Freshmen shine as Penn State wrestling shuts out Indiana in Big Ten opener

Penn State’s wrestling program has been around for 115 years.

Cael Sanderson has been the coach for 15 of those years.

On Sunday, in what may have been the No. 1 Nittany Lions’ first dual to never surrender a takedown, they shut out No. 21 Indiana, 46-0, in their Big Ten opener. It was the 21st shutout during Sanderson’s tenure, and continued the team’s dual win streak to 48.

It was the first shutout Penn State had since beating Rider, 45-0, on Feb. 20, 2022, and the first Big Ten shutout since blanking Maryland, 46-0, on Jan. 7, 2022.

Seniors Aaron Brooks and Carter Starocci sat in amazement when told about the team holding a 35-0 takedown advantage.

“I was thinking actually about a close buddy of ours. He’s a local kid, he (wrestles) for State (College) High, but he just committed to Indiana,” Starocci said with a laugh. “I sent him a text today, ‘Hey dude, we’re going to crush these dudes.’ He was like, ‘Yeah, you are.’ I’m going to give him a hard time, but that was my first thought. It’s fun crushing teams and people.”

The seniors somewhat sat back seat to some freshmen in Sunday’s win.

Yes, Brooks and Starocci tallied identical 19-4 technical falls, but true freshmen Braeden Davis, Tyler Kasak and Josh Barr recorded bonus point victories too. As a team, Penn State had bonus points in nine of the 10 bouts.

Kasak had the biggest win of the day for any Nittany Lions wrestler.

He took on No. 14 Graham Rooks, who was one round away from being an All-American last year. Kasak locked up a double-overs arm lock and tripped Rooks to the mat, and straight to his back.

Rooks fought off his back to keep the match from ending so quickly. Late in the first period, Kasak chinned Rooks to his back for more nearfall points to give the Penn State wrestler an 11-0 lead.

The second period saw Kasak secure another takedown as the lone points. The match came to an end as Kasak got an escape with one second left for a 15-0 technical fall.

“Shayne (Van Ness) wrestled that kid in the quarterfinals of the nationals last year. (Rooks is) a pretty good wrestler. (Kasak) just went out there and kind of scored his points,” Sanderson said. “He kept scoring, and found a way at the end to get that 15th point, which is pretty cool. Kasak threw a couple of different things out there today, which was good to see.”

Davis, who has reached his max five competition dates, still has his redshirt available. However, after his performance on Sunday, that may be off come Friday when the Nittany Lions square off with Michigan.

He opened the dual by taking on Michael Spangler and recorded points right away on a takedown. In the second period, Davis opened with a reversal and added another takedown to hold an 8-2 lead.

The third period saw Spangler open with an escape, but Davis took him down and collected nearfall points in a 16-3 major decision.

“We’re going to have to have some difficult discussions this week before we wrestle again,” Sanderson said.

Between Davis’ and Kasak’s victories, Aaron Nagao racked up a 19-4 technical fall on Isaac Thornton at 133 pounds in 5:24. Beau Bartlett followed Nagao with an 8-1 win over No. 23 Dan Fongaro.

Penn State held a 22-0 lead at the half as Levi Haines followed Kasak with the Nittany Lions’ third technical fall, 17-0, in 6:12 over Zack Rotkvich. Mitchell Mesenbrink opened the second half with an injury default win against No. 23 Tyler Lillard in 2:07.

Barr was sandwiched between Brooks’ and Starocci’s wins as he filled in for Bernie Truax at 184 to make his Penn State dual debut.

The Michigan native hit a nice double leg takedown on Roman Rogotzke to open the bout. Barr added a pair of takedowns in the second period to hold a 9-3 advantage.

In the third period, Barr started from his feet and took Rogotzke down for a fourth takedown. He added a riding time point for a 13-4 major decision.

“I think he’ll be a multiple time national champ for sure,” Starocci said of Barr. “He’s one of those kids, you just got to kill him because he’s going to keep coming after you just nonstop. When I wrestle someone for the first time, just to see their breaking point. He just never stopped. I think having that (mentality), the skills are going to keep adding on every single practice.”

No. 1 Penn State 46, No. 21 Indiana 0

Sunday at University Park

125: Braeden Davis, PSU, major dec. Michael Spangler, 16-3

133: No. 4 Aaron Nagao, PSU, tech. fall Isaac Thornton, 19-4 (5:24)

141: No. 2 Beau Bartlett, PSU, dec. No. 23 Dan Fongaro, 8-1

149: Tyler Kasak, PSU, tech. fall No. 14 Graham Rooks, 15-0 (6:59)

157: No. 1 Levi Haines, PSU, tech. fall Zack Rotkvich, 17-0 (6:12)

165: No. 10 Mitchell Mesenbrink, PSU, injury def. No. 23 Tyler Lillard, 2:07

174: No. 1 Carter Starocci, PSU, tech. fall Robert Major, 19-4 (3:42)

184: Josh Barr, PSU, major dec. Roman Rogotzke, 13-4

197: No. 1 Aaron Brooks, PSU, tech. fall Gabe Sollars, 19-4 (3:56)

285: No. 1 Greg Kerkvliet, PSU, major dec. Nick Willham, 14-2

Takedowns: I 0, PSU 35

Records: Indiana (3-2, 0-2 Big Ten), Penn State (4-0, 1-0 Big Ten)

Next match: Penn State at Michigan, Friday, 6 p.m.