Woodley, OK, dec. Beard, PSU, 8-3; 285: Gable Steveson, Minn., dec. Kerkvliet, PSU, 9-4
Consolation Third Round
125: Patrick McKee, Minn., pinned Robbie Howard, PSU, 2:04
Consolation Second Round
125: Howard, PSU, dec. Fabian Gutierrez, CT, 9-7
This story was originally published March 19, 2021 at 11:38 PM.
