‘Every weight is an open competition,’ Sanderson says of new Penn State wrestling season
Sunday will mark the start of the 16th season for Penn State’s wrestling program with Cael Sanderson in charge.
During Sanderson’s tenure, the Nittany Lions have won 11 NCAA titles as a team, seen numerous wrestlers get crowned as individual champs, and set record after record.
“Wow, I didn’t realize it was that many, but it goes fast. Everything has been great,” he said during the season-opening media day on Monday. “I’m super grateful to be at Penn State with the people that we work with every day. The community has been awesome. I got nothing but good memories, and just looking forward to making more.”
In what has become the norm at Penn State, it continues to reload as opposed to rebuilding.
The Nittany Lions have a talented crop of freshmen joining the program while also having several returning national champions/runners-up.
Those returning include four-time NCAA champion Carter Starocci (184 pounds) and champs in Levi Haines (174) and Greg Kerkvliet (285). Mitchell Mesenbrink (165) and Beau Bartlett (141) will aim to get one step higher on the NCAA podium after runner-up finishes last year.
Also returning is Tyler Kasak (157), who made an impressive run through the consolation bracket — winning seven matches — to a third-place finish in last year’s NCAA championships at 149 pounds, along with fellow NCAA qualifiers in Braeden Davis (133) and Aaron Nagao (133).
Penn State will also welcome back Shayne Van Ness (149), who missed last year after suffering a knee injury, and Alex Facundo (157), who was on an Olympic redshirt and was the team’s 165-pound starter two years ago as a redshirt freshman.
Add in talented freshmen like Luke Lilledahl (125), Zack Ryder (184), Joe Sealy (157) and the Mirasola twins, Cole (285) and Connor (197), and that makes for quite the mix of talent for the Nittany Lions. There is also a local flair to the team with State College graduate Hayden Cunningham (141) and Penns Valley graduate Ty Watson (157) on board.
“At this point, every weight is an open competition. We’ll use the next month or so to kind of figure out what the plan is,” Sanderson said. “We have a strong team. We’re happy with where we’re at. As coaches, we still believe our best years are ahead of us, and the best years are still ahead for Penn State wrestling. We’re really excited about the group of student-athletes we have in the program right now.”
Sanderson did give a little bit of insight about some weights that are truly an open competition.
The most competitive weight class looks to be 157 pounds. Nagao suffered an offseason injury and is still rehabbing from that, but Davis has stood out after a successful freshman campaign at 125 pounds last year.
Lilledahl and Kurt McHenry were the ones that came to Sanderson’s mind to replace Davis.
At 197 pounds, it sounds like Josh Barr and Lucas Cochran are battling it out, as Sanderson mentioned that the Mirasolas are expected to redshirt.
New hires fitting in nicely
There were some offseason moves made by the Nittany Lions when they hired a pair of former wrestlers to their coaching and support staff.
Penn State’s first five-time All-American, Nick Lee, replaces former assistant coach Jimmy Kennedy, who moved on to Oklahoma State with David Taylor. Clay Steadman, who was on the team in Sanderson’s first season, became the team’s general manager.
“It’s been a really productive and positive offseason for us. The addition of Nick Lee has been a really outstanding hire for us. He’s done a really nice job,” Sanderson said. “We were able to hire Clay Steadman as our GM, is what we’re calling him. He’s done an awesome job with all the changes in college athletics. We’ve been blessed to be able to kind of really elevate our program in the last last six months.”
Added Beau Bartlett on Lee’s hiring: “It’s really awesome that he can still wrestle competitively. The coaches are really good partners. They have a lot of tricks. They have a lot of knowledge they can use that really takes advantage of positions. Nick is still familiar with competing, so the way he reacts in certain things is just a little bit different. It’s really cool having a younger coach that’s in between coaches with a lot of experience as someone that’s actively competing, he’s just that really good bridge between all the coaches and athletes.”
Don’t expect to see NWCA wrestlers in season opener
Even though Penn State’s season gets started on Sunday against Drexel, Bartlett, Van Ness, Kasak, Haines and Starocci hit the mat unofficially on Saturday in the NWCA All-Star Classic at 7 p.m. inside Rec Hall.
Van Ness and Starocci competed in last year’s event. Haines was supposed to wrestle in it too, but he and his opponent withdrew late.
“It looks like the majority of them will not be wrestling Sunday. I think there’s a couple of them that are considering it, but I think their focus right now is the all-star match,” Sanderson said. “If something changes, obviously they’re on weight, but they’re wrestling some of the best guys in the country, so we want them to focus on that match. We have a lot of really tough and able bodied kids that are ready to jump in there, if the opportunity presents itself.”
Kerkvliet’s health addressed
Rumors swirled about Kerkvliet’s health since he withdrew from the NWCA All-Star Classic dropping Penn State’s participation down to the previously mentioned wrestlers.
However, Sanderson set the record straight on Monday.
“I think people were concerned if he was injured or something. I think they (NWCA) just try to get those kids to sign up for that event a long time in advance. I think he just had some things come up,” he said. “He’s good to go. The plan is he’s wrestling Sunday.”
