How current, future Penn State wrestlers fared in U20 World Team Trials, U23 Nationals
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Five Penn State wrestlers earned Team USA spots for U20 World Championships.
- Rocco Welsh claimed U23 Nationals title after dominant performances in his bracket.
- Former State College athletes Manville and Pavlechko each secured strong victories.
Penn State had eight current wrestlers and six future Nittany Lions compete this weekend in the U20 World Team Trials and the U23 Nationals in Geneva, Ohio.
Current Penn State wrestlers Connor Mirasola (92 kilograms) and brother Cole Mirasola (125 kg) each earned spots on Team USA’s U20 World Team. They will compete with Nittany Lions commits Marcus Blaze (61 kg), PJ Duke (70 kg) and William Henckel (79 kg), who all won their respective weight classes, in the World Championships Aug. 18-24 in Sofia, Bulgaria.
Those five wrestlers give Penn State half of Team USA’s lineup.
New Penn State wrestler Rocco Welsh (86 kg), who transferred from Ohio State, won his weight class at the U23 Nationals.
Others that competed with connections to Penn State were Joe Sealy (current, 74 kg, U20 World Team Trials), Connor Pierce (current, 70 kg, U23 Nationals), Ty Watson (current, 74 kg, U23 Nationals), Sam Beckett (current, 79 kg, U23 Nationals), Dawson Bundy (current, 125 kg, U23 Nationals), Nathan Desmond (commit, 57 kg, U20 World Team Trials), Sam Herring (commit, 61 kg, U20 World Team Trials) and Jayden James (commit, 74 kg, U20 World Team Trials).
Connor Mirasola was in the best-of-three finals by winning the U20 US Open Championship in April. He took on the challenge bracket winner, which was Dillon Bechtold, and swept the series by topping Bechtold, 10-0 and 4-1.
He needed just 1:56 to rack up his technical superiority win in the first match.
Cole Mirasola was also in the best-of-three finals, where he took on Dreshaun Ross. Mirasola swept the series winning the first match, 4-1, and the second match, 5-2.
Duke and Henckel, much like the Mirasolas, were in their best-of-three finals.
Duke swept Landon Robideau with scores of 7-0 and 9-4. Henckel had a pair of technical superiority victories over Michigan’s Brock Mantanona for a sweep. He outscored Mantanona, 20-0, in the matches.
Blaze and James each won their brackets to reach the best-of-three finals of their weights.
Blaze rolled to the finals, outscoring his opponents, 35-1. In the best-of-three finals, he swept Kyler Larkin with a 10-0 technical superiority, and a 4-1 victory.
James tallied 30 points on his way to the best-of-three finals, taking out Sealy in the semifinals with a 10-0 technical superiority in 1:40. James was then swept by Oklahoma State’s Ladarion Lockett to come up short of a Team USA spot.
Sealy went on to earn a third-place finish in the challenge bracket.
Welsh was the top seed of his weight, and showed why with an impressive run to the finals.
He outscored his opponents, 41-3, never giving up those three points until the semifinals. Welsh opened his tournament with a trio of technical superiority victories, his quickest coming in 1:17 in the round of 16 over Shane McConville.
Welsh faced off against Maryland’s Jaxon Smith, who worked his way through the bottom half of the weight’s bracket. The Penn State wrestler swept the Terrapins wrestler with wins of 4-2 and 6-3.
Former Centre County wrestlers compete
Penns Valley graduate Ty Watson wasn’t the only Centre County wrestler to compete this weekend.
State College graduates Pierson Manville (65 kg) and Nick Pavlechko (125 kg) also took part in the freestyle action. Manville competed in the U20 World Team Trials for Arizona State with Pavlechko representing Indiana at the U23 Nationals.
Manville reached the semifinals, where he suffered a 12-7 loss to Aden Valencia. The former Little Lions wrestler bounced back for a third-place finish with a pair of shutouts over Noah Nininger (5-0) and Daniel Zepeda (10-0).
Pavlechko made the round of 16 with a pair of technical superiority victories and a fall. He opened his tournament with a 10-0 win in 44 seconds over Tristan Kemp.
Pavlechko then pinned Brandon Johnson in 1:08, and made the round of 16 with a 10-0 shut out of Ayden Viox in 4:30. The former State College wrestler then suffered back-to-back, 10-0, losses to have his tournament come to an end.
