Penn State wrestling survives nail-biter from Iowa State, wins Collegiate Duals title
As much of a great first day Penn State had at the Journeymen Collegiate Duals on Monday, Tuesday was a little bit of a different story inside the New Orleans Convention Center Theater in Louisiana.
The Nittany Lions saw three starters receive their first loss of the season, but overcame the losses to top Iowa State, 22-12, to secure their second straight team title in the Collegiate Duals.
With the win, Penn State has now won 35 straight duals, and 101 of its last 103 duals.
Aaron Brooks, Shayne Van Ness and Alex Facundo were those wrestlers suffering their first loss of the year for the Nittany Lions. However, they each came against opponents ranked in the top-five of their weight classes.
“If I were those guys, I wouldn’t look at it as much as a confidence booster because you wrestle these guys, and these guys aren’t better than us,” Carter Starocci told the Penn State Sports Network. “Those guys (teammates) are wrestling guys that are a lot better than those guys (opponents) in the room. It is a little different out there on the mat, and actually experiencing that (a loss), I think it’s really good.”
Penn State started the dual in a hole as Gary Steen suffered a 4-0 loss to Corey Cabanban at 125 pounds.
Roman Bravo-Young got the Nittany Lions out of that hole. He got his offense rolling late with three third-period takedowns to defeat No. 21 Ramazan Attasauov, 10-2.
Beau Bartlett kept things rolling at 141 pounds for Penn State. He held a 3-0 lead after two periods, and then tacked on two more takedowns in the third period to secure an 8-3 win over Zach Redding.
Van Ness took on No. 5 Paniro Johnson, and led 1-0 after two periods. He fought off a deep shot attempt from Johnson midway through the second period.
Johnson opened the third period with an escape. Van Ness went for a takedown attempt, but Johnson countered for a takedown of his own. Van Ness escaped after that. The pair got into another situation, but Van Ness’ defense was too much again. Johnson hung on for a 3-2 win.
Penn State led 7-6 after the loss at 149. Levi Haines was in the lineup again at 157, and kept up his winning ways.
Haines had no problems racking up an 8-3 win over Jason Kraisser. He had two first-period takedowns, and used a nice body lock in the third period to wrap it up.
“A guy like him, when you throw him in the lineup, he’s only going to rise to the occasion. He’s not the kind of guy that’s going to back down because he’s wrestling this guy or whatever,” Starocci said of Haines. “He’s the kind of guy that looks forward to those matches. When you have that kind of killer instinct, you just walk guys down, and you only keep getting better and better. When you hop in a lineup like this, you never know, that could be your spot. How he showed up was really impressive and pretty cool to see.”
Facundo got to face off with No. 3 David Carr, who claimed a NCAA title in 2021. Carr snatched up an early takedown to show off his veteran prowess.
Carr built up a bunch of riding time, but Facundo did escape to trail, 2-1, after one period. Carr’s escape in the second period was the lone point. In the third period, Facundo escaped early, but was unable to get a bout tying takedown, and suffered a 4-2 loss.
Starocci got momentum back into the Nittany Lions’ corner by picking up an easy 5-1 win over No. 21 Julien Broderson, then came Brooks’ loss.
He took on No. 4 Marcus Coleman and held a 2-0 lead after one period thanks to a takedown with 41 seconds remaining. Brooks quickly extended his lead to 3-0 with an escape. He was in on a shot of Coleman, but got a little sloppy as Coleman countered and put Brooks on his back.
The defending champ fought off his back, but trailed 6-3 after two periods. In the third period, Coleman escaped to start, and Brooks picked up a double-leg takedown to get within 7-5. However, Brooks got a little out of position again, and gave up a reversal to Coleman.
Brooks reversed Coleman, and looked like he was in prime position to try and collect near-fall points, but was unable to turn Coleman. The No. 1 wrestler suffered a 9-7 loss.
“I wouldn’t even call that a loss for Aaron. Aaron beats that guy nine-billion times minus that one,” Starocci said. “When you’re a guy like Aaron Brooks, and you’re on top of the mountain, that kind of helps you refocus. He’s fine. I’m not too worried by Aaron. I know he’ll be at the top of the podium. It’s probably good for him.”
Max Dean stepped on the mat in a top-five tilt with No. 2 Yonger Bastida with the Nittany Lions’ clinging to a 13-12 lead.
Dean controlled Bastida from the start of bout in a 4-1 victory. Greg Kerkvliet received a forfeit to end the dual.
No. 1 Penn State 22, No. 6 Iowa State 12
Tuesday at New Orleans, La.
125: Corey Cabanban, ISU, dec. Gary Steen, 4-0
133: No. 1 Roman Bravo-Young, PSU, major dec. No. 21 Ramazan Attasauov, 10-2
141: No. 5 Beau Bartlett, PSU, dec. Zach Redding, 8-3
149: No. 5 Paniro Johnson, ISU, dec. No. 17 Shayne Van Ness, 3-2
157: Levi Haines, PSU, dec. Jason Kraisser, 8-3
165: No. 3 David Carr, ISU, dec. No. 14 Alex Facundo, 4-2
174: No. 1 Carter Starocci, PSU, dec. No. 21 Julien Broderson, 5-1
184: No. 4 Marcus Coleman, ISU, dec. No. 1 Aaron Brooks, 9-7
197: No. 5 Max Dean, PSU, dec. No. 2 Yonger Bastida, 4-1
285: No. 1 Greg Kerkvliet, PSU, won by forfeit
Extra matches
174: Konner Kraesig, PSU, pinned Joel Devine, 6:33
Takedowns: ISU 4, PSU 14
Records: Iowa State (7-2), Penn State (7-0)
Next match: Penn State at Wisconsin, Jan. 6, 9 p.m.
