Penn State wrestling notebook: Who’s the guy at 125?, other lineup changes, rankings & more

For years now, the 125-pound starting spot in Penn State’s wrestling lineup has been a rather large question mark.

Who will be the starter? Will that guy make it to — and score points at — the NCAA Championships? The list of questions has gone on and on.

But so far this season, it appears the questions could be answered.

The Nittany Lions have a pair in Robert Howard and Braeden Davis that are vying for that starting role. Last season’s starter, Gary Steen, is still in the mix as well.

“We have several guys that are just in their training and getting ready to go. (We have) a lot of options. Obviously, (Braeden) Davis has done really well,” Penn State coach Cael Sanderson said on Tuesday. “He’s won all of his matches so far. He just continues to improve. (Robert) Howard has shown some really good things. He just needs some matches. We’re not quite sure how that’s gonna play out yet. We got all season to figure it out, but both guys have a lot of potential.”

All three of those wrestlers have been in both tournaments the Nittany Lions have competed in this season.

Davis has the best record at 7-0, with Howard at 3-4. Steen is 6-2 on the young season.

In his seven wins, the true freshman has recorded five bonus-point victories — three technical falls and two major decisions. Davis’ wins leads the team with Beau Bartlett, Mitchell Mesenbrink and Josh Barr.

Howard is still trying to get over being off the mat for the past two years due to injuries.

During his true freshman year, the redshirt sophomore went 7-6. He made the NCAA Championships with a sixth-place finish in the Big Ten Championships, but did not place after going 2-2.

His NCAA Championships losses were to eventual All-Americans in Minnesota’s Patrick McKee and Utah Valley’s Taylor LaMont. He had some nice victories that season over the likes of Ohio State’s Malik Heinselman (NCAAs) and Michigan’s Dylan Ragusin (Big Tens).

“We’re not down on Howard right now. He just hasn’t wrestled in two years, and gets kind of thrown in there. As long as he’s battling, he’ll keep improving,” Sanderson said. “He’s a gamer. He has a history of being a gamer. He’s a big moment guy. We’ve been very happy with Davis and (his) effort. He’s a tough kid and wrestles hard.”

While Sanderson said that it’s been tough trying to evaluate the weight class with Howard’s situation, he knew what his staff was in for with the Bergen Catholic graduate’s return to the mat.

“As coaches we’re in here every day, all year long for multiple years with kids. You want to give them every possible chance, that’s what we got to do,” Sanderson said. “We knew that he would need matches coming into the season. Every situation is unique. You just try to gauge where they’re at mentally. Sometimes, it’s more important than where they are physically, and just give them opportunities, and see what they do with them.”

More lineup changes on the horizon

The Nittany Lions’ schedule is rather odd compared to the past, and a big reason for that is because this is a qualifying year for the 2024 Olympics in Paris.

Penn State’s first dual will be on Sunday against Lehigh. It will square off again on Dec. 10 against Hofstra, which will be the last action for this year.

Sanderson and his staff are aiming to try and get as many wrestlers ready as possible for the USA Wrestling Senior Nationals, which will be Dec. 15-17 in Fort Worth, TX. That will be a big qualifying event for the Olympic Team Trials, set to be held April 19-20 at the Bryce Jordan Center.

“It (Senior Nationals) might (affect the lineup), not so much this weekend, but definitely for Hofstra. There’s a chance that could be the case, but we don’t have a lot of matches,” Sanderson said. “I think our kids are a little more eager to get out there and compete this year. There’s definitely a possibility that our lineup would shift against Hofstra.”

Nittany Lions in the ranks

As a team, Penn State still holds the top spot in the latest NWCA Coaches Poll, which was released on Tuesday.

There are two other Big Ten teams in Iowa (4th) and Ohio State (5th) in the top 5. N.C. State (2nd) and Missouri (3rd) round out the top 5.

The Big Ten only has eight in the top 25, which is unusual for a conference that usually has half of the top 25 covered.

Individually, the Nittany Lions have a ranked wrestler in every weight except for 125 pounds in the Intermat rankings released on Tuesday.

Levi Haines (157 pounds), Carter Starocci (174), Aaron Brooks (197) and Greg Kerkvliet (285) are the top wrestlers in their weights. Bartlett (141), Shayne Van Ness (149) and Bernie Truax (184) are second in their weights.

Aaron Nagao (133) is the only other Penn State wrestler in the top 3 of their weight class. Mitchell Mesenbrink (165) is No. 16.

NWCA Coaches Poll

Released Tuesday, Nov. 28

Others receiving votes: Indiana 14, Penn 14, Campbell 13, Northwestern 11, Wisconsin 11, Illinois 10, Cal Poly 9, Northern Colorado 6, Purdue 5

NWCA All-Star Classic a hit, but ...

Rec Hall played host to the NWCA All-Star Classic on Nov. 21.

It was a showcase of some the country’s top men’s and women’s wrestlers. There were a total of 14 matches that had five Nittany Lions take part — Shayne Van Ness, Carter Starocci, Bernie Truax, Aaron Brooks and Greg Kerkvliet.

The No. 1 wrestler at 125 pounds in Lock Haven’s Anthony Noto fell to Purdue’s Matt Ramos, who was No. 3 and well known from stopping Iowa’s Spencer Lee from becoming a four-time NCAA champion. There were a couple of other upsets too in Lehigh’s Connor Mcgonagle, who isn’t even the starter now, top Virginia Tech’s Sam Latona at 133 pounds. Oklahoma State’s Izzak Olejnik topped Wisconsin’s Dean Hamiti at 165 pounds.

The event began a little after 7 p.m., but didn’t finish until almost 10:30 p.m.

“I thought the event was great. I mean it was long, which isn’t probably ideal for fans, but it was a lot of great wrestling,” Sanderson said. “Our guys had very top quality matches to kind of gauge where we’re at and what we can do. There’s nothing like great competition to kind of show you what we can do better. I think it was good up and down the board.”