The Penn State Wrestling team finished on top of the Big Ten for the eighth time, with the top-ranked Nittany Lions beating seventh-ranked Nebraska, 21-13, to clinch the regular season title.
According to Go PSU Sports, Penn State was without three of its starters, but the team persevered and secured the title. Penn State had an impressive 26-9 takedown advantage. Coach Cael Sanderson was happy with the win and spoke to the media after the match.
“This was one of those matches where on paper, you know, it was looking like it was going to be tight,” Sanderson said.
Senior Drew Hildebrandt, who is ranked sixth at 125, had a 4-0 win to start things off for Penn State over Jerimiah Reno. Senior Roman Bravo-Young is top ranked at the 133 class and posted a 23-8 technical fall at 7:00 to beat Dominick Serrano, putting Penn State up 8-0.
Senior Nick Lee, ranked No. 1 at the 141 class, had a 4-1 win over Chad Red, Jr.
Sophomore Beau Bartlett, who ranked 18th in the 149-pound class, lost 6-0 to No. 8 Ridge Lovett, making it 11-3. Sophomore Terrell Barraclough battled hard to the end against fifth-ranked Peyton Robb, but fell 3-2, giving Penn State an 11-6 advantage at halftime.
Junior Creighton Edsell filled in for Brady Berge in the 165-pound bout and took a 9-2 win to go up 14-6.
Carter Starocci was the top-ranked wrestler at 174, but was out with an injury. Mason Manville took over and lost 14-4. However, junior Aaron Brooks, top ranked in 184, beat No. 9 Taylor Venz with a 14-4 victory to go up 18-10.
Michael Beard filled in for Max Dean at 197, and while it was a big effort, the third-ranked Eric Schulz of Nebraska was a force and took the 6-4 win. Sophomore Greg Kerkvliet, fifth ranked at 285, took the 8-2 win over 12th-ranked Christian Lance in what was a full seven minutes, which culminated the meet and secured the conference regular season title.
The Penn State squad improved to 16-0 with the win and own the No. 1 spot in the InterMat Tournament Power Index. Nebraska fell to 5-4, including a 2-4 record in the conference.
