Three Penn State wrestlers advanced to the finals and the Nittany Lions maintained their lead atop the team standing while tying the record for most All-Americans in a single season on Friday night at the NCAA Championships in Philadelphia’s Wells Fargo Center.
Mitchell Mesenbrink, Carter Starocci and Josh Barr will each compete for national titles on Saturday night after a semifinal round that saw mixed results for Penn State.
Beau Bartlett, Shayne Van Ness, Levi Haines and Greg Kerkvliet lost their semifinal bouts and move to the consolation semifinals with a chance to finish as high as third. They’ll join Luke Lilledahl, Braeden Davis and Tyler Kasak who went a combined 6-0 during wrestleback action on Friday night and secured All-America status.
Penn State becomes just the second team ever to have 10 All-Americans at a single championship, joining the 2001 Minnesota squad.
After Nebraska briefly crept within three points, the Nittany Lions maintained their lead in the team standings as they move closer to the program’s 12th title in 14 seasons. Penn State leads with 135.5 points, followed by the Cornhuskers with 101.5 and Oklahoma State with 91.5.
Championship Bracket
141 pounds
The first of seven Penn State wrestlers to compete in the semifinals, No. 2 Beau Bartlett took on No. 3 Jesse Mendez of Ohio State. The wrestlers took the entire first period to feel each other out as no points were scored in the opening three minutes. Bartlett escaped from bottom position to start the second, putting himself in front 1-0 just seconds into the second period. No other points were scored in the bout until Mendez escaped from bottom to start the third, tying up the bout at 1-1 with a majority of the final period remaining. Mendez got in on a single leg within the final 30 seconds of the period, resulting in no points after a strong scramble from Bartlett and an official review.
The bout then entered sudden victory where once again, no points were scored in the two minutes, pushing the bout into the first of two tiebreakers. Mendez started the first tiebreaker in bottom position, taking nearly the whole period to escape before earning one point. In his turn in bottom position, Bartlett was unable to escape, dropping the match 2-1 in TB 2.
Bartlett will continue to compete in the consolation bracket, wrestling to finish as high as third place. He’ll meet No. 4 Josh Koderhandt of Navy in the consolation semifinals.
149 pounds
No. 3 Shayne Van Ness fell behind early in his semifinal against No. 2 Ridge Lovett of Nebraska who scored an early takedown then turned the Nittany Lion for a three-point near fall, and again for four to go ahead 10-0 after one. Van Ness found his offense in the second, getting two takedowns to narrow the lead to 13-6 entering the final period of action. A final offensive push from Van Ness was not enough to overcome the Cornhusker’s lead, dropping his semifinal bout via a 14-6 major decision.
Van Ness will wrestle again Saturday in the consolation bracket, facing No. 12 Ethan Stiles of Oregon State to battle for a spot in the third-place match.
165 pounds
Looking to be the first Nittany Lion into the finals, No. 1 Mitchell Mesenbrink battled against No. 12 Christopher Minto of Nebraska. Mesenbrink earned a hard-fought takedown to go up 3-0 early into the first. A stall call against Minto added to Mesenbrink’s score, now 4-0 heading into the second. An escape to start the period and takedown from the waterfall position increased the Nittany Lion’s lead to 8-0 with over 180 seconds of riding time entering the final two minutes. Another takedown with some stall calls gave Mesenbrink the 13-2 major decision victory after riding time.
Mesenbrink will compete for the title on Saturday night against No. 3 Mikey Caliendo of Iowa in a rematch of the Big Ten final won by the Nittany Lion
174 pounds
No. 2 Levi Haines took to the mat against No. 3 Dean Hamiti of Oklahoma State and gave up a fast early takedown, quickly escaping to remain behind 3-1 after the first period. Haines escaped from bottom position to cut the Cowboy’s lead to 3-2 early in the second. The score remained the same until Hamiti escaped to start the third, putting his lead back at two points. Strong takedown defense from Hamiti prevented Haines from scoring any more points in the third, dropping the 4-2 decision.
Haines will face No. 5 Simon Ruiz of Cornell in the consolation semifinals.
184 pounds.
On his quest for a fifth national title, No. 1 Starocci took on No. 4 Dustin Plott of Oklahoma State in the semifinals. Starocci highlighted the first period with two hard-fought. takedowns, building a 6-2 lead heading into the second period. After being held in bottom position for nearly 60 seconds, Starocci secured a reversal over Plott to extend his lead to 8-2 entering the final two minutes. An escape from Plott would grab one point, however not affecting the result of the match as Starocci took the 9-3 decision victory after riding time.
Starocci will wrestle for an unprecedented fifth national title tomorrow against returning national champion and No. 2 seed Parker Keckeisen of Northern Iowa.
197 pounds
Looking to avenge his Big Ten semifinal loss, No. 4 Josh Barr squared off against No. 1 Jacob Cardenas of Michigan. After a quick shot from Cardenas, the Nittany Lion redshirt freshman took advantage of a bad position, scoring the first takedown of the bout and taking a 3-1 lead with nearly 90 seconds of riding time into the second period. After starting the second in bottom position, Barr escaped within the first 20 seconds to increase his lead to 4-1 headed into the final period after no other points were scored. Despite receiving a stalling call late into the third, Barr hung on for the 5-3 decision victory to head to the finals.
