Penn State sends 6 wrestlers to the NCAA semifinals, leads team race by 10.5 points
Even though Penn State lost three wrestlers to start the second day of the NCAA Championships, it had a perfect quarterfinals run.
The Nittany Lions went 6-0 during the championship bracket portion of the session on Friday, and collected some more bonus points along the way. They only had a pin and a major decision, but having so many semifinalists gave a big lead in the team race.
Penn State finished the session with 73 points, which is 10.5 points ahead of Michigan. Arizona State rounds out the top three teams with 53 points.
Here’s a look at the Nittany Lions’ performances:
Drew Hildebrandt, 125 Pounds
Record for tournament: 1-2
Current round: Eliminated
Recap: It’s unknown if something was wrong with Hildebrandt, but he didn’t look great in the Big Ten Championships. Two weeks later, he still didn’t seem like himself in the NCAA Championships.
The Nittany Lions wrestler took on former PSU athlete Brody Teske, who is competing for Northern Iowa now, to stay alive in the consolation bracket. Teske came out on fire, scoring two takedowns in the first period for a 4-1 lead at the end.
Hildebrandt opened the second period with an escape, and tied the bout up, 4-4, with a nice double leg takedown. Teske escaped before the period ended to regain the lead.
Teske opened with an escape in the third period. Teske was keeping Hildebrandt away from scoring and was called for a stall with 18 seconds remaining. Hildebrandt came in for one last attempt, but Teske caught for a late takedown to seal the win, 8-4, and end Hildebrandt’s season.
Roman Bravo-Young, 133 Pounds
Record after session: 3-0
Current round: Semifinals
Recap: RBY took on the No. 25 seed in Virginia’s Brian Courtney, who made a magical run to the quarterfinals. PA wrestling fans may remember the run Courtney made several years ago when he took out three defending state champions on his way to a PIAA title.
In the NCAA Championships, he beat the eighth and ninth seeds to setup the match with RBY on Friday morning. The Nittany Lion ended the Cinderella run for Courtney.
RBY led 2-1 after one period, but poured the offense on in the second period. He opened with a reversal, and tacked on two takedowns to lead 8-3.
In the third period, RBY added two more takedowns and nearly had one at the buzzer, but came up just short of a major decision with a 13-6 victory.
RBY takes on Iowa’s Austin DeSanto Friday night for a spot in the finals.
Nick Lee, 141 Pounds
Record after session: 3-0
Current round: Semifinals
Recap: Lee set some history in his quarterfinals match with Oregon State’s Grant Willits.
At beginning of the year, Lee and Willits squared off at the Journeyman Duals in Manheim with Lee topping Willits 11-4. On Friday afternoon, it wasn’t even close.
Lee tallied a takedown midway through the first period and rode Willits out for the remainder of the period. In the second period, Lee escaped eight seconds into the period.
The senior got a takedown with just over one minute left and caught Willits in a weird scramble position. Lee’s left leg was trapped by Willits, but Lee sunk a half nelson and just rolled Willits back for a fall in 3:45.
Lee became Penn State’s first five-time All-American by making the semifinals, where he’ll take on Stanford’s Real Woods.
Beau Bartlett, 149 Pounds
Record for tournament: 1-2
Current round: Eliminated
Recap: Bartlett had to feel great coming into Friday’s bout with Northwestern’s Yahya Thomas after just coming up short against Ohio State’s Sammy Sasso the night before. However, Thomas had other plans for Bartlett.
After neither wrestler scored in the first period, Thomas got his offense going in the second period. An escape opened the period, and a minute letter Thomas used a solid single leg takedown on Bartlett to lead 3-1 to start the third.
Bartlett opened the third period with an escape, but Thomas tacked on one more takedown to seal up a 5-3 win.
Brady Berge, 157 Pounds
Record for tournament: 2-2
Current round: Eliminated
Recap: Berge got plenty of action in the session on Friday.
He opened against Central Michigan’s Johnny Lovett. Berge scored the bout’s first point with a takedown with only 45 seconds remaining in the opening period.
Lovett escaped before the period ended to make it 2-1. Berge’s early escape were the lone points of the second period.
Lovett opened the third period with a reversal, which tied the bout at 3-3 with 1:33 remaining. Berge escaped 20 seconds later and hung on to stay alive with a 4-3 win.
Berge took on Nebraska’s Peyton Robb in the third round of consolations, and looked to be out of fuel. Robb controlled from start to finish in an 8-3 win over Berge, which ended the Nittany Lions wrestler’s season.
Carter Starocci, 174 Pounds
Record after session: 3-0
Current round: Semifinals
Recap: Starocci faced a Big Ten foe in Nebraska’s Mikey Labriola.
Starocci tallied the first point of the bout with an escape 11 seconds into the second period. He tacked on a takedown 12 seconds later to hold a 3-0 lead after two periods.
Labriola earned an escape 29 seconds into the final period, but Starocci added a takedown with just under 20 seconds left in the bout. He added riding time point for a 6-1 win.
Starocci takes on former Mifflin County graduate Hayden Hidlay of North Carolina State for a spot in the finals Friday night.
Aaron Brooks, 184 Pounds
Record after session: 3-0
Current round: Semifinals
Recap: Brooks continued to pile up bonus points for Penn State.
