Penn State wrestling notebook: Bartlett and Facundo excited about teammates’ performances last Friday
Penn State wrestling is coming off of a 44-3 victory over Lock Haven, and during media availability Tuesday there was plenty of praise to go around.
No. 16 Beau Bartlett (141) defeated his opponent Ty Linsenbigler by a 10-0 major during Friday’s dual. As lopsided of a win as his was, Bartlett looked in the direction of teammate Alex Facundo (165) as the the dominant performer of the night. Facundo had 12 takedowns en route to a 27-12 technical fall with 5:35 left to give Penn State a 23-3 lead.
Bartlett gushed over his teammate’s win and was quick to answer who impressed him the most on Friday.
“Facundo — hands down Alex Facundo,” he said. “I mean, they’re all impressive. ... I thought it was the second or third period like 12-6. He almost got the major, then we realized it was the first period. He got six takedowns in a period so that was awesome. He cut the guy with 14 seconds left to come down again.”
The junior joked with and encouraged Facundo throughout the week ahead of the dual.
“12, 12, 6 — that’s like all he was telling me because he said he thought that it was impressive to get six takedowns in three minutes,” Facundo said. “So it’s a ... pretty good feeling.”
As for who Facundo thought had the best day, he raved over a fellow redshirt freshman, No. 27 Shayne Van Ness. Van Ness pinned Lock Haven’s Connor Eck to win the match at the 6:32 mark.
Learning from teammates
Penn State has a number of national champions back on the mat in Roman Bravo-Young (133), Carter Starocci (174), Aaron Brooks (184) and Max Dean (197). The quartet posted a clean sweep on Friday — Bravo-Young had 23-8 technical fall on Lock Haven’s Gabe Strickland, Starocci beat Tyler Stoltzfus 19-5, Brooks had 10 takedowns in a 24-9 win over Colin Fegley and Dean had a pin and a fall to win his match with Brad Morrison.
Bartlett discussed the importance of having teammates that he can analyze on the mat, watching their every move in the wrestling room during practice and gaining experience training with them. He pointed to Dean’s aggressiveness in grabbing fingers and heads, Brooks’ ability to grab ankles along with keeping his opponent’s head down and Starocci’s quickness.
“All of those guys are national champs guys with their faces on the wall,” Bartlett said. “They’re doing a lot of things really well and (it’s) just trying to find out what they’re doing that I can apply to myself.”
Black Knight Open breeds competition
Penn State head coach Cael Sanderson craves competition. He wants to see his wrestlers compete against the top athletes in the country to prepare themselves for a grueling battle for Big Ten supremacy. This weekend will give a number of his younger wrestlers an opportunity to take on the elite of their sport in West Point at the Black Knight Open.
“I think it’s a great way to compete and competition is the best preparation and it means that’s the best training, if you have the right attitude and mindset. So, I look at these open tournaments and even domains as just preparation for bigger things. They just want to get into that mindset in the routine to be your best all the time. Whether there’s 10,000 people watching or three, it’s just to be your best. And if you do that, you’re going to be your best in the big moments also.”
