Penn State wrestlers finish a distant 2nd in Big Ten championships

Second place is all in how you look at it, and you can be sure that Penn State wrestling coach Cael Sanderson will look and look again at the Nittany Lions’ finish at the Big Ten Wrestling Champions on Sunday.

Iowa won its second straight conference title on Sunday, distancing itself from Penn State by a 35.5-point margin (159.5-124), crowning four champions to Penn State’s two and establishing itself as a solid favorite to halt the Nittany Lions’ four-year winning streak (2016-19) at the NCAA Championships March 18-20 in St. Louis. The Hawkeyes’ point total was its highest since 1995.

From Spencer Lee (Franklin Regional) at 125 to Gable Steveson at heavyweight and everyone in between, the collegiate talent on hand at Bryce Jordan Center over the weekend was nearly beyond description. It’s unfortunate that only a couple of hundred people got to see it in person.

The Nittany Lions’ finish looked like this: two champions in Roman Bravo-Young (133) and Aaron Brooks (184); two runners-up (Nick Lee/141 and Carter Starocci/174); one fourth-placer (Greg Kerkvliet/285); three sixth-place finishers (Robbie Howard/125, Brady Berge/157, Michael Beard/197); one in eighth place (Joe Lee/167); and one who did not place (Beau Bartlett/149).

In terms of actual competition, the tournament lasted about 14 hours; Sanderson now has 10 full days to prepare his youthful squad for St. Louis to win the close bouts and score the clutch points as has been the norm for the past decade.

“I guess we have some time to think about it and go back in and evaluate some of our matches, but we had some guys wrestle well, we had some guys wrestle not so well,” Sanderson said Sunday.

“To me, I want to see great effort and I’m not sure we saw great effort all the time; that’s probably the hardest thing as a coach. But we have some time to regroup and figure some things out and be better by the nationals.”

Bravo-Young had his game plan and stuck to it. If an opening was there, he took it; if he had to engage in a flurry, he used that quickness to get out of any minor trouble. DeSanto wasn’t likely to score a takedown on Sunday no matter how long the two tangled.

A double-leg takedown in the opening period and a slick throw-by for two in the second netted Bravo-Young his first B1G title.

He now leads the series with DeSanto 3-2, and it appears he has taken the upper hand in that series.

“He wrestled well; it was a tough opponent and they’ve wrestled five times now and it’s very possible they could meet in the semifinals at the nationals,” Sanderson said about Bravo-Young and DeSanto.

Brooks, as stated many times before, has a way of looking better each time he’s on the mat. Nebraska’s Taylor Venz defeated Brooks in last year’s dual meet, but Brook pinned him in the conference semifinals. This year, they met in the finals and despite an opening takedown for Venz, Brooks was a force on his feet with three takedowns. Toss in a reversal, escape and time point and Brooks hit double figures in a 10-6 victory.

Now that Virginia Tech’s Hunter Bolen has a loss, Brooks should earn the top seed at the upcoming NCAAs.

Goin' ?-to-?!

Aaron Brooks is now a 2x Big Ten Champ. ?? @pennstateWREST @ncaawrestling pic.twitter.com/0pbLx22AJC

— Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork) March 7, 2021

Brooks injured an ankle on Saturday and said he felt good on Sunday, calling it a great mental test for him to handle adversity. Sanderson said the ankle situation on Saturday was tricky.

“That was a tricky moment there when he was on the moment because we were trying to figure out how do we get this kid to nationals,” Sanderson said. “He finished the match and not just decided to not just finish the match but win the match. He was a little banged up. Aaron did a great job. He provided us consistency for the program.”

It was another close bout for Nick Lee after an 8-6 overtime thriller in the semifinals against Sebastian Rivera on Saturday. On Sunday, it was Iowa’s Jaydin Eierman, the Missouri transfer who used his strength — his top game — to his advantage. Eierman yielded a quick throw-by takedown to Lee but escaped and countered a Lee single-leg shot to come around for a takedown and proceed to keep Lee basically flattened out with a leg ride for 1:59 in the opening period.

Lee worked a nice single-leg on Eierman in the final period but had to let him go. He did earn a stalling call but Eierman protected his legs for the final 55 seconds to pick up his second collegiate win over Lee. The two likely will meet again in St. Louis.

Penn State’s Starocci was on a nine-bout win streak heading into the Big Ten finals, but Iowa senior Michael Kemerer from Franklin Regional was too much for the redshirt freshman to handle. No matter what Starocci tried, and he did not stop shooting takedowns, Kemerer had an answer.

Kemerer struck first with a textbook double-leg in the first period and reached through to trap Starocci’s ankle on Starocci’s single-leg shot, rolled through on the counter and got not only a takedown but a nearfall as well. That was more than enough for Kemerer’s impressive 7-2 victory. The two wrestlers had eight PIAA medals between them, including three golds.

Overall, Penn State was young during this abbreviated season, but youth has won before at Penn State and Sanderson is determined to make sure it happens again.

“You should be trying to beat your opponents worse every time; it’s hard to buy into that system,” Sanderson said. “It’s just persistence and wrestling in your tie-ups and wrestling your style. I think we’ve seen that over the years in our program.

“That’s not necessarily the attitude right now but that’s what we have to get back to and get on with is trying not just to win, but to win by more points every time you wrestle that same opponent.”

Penn State Placewinners: Howard placed sixth at 125 after a 4-2 loss to Michael DeAugustino of Northwestern. … Berge medically forfeited to Purdue’s Kendall Coleman at 157 and placed sixth; oddly, he was not on the awards stand for the weight-class presentations. … Joe Lee went 2-3 in the tournament and placed eighth at 165, losing 10-6 to David Farrante of Northwestern; Lee does qualify for nationals.

Beard at 197 did all the work for the opening three minutes and got no points out of it, even after a brief concussion protocol when Northwestern’s Lucas Davison struck his head on the mat and was examined by a doctor. But Davison stormed back with a pair of third-period takedowns to subdue Beard 6-4, forcing Beard to sixth place.

And in the final consolation round, an anticipated bout between Penn State’s Greg Kerkvliet and Iowa’s Tony Cassioppi, things went Cassioppi’s way in a hurry and they stayed that way throughout. Kerkvliet’s straight-on shots were easy to counter and between counters and shots of his own, along with a powerful, dominating ride that led to two stalling points, Cassioppi majored Kerkvliet 9-0 in the third-place bout.

Finals notes: Spencer Lee of Iowa yielded the opening takedown to Devon Schroder of Purdue and then scored 21 points for a tech fall in 4:30 at 125 pounds. … Ohio State’s Sammy Sasso controlled surprise finalist Ridge Lovett of Nebraska 5-2 for the 149-pound title. … Northwestern’s top-seeded Ryan Deakin won the 157-pound crown, toppling Iowa’s Kaleb Young of Punxsutawney 6-0 with 4:09 in riding time. Young is coach Tom Brands’ son-in-law.

…Iowa’s Alex Marinelli won his third Big Ten title at 165, trimming Ohio State’s Ethan Young 2-0. … Michigan’s Myles Amine downed Nebraska’s Eric Schultz 7-3 at 197 and Minnesota stud Gable Steveson majored Michigan’s Mason Parris 12-4 at 285 in yet another incredible performance for the Gopher heavyweight.