Here’s where Penn State wrestling stands heading into the final round of the NCAA Championships
Penn State had work to do on Saturday if it wanted a shot of defending its NCAA team title.
After the medal rounds were over, the Nittany Lions just couldn’t get it done as Iowa locked up the team title before the evening’s finals. The Hawkeyes’ title is their first since 2010, and breaks the Nittany Lions’ streak of four straight.
Penn State’s two wrestlers were both victorious during the afternoon session. The Nittany Lions will look to ride that momentum and try to hold off Oklahoma State for second place during the final session Saturday evening.
Here’s where each wrestler stands with just the finals left:
133 Pounds: No. 2 Roman Bravo-Young
Current round: Finals
Recap: RBY will be the first final of the night.
He’ll take on Oklahoma State’s Daton Fix. The pair have never wrestled before, but Bravo-Young said he plans on putting on a show.
141 Pounds: No. 2 Nick Lee
Current round: Finals
Recap: Lee will take on Iowa’s Jaydin Eierman in the finals.
The pair squared off in the Big Ten finals two weeks ago. Eierman used a riding time point to edge Lee, 6-5, in that matchup.
Lee will look to change up the result this time to get on top of the podium.
174 Pounds: No. 3 Carter Starocci
Current round: Finals
Recap: Starocci, like Lee, will look to get some revenge in his finals match.
He’ll take on Iowa’s Michael Kemerer, who beat the redshirt freshman in the Big Ten finals. Kemerer used a five-point second period to propel himself to the Big Ten crown.
Kemerer said during Friday night’s press conference that he has a lot of respect for his upcoming opponent, which goes to show that he knows how good Starocci can be.
184 Pounds: No. 1 Aaron Brooks
Current round: Finals
Recap: Brooks had a goal of being a four-time NCAA champion when he came to Penn State.
With the NCAA ruling that this season doesn’t count toward the eligibility clock, that goal remains alive for the sophomore.
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. The pair has faced each other before, during the illustrious Fargo tournament as youth wrestlers.
At that time, Brooks slapped a 14-3 technical fall on Hidlay, but that was freestyle wrestling.
197 Pounds: No. 15 Michael Beard
Finish: 7th
Recap: Beard took on Wyoming’s Stephen Buchanan for seventh Saturday afternoon.
The redshirt freshman came out collecting a takedown and two near-fall points, but Buchanan reversed Beard. Beard escaped before the period ended to hold a 5-2 lead.
In the second period, Buchanan tied the bout up at 5-5 midway through. Beard collected a reversal with just under 40 seconds left, but a Buchanan escape made it 7-6 to start the third.
Beard opened the third period with an escape, but gave up a takedown with two seconds remaining to head to sudden victory. Twenty seconds into the sudden victory period, Beard tallied the winning takedown for a 10-8 win.
285 Pounds: No. 9 Greg Kerkvliet
Finish: 7th
Recap: Kerkvliet had no problems with Ohio State’s Tate Orndorff in their seventh-place match.
The redshirt freshman took just 10 seconds to secure the bout’s first points with a takedown. In the second period, Kerkvliet used a reversal, an escape and picked up a stall point from Orndorff for a 7-1 lead.
Kerkvliet forced two more stall calls on Orndorff in the third period, nearly earning a disqualification win. Instead, a takedown, three stall points and a riding time point secured a 13-1 major decision for Kerkvliet.
He was so dominant that he amassed 6:10 of riding time.
NCAA Championships
Saturday 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 125, 2. Penn State 97.5, 3. Oklahoma State 94.5, 4. Arizona State 74, 5. Michigan 69, 6. North Carolina State 68, 7. Missouri 64, 8. Minnesota 60, 9. Ohio State 46.5, 10. Northwestern 45
Seventh-Place Match
197: Michael Beard, PSU, dec. Stephen Buchanan, WY, 10-8 (SV); 285: Greg Kerkvliet, PSU, major dec. Tate Orndorff, OSU, 13-1
