WEST POINT, N.Y. — Considering the field at Sunday’s Black Knight Invitational, Penn State’s domination was pretty much expected.
The four-time defending NCAA champion Nittany Lions were the only ranked squad in a seven-team field that included host Army West Point, Buffalo, Chattanooga, Columbia, Gardner-Webb and Long Island at Christl Arena in West Point, New York.
Of the 20 Nittany Lions who competed, 19 finished in sixth place or higher. Two tournament-ending injuries prevented all 20 from placing and may have precluded a sweep of all 10 individual championships. Penn State crowned nine champions, six runners-up and one wrestler placed in third, fourth, fifth and sixth places.
Two results in particular were cause for stunning surprise and major concern, respectively.
True freshman Nate Desmond won the championship at 125 pounds, defeating top-ranked teammate Luke Lilledahl 5-3 in the final. And, at 141 pounds, Aaron Nagao was leading in the finals when he appeared to injure some part of his right arm and had to injury default.
Beyond those two results, the fact that Penn State placed 15 wrestlers in the finals shouldn’t shock anyone.
In addition to Desmond, the Nittany Lions’ other champions included Marcus Blaze (4-0 at 133 pounds), Shayne Van Ness (3-0 at 149), P.J. Duke (3-0 at 157), Mitchell Mesenbrink (4-0 at 165), Levi Haines (3-0 at 174), Rocco Welsh (2-0 at 184), Connor Mirasola (3-0 at 197) and Cole Mirasola (3-0 at 285).
The runners-up included Lilledahl (2-0 at 125), Nagao (3-1 at 141), Connor Pierce (3-0 at 149), Joe Sealey (3-0 at 157), William Henckel (3-0 at 174) and Asher Cunningham (2-0 at 184).
Some of those records may seem off but Penn State Athletic Communications pointed out that NCAA rules state that any result against a teammate does not count as a win or loss, including forfeits, medical forfeits, defaults, etc.
Desmond had himself quite a day. In the leadup to his upset of Lilledahl, he upset No. 16 Cooper Flynn from Chattanooga 7-0 and dominated Army’s 24th-ranked Charlie Farmer, a national qualifier, 17-4.
Blaze, who debuted in the rankings at No. 14 this week, cruised to his title with two technical falls, including a 21-6 domination of No. 17 Ethan Berginc of Army, and a major decision.
Top-ranked Van Ness posted two pins and a technical fall before doubling up Pierce 14-7 in the final.
At 157, Duke recorded three first-period falls before slipping past Sealey 2-1 in the final.
Mesenbrink, as usual, was untouchable. His four wins included three pins, including No. 18 Gunner Filopwicz of Army in the final, and a technical fall.
Haines, too, was dominant in his march to the 174-pound title. He rolled up three technical falls before controlling Henckel 4-0 in the title bout.
Welsh continues to impress at 184 in his first season at Penn State. He notched a tech fall and a major before majoring Cunningham in the final 13-5.
Connor Mirasola, subbing for Josh Barr, met little resistance in his run to the championship. He had a pin and two tech falls, including a 17-2 win over No. 25 William Frable of Army in the final.
At 285, Cole Mirasola posted two falls, a 3-1 win over teammate Lucas Cochran in the semifinals, and a 10-6 decision to claim the crown. This was Mirasola’s second win over Cochran in that duo’s battle for the starting spot.
Penn State will now enjoy nearly two weeks off before its next competition, a 7:30 p.m. Dec. 5 date with Drexel in Philadelphia.