Barr will take on No. 2 Stephen Buchanan of Iowa for the national title. Buchanan won their only previous meeting with a close 4-1 decision in January.
285 pounds
Closing out day two for the Nittany Lions was No. 3 Greg Kerkvliet taking on No. 2 Wyatt Hendrickson of Oklahoma State. Kerkvliet, appearing to be hobbled by a leg injury, fell to a late takedown to go down 3-1 entering the second period after a last-second escape. A second escape from bottom position added to Kerkvliet’s score, now down 3-2 entering the final two minutes. An escape and second takedown from Hendrickson kept the Cowboy on top to finish the bout with an 8-2 decision over Kerkvliet.
Kerkvliet now moves to the consolation semifinals against No. 9 Cohlton Schultz of Arizona State.
Consolation Bracket
125 pounds
After dropping his quarterfinal bout in the tiebreaker, No. 1 Luke Lilledahl wrestled against No. 11 Nicholar Rivera of Wisconsin in round four of the consolation bracket, needing just one win to become an All-American in his true freshman season.
Lilledahl held on tight to a single leg, eventually tripping a hopping Rivera to secure the bout’s first takedown, putting him in front 3-2 at the end of the first period, due to an escape and a restart penalty. After starting the second in top position, Lilledahl rode out Rivera for the entire two minutes to keep his lead at 3-2 with nearly 150 seconds of riding time. After the third period started in neutral, a poor shot from the Badger allowed Lilledahl to slide behind the wrestler for his second takedown of the bout, extending his lead to 7-2. An eventual escape from Rivera was not enough to surmount the deficit as Lilledahl took the 8-3 decision victory after riding time.
The win gave Lilledahl All-America status, marking the eighth Penn Stater to do so this weekend, and kept him alive for third place.
In his second consolation bout of the night, Lilledahl took on No. 10 Stevo Paulin of Northern Colorado. No points were scored in the first period with Lilledahl beginning the second in bottom position. A reversal from Lilledahl to start the second opened up the scoring for the Nittany Lion as he led 2-0 entering the final period. The Nittany Lion would take the 3-0 decision victory after riding to put him into the consolation semifinals on Saturday, when he’ll meet No. 3 seed Eddie Ventresca of Virginia Tech.
133 pounds
Immediately following Lilledahl, No. 8 Braeden Davis took on No. 11 Evan Frost of Iowa State. Davis fought hard to earn the bout’s first takedown, giving him a 3-1 lead heading into the second with some blood time for the Nittany Lion scattered throughout. Davis escaped from bottom position to begin the second period, extending his lead to 4-1. Another small stint of blood time to treat what appeared to be a cut in the mouth/nose area of Davis was the only other highlight of the second period as the score remained 4-1.
After the third period started in neutral, Frost was in deep on a takedown attempt of the edge of the mat. However, after being defended nicely by Davis and confirmed via official review, no points were awarded. Davis avoided Frost for the remainder of the bout, hanging on for the 4-2 decision victory after a stalling call against the Nittany Lion.
Davis won All-American honors and kept his third-place hopes alive.
In his second consolation bout, Davis took on No. 17 Jacob Van Dee of Nebraska. After a scoreless first period, Van Dee escaped out of bottom position to start the second, taking a 1-0 lead over Davis into the third. Davis quickly escaped from bottom position to lock up the score at 1-1 with almost the entire third period remaining. The Nittany Lion sophomore then scored the bout’s first takedown to take his first lead of the bout at 4-1 with just under 90 seconds remaining. An eventual escape from Van Dee would not be enough and Davis took the 4-2 decision victory, moving into the consolation semifinals against No. 14 Zan Fugitt of Wisconsin on Saturday morning.
157 pounds
In the final fourth-round consolation bout for the Nittany Lions, No. 1 Tyler Kasak battled against No. 14 seed and Bellefonte grad Jude Swisher of Penn. A lone takedown from Kasak in the first put him in front 3-1 with over 60 seconds of riding time heading into the second. Swisher escaped to start the second period and clawed into Kasak’s lead, sitting at 3-2 entering the final period. Kasak escaped to start the third, extending his lead back to two points and holding on for a 4-3 decision victory after a stalling call.
The sophomore became the Penn State’s 10th All-American on the weekend and moved further into the consolation bracket.
In Kasak’s second consolation bout, he took on No. 12 Caleb Fish of Oklahoma State. After some good offense from Fish, Kasak found himself down 4-3 after one. However, the second period was all Kasak, escaping to start and hitting a massive hip-toss on Fish, finishing the Cowboy with a fall at 4:19.
Kasak will meet No. 2 Meyer Shapiro of Cornell in a highly anticipated consolation semifinal
What’s Next?
The NCAA Championships resumes at 11 a.m. Saturday with the consolation semifinals followed by the medal round airing on ESPNU and ESPN+.
THe championship finals start at 7 p.m. on ESPN.
