Penn State wrestlers, coaches using Black Knight Invite as preparation for ‘bigger things’
Every year before the COVID-19 pandemic, Penn State fans became accustomed to seeing either an early season tournament or the Southern Scuffle to kick off the new year.
The Nittany Lions would go to the Keystone Classic or sometimes even hosted the Nittany Lion Open. On Sunday, Penn State heads back to the Black Knight Invite at Army-West Point for the first time since the 2019-2020 season.
“I like competition. I view competition as the best preparation, that’s the best training, if you have the right attitude and mindset,” Nittany Lions coach Cael Sanderson said earlier this week. “I look at these open tournaments and even dual meets as just preparation for bigger things. They (his wrestlers) just want to get into that mindset and routine of be your best all the time, whether there’s 10,000 people watching or three. If you do that, you’re going to be your best in the big moments.”
Penn State is sending 15 wrestlers to West Point, N.Y., but they’ll be without Roman Bravo-Young, Aaron Brooks, Carter Starocci and Greg Kerkvliet. The Nittany Lions will take on Army-West Point, Hofstra, Campbell, Columbia, Bloomsburg, Indiana, Brown, Central Michigan and Buffalo.
Brooks, Starocci and Kerkvliet won’t be participating as they get set to compete in the NWCA All-Star Classic on Tuesday in Austin, Texas. RBY wasn’t expected to wrestle a full season as Sanderson mentioned at the season opening Media Day that they would sit the star whenever they could.
Even though those four starters will be missing, the rest of the starting lineup that competed in the season-opening dual against Lock Haven will be there, along with some new faces trying to crack the starting lineup. Some of those new faces include Karl Shindledecker (125 pounds), Connor Pierce (149), who just finished second in the Binghamton Bearcat Open — his first collegiate tournament, Levi Haines (157) and Lucas Cochran (197).
Along with Pierce, Haines and Cochran also competed in last weekend’s Binghamton Bearcat Open. For Sanderson, the chance for these younger guys to get this tournament experience is key to their future success.
“I think they looked good. I think the guys wrestled well,” Sanderson said of his wrestlers’ success last weekend. “More than anything, it’s just about them getting experience right now. With the rules (redshirts allowed to compete in up to five events and still redshirt), it gives us a chance to kind of go with them and corner them. A lot of times in these opens, they’re off on their own, and redshirts are traveling, trying to find ways to get there on their own, so I think it’s a good thing.
“Like I said, when you go compete, I think that’s the best training, that’s where we really learn a lot about ourselves, as a team and each individual.”
So, what do the starters that are participating like Beau Bartlett and Alex Facundo get out of tournaments like this?
For Bartlett, he hasn’t had any in-season tournaments in his early Penn State career. His freshman campaign came during the COVID-19 pandemic, when the year was only conference wrestling and extra bouts were contested during duals.
He competed in the Big Ten Tournament, but wasn’t able to qualify for that season’s NCAA Championships. Last season, Penn State didn’t compete in any in-season tournaments, just the Collegiate Duals.
Sunday’s tournament is one Bartlett is really looking forward to.
“I’m excited for that tournament setting. I haven’t had too many of those,” he explained, “other than like a Big Ten or NCAA tournament. I have not gotten just a regular college tournament yet, so that’s really exciting to test myself, back-to-back matches and some tournament strategy. It will be fun.”
For Facundo, tournament wrestling is all he knows in his Nittany Lions career since he redshirted last year. He went 11-3 with nine of those victories recording bonus points — two pins and six major decisions. He won the Mat Towne Open II in January.
His losses came against some North Carolina State’s Thomas Bullard, Michigan State’s Caleb Fish and Maryland’s John Martin Best. Fish and Best are still in college and still at Facundo’s weight, so he may be able to get some revenge later this year with them.
For now though, Facundo is just using the tournament to better himself for the rest of the season.
“With a tournament, I get to have multiple matches in a day, so it makes it more and more exciting,” he explained. “Obviously, you get to do a lot more wrestling. You get four more matches to just go out there and work on my things, and get that reputation for myself, as a dominant wrestler. So later in the season, when I step on the mat, the other guys aren’t going to want to step on.”
Black Knight Invitational
When: Sunday, 10 a.m.
Where: Christl Arena, West Point, N.Y.
Radio: WRSC (93.3 FM) or WQWK (103.7 FM)
Online: Radio, Lionvision at GoPSUsports.com; Video, FloWrestling (paid subscription)
Twitter: @byncobler, @pennstatewrest
| Nittany Lions participating per FloWrestling |
| 125: Gary Steen (0-1), Karl Shindledecker (2-2) |
| 133: Timothy Levine (0-0) |
| 141: No. 11 Beau Bartlett (1-0), David Evans (4-1) |
| 149: No. 23 Shayne Van Ness (1-0), Connor Pierce (4-0) |
| 157: No. 31 Terrell Barraclough (1-0), Levi Haines (3-1) |
| 165: No. 17 Alex Facundo (1-0), Matt Lee (0-0) |
| 174: Jack Kelly (1-2) |
| 184: Donovon Ball (4-1) |
| 197: No. 1 Max Dean (1-0), Lucas Cochran (2-1) |
This story was originally published November 19, 2022 at 10:54 AM.
