‘Once-in-a-lifetime feeling.’ Penn State wrestling takes in Bryce Jordan Center crowd, energy
There was a crisp, cool air flowing in Bryce Jordan Center Friday night as the No. 1 Nittany Lions welcomed No. 3 Michigan.
Penn State’s wrestling team was also cold, cunning and electric in the matchup. The fans — twice as many as can pack into the Nittany Lions’ usual Rec Hall venue — provided thunderous applause throughout the night. Penn State won 30-8 against their rival in front of 15,975 fans in attendance, the sixth largest crowd in NCAA wrestling history.
Levi Haines (157) has waited for the day that he’d be able to wrestle in the BJC. The true freshman No. 17 wrestler in the country went into battle with Michigan’s No. 10 Will Lewan. The two drew to a 0-0 tie at the end of the first period and Haines took a slight advantage of 1-0 at the end of the second. With Lewan knotting the match up at 1-1, the two went into a sudden victory period.
The crowd rose to watch the two compete, and Haines’ takedown with 41 seconds left sent Penn State fans into a frenzy. As a Biglerville Area High School attendee, the moment was special for Haines.
“It’s a really neat experience being from the area,” Haines said. “I’ve actually only ever been to one Bryce Jordan Center match before — one before this. It was definitely a unique experience. Being a part of it is just unbelievable and cool to see some familiar faces in the stands. It’s also a neat aspect.”
Penn State’s No. 16 Alex Facundo (165) took on No. 5 Cameron Amine, going up 2-1 after the first period. Facundo and Amine continued to lock up with one another as gasps and yells of excitement emanated from the crowd.
The redshirt freshman Facundo initially forced Amine off of the mat with two seconds left, but a review wiped away the Nittany Lion’s soon-to-be victory. Facundo immediately reset with Amine starting on top and leading 3-2 with 20 seconds left and pulled away for an escape and sending the match into an extra period, bringing Nittany Lions faithful in the BJC to their feet.
Knotted at 4-4, silence overcame the crowd. A number of close calls and an escape put Facundo up at 5-4 in the tiebreaker with 10 seconds remaining. While the match would go into riding time, Facundo successfully knocked off the top-5 Michigan wrestler, sending the crowd into a joy-induced mania again.
It was an experience that Facundo will never forget.
“First of all, it was pretty fun to wrestle there,” Facundo said. “The crowd was electric and it was a once-in-a-lifetime feeling. On my confidence, I just had to keep my head straight. I just kind of ignored everything else that everyone was saying. A couple of things got to me. But over time, I just had to take time to talk to myself instead of listening to myself and just keep on growing and keep on moving forward. That’s what I did in the wrestling room — I just worked on working on my matches and not giving anyone respect.”
As a team that is 9-0 and is coming off of a team national championship, head coach Cael Sanderson didn’t look to shake up their routine too much. For some of his wrestlers, it was the first time they participated in matches in an arena the size of the BJC.
The enormity of the event didn’t shake his team, nor did it throw him off of the plan that he had heading into the dual with one of their biggest rivals. Still, he loved to see the excitement building throughout the arena.
“We don’t really do anything differently, it’s just a matter of getting them over here and across campus for weigh-in,” Sanderson said. “That’s probably the biggest challenge, but it’s just a good change of scenery and atmosphere. I think it was fun on Friday night to have a sold out (Bryce) Jordan Center. It was a lot of excitement. It was great all of the way around. It was great for us, hopefully it was great for the fans and for everyone involved. I think it was a great success.”
Penn State’s next dual is set for Sunday at 1 p.m. in Rec Hall against Michigan State. The Nittany Lions will return to the BJC on Friday for a dual against Iowa.
