These are the wrestlers with ties to Penn State competing for spot in Olympic Trials
Editor’s note: The list of wrestlers competing isn’t official until weigh ins. The wrestlers named in this story were confirmed as of Thursday evening.
With the Olympic Team Trials set to be held at the Bryce Jordan Center in April, it’s no surprise that Penn State is trying to get as many of their current and former wrestlers, which are part of the Nittany Lion Wrestling Club, to that event.
In fact, the Nittany Lions’ wrestling schedule was set up to have no competition after the Hofstra dual last weekend for this reason.
Eleven current Penn State wrestlers, along with nine others that were either former or soon-to-be Nittany Lions, will compete in the freestyle wrestling portion of the US Senior Nationals in Fort Worth, Texas, starting on Saturday.
Those 20 wrestlers will look to finish in the top five of their weight class on Sunday to secure their spot in April.
Here’s a look at the competing wrestlers:
Current
The 11 Penn State wrestler competing this weekend are Cael Nasdeo (57 kg), Gary Steen (57), Beau Bartlett (65), Tyler Kasak (65), Timothy Levine (65), Terrell Barraclough (74), Alex Facundo (74), Bernie Truax (86), Donovon Ball (86), Josh Barr (86) and Greg Kerkvliet (125).
Half of those wrestlers earned a seed when they were released Thursday.
Kerkvliet received the highest seed as No. 2 behind Dom Bradley. Bartlett was the only other wrestler to pick up a top 5 seed at No. 5.
The other seeded wrestlers are Nasdeo (No. 9), Kasak (No. 11) and Facundo (No. 6).
Former
There are five former Nittany Lions looking to compete inside the Bryce Jordan Center again.
Nico Megaludis (57 kg), Nick Suriano (57), Mark Hall (86), Max Dean (86) and Morgan McIntosh (86) are those wrestlers.
When it comes to seeding, Hall, Dean and McIntosh make up a bulk of the top five. Hall is the top seed with McIntosh and Dean at No. 3 and No. 4, respectively. Former Oklahoma State great Alex Dieringer is No. 2.
Megaludis is No. 2 at his weight, with former Iowa great Spencer Lee No. 1. Ironically, those two wrestled at the same high school in Franklin Regional.
Suriano is unseeded, but everyone knows what he is capable of doing when he steps on a wrestling mat.
Future
There are four soon-to-be Penn State wrestlers hitting the mat as high schoolers — Luke Lilledahl (57 kg), Joe Sealey (74), Connor Mirasola (86) and Cole Mirasola (97). The astounding part about this quintet? They’re all seeded.
Lilledahl is the highest at No. 3. Sealey and Connor Mirasola are No. 5 at their weights.
Connor Mirasola’s seed gives the Nittany Lions four of the top five spots at 86 kilograms, and Cole Mirasola is No. 9.
Nittany Lion Wrestling Club
There are a pair of wrestlers in Josh Rodriguez (57 kg) and Aarif Asif (86) representing the club.
Rodriguez was the lone one of the pair to earn a seed at No. 5.