On Friday, it was Ohio State’s Kaleb Romero that got run over by the bonus point train. Brooks had two takedowns in the first period to race out to a 4-1 lead.
It took him only seven seconds to escape in the second period, and about 50 seconds later came another takedown. Brooks led 7-1 to start the third period.
Romero started on his feet to begin the third period, but Brooks came away with his fourth takedown. A stalling point and a fifth takedown gave Brooks a 13-2 major decision.
He’ll take on North Carolina State’s Trent Hidlay, who is a former District 6 wrestler from Mifflin County, in the semifinals.
Max Dean, 197 Pounds
Record after session: 3-0
Current round: Semifinals
Recap: Penn State coach Cael Sanderson said he hoped Dean wouldn’t have too many more nail biters in the NCAA Championships.
Sanderson didn’t get what he hoped for when Dean took on Binghamton’s Lou DePrez on Friday in the quarterfinals.
DePrez tallied a takedown early in the first period to grab the lead. Dean didn’t stay down for long though as he escaped in two seconds.
Dean’s escape in the second period tied up the bout to start the third period. Dean appeared to get a takedown with just over one minute left in the match during a scramble situation that wasn’t called. Instead, a stalemate was called.
Penn State assistant coach Casey Cunningham threw a challenge brick. The call was reversed and Dean was awarded the takedown.
DePrez escaped with just under 30 seconds remaining, but Dean had a solid defense to advance, 4-3, to a rain of boos from the crowd. He’ll take on Ohio State’s Gavin Hoffman, who is the No. 21 seed.
Greg Kerkvliet, 285 Pounds
Record after session: 3-0
Current round: Semifinals
Recap: Kerkvliet in a similar fashion as his second round match, dispatched Nebraska’s Christian Lance in the quarterfinals on Friday.
Kerkvliet opened with a takedown with just 40 seconds remaining in the first period, and rode Lance out for the remainder. In the second period, Kerkvliet picked up a reversal 11 seconds in, and again rode Lance out for the remainder of the period.
Lance started on the bottom to start the third period, and did escape, but it was with 27 seconds remaining in the bout. Kerkvliet tacked on a takedown before the final buzzer and added a riding time point with 4:09 in riding time for the 7-1 win.
He’ll take on the top seed, defending champion and Olympic champ in Minnesota’s Gable Steveson, in the semifinals.
NCAA Championships
Friday at Detroit
Team key: Air Force (AF), Appalachian State (AS), Arizona State (ASU), Army West Point (A), Binghamton (BH), Bloomsburg (BB), Bucknell (BN), Buffalo (B), Cal Poly (CP), Campbell (CB), Central Michigan (CM), Chattanooga (CT), Clarion (C), Cleveland State (CS), Columbia (CU), Cornell (CN), Cal State Bakersfield (CSB), Drexel (DX), Duke (D), Edinboro (E), Franklin & Marshall (FM), Gardner-Webb (GW), George Mason (GM), Harvard (HV), Hofstra (H), Illinois (ILL), Indiana (IND), Iowa (I), Iowa State (ISU), Kent State (K), Lehigh (L), Lock Haven (LH), Maryland (MD), Michigan (MICH), Michigan State (MSU), Minnesota (MINN), Missouri (M), Navy (N), Nebraska (NEB), North Carolina (NC), North Carolina State (NCSU), North Dakota State (NDSU), Northern Colorado (NCU), Northern Illinois (NI), Northern Iowa (NIU), Ohio (O), Ohio State (OSU), Oklahoma (OK), Oklahoma State (OKSU), Oregon State (OS), Penn State (PSU), Pennsylvania (PENN), Pittsburgh (PITT), Princeton (PT), Purdue (P), Rider (RD), Rutgers (R), Sacred Heart (SH), SIU Edwardsville (SIE), South Dakota State (SDSU), Stanford (S), The Citadel (TC), Utah Valley (UV), Virginia (V), Virginia Tech (VT), West Virgina (WV), Wisconsin (W), Wyoming (WY)
Team scores: 1. Penn State 73, 2. Michigan 62.5, 3. Arizona State 53, 4. Iowa 37.5, 5. North Carolina State 37, 6. Cornell 34.5, 7. Virginia Tech 31, 8. Ohio State 29.5, 9. Missouri 28, 10. Nebraska 27.5.
Quarterfinals
133: Roman Bravo-Young, PSU, dec. Brian Courtney, V, 13-6; 141: Nick Lee, PSU, pinned Grant Willits, OS, 3:45; 174: Carter Starocci, PSU, dec. Mikey Labriola, NEB, 6-1; 184: Aaron Brooks, PSU, major dec. Kaleb Romero, OSU, 13-2; 197: Max Dean, PSU, dec. Lou DePrez, BH, 4-3; 285: Greg Kerkvliet, PSU, dec. Christian Lance, NEB, 7-1
Consolation Third Round
157: Peyton Robb, NEB, dec. Brady Berge, PSU, 8-3
Consolation Second Round
125: Brody Teske, NIU, dec. Drew Hildebrandt, PSU, 8-4; 149: Yahya Thomas, NW, dec. Beau Bartlett, PSU, 5-4; 157: Berge, PSU, dec. Johnny Lovett, CM, 4-3
This story was originally published March 18, 2022 at 3:41 PM.
