Cael Sanderson Preps Penn State for His Favorite Event: the NCAA Wrestling Championships

"I don't think there's a more fun wrestling tournament in the world," Sanderson says as the Nittany Lions seek to win their fourth straight title at the NCAA Wrestling Championships.

Penn State wrestling coach Cael Sanderson celebrates with Carter Starocci after the Nittany Lions won the team title at the 2024 NCAA Wrestling Championships. / Reese Strickland-Imagn Images

Penn State wrestling coach Cael Sanderson met the media Monday in State College, where he updated Josh Barr's injury status and addressed his team's perspective entering this week's NCAA Wrestling Championships. The Nittany Lions return to Philadelphia, where Sanderson won the first of his 11 NCAA team titles at Penn State. Here's a recap of Sanderson's highlights.

Josh Barr is "ready to scrap"

Sanderson built on the positive news he relayed about Josh Barr last week on the Penn State Coaches Show. The redshirt freshman, seeded fourth at 197 pounds, has beeen working with team trainer Daniel Monthley since sustaining a leg injury at the Big Ten Championships. Monthley helped prepare Carter Starocci for last year's NCAA Championships following his regular-season injury.

"Josh has been working really hard," Sanderson told reporters in State College. " We've got Dan, and I can't imagine there's a better trainer in the world. He's put in a lot of time and effort in Josh. Josh is going to be ready to scrap on Thursday. He's looking good."

RELATED: The NCAA Championships record that Carter Starocci can't break this week

Penn State is peaking again for nationals

This is a familiar refrain for the Nittany Lions, who are trying to win their 12th NCAA team title since 2011. Sanderson and his staff have built their program on being prepared for March, which Penn State is doing again.

"The energy and the attitude of the kids has been as great as it ever has been in our program," Sanderson said. "Obviously we have a lot of consistency, and there really haven’t been many, if any, exceptions where our guys haven’t been at their best in those big moments. But it comes down to each individual kid and deciding or choosing how they’re going to go into competition, how they’re going to use those seven minutes they have with each match. But I think that they’re prepared, and we’re excited for this."

Beau Bartlett has the right perspective

Senior Beau Bartlett, the No. 2 seed at 141 pounds, enters the NCAA championships looking for his first postsesaon title. He has four Big Ten medals, including a second and two thirds, and two NCAA medals, a silver and bronze. But gold has eluded him. Sanderson, however, doesn't want that to be Bartlett's focus.

"It's just perspective," Sanderson said. "It's not, 'Hey, this is your last chance.' It’s more about, 'Hey, we have another chance to go win a national title.' It’s just a completely different energy. We don’t have anything to protect."

Mitchell Mesenbrink wants to be the "best in the world"

Mesenbrink earned his No. 1 seed at 165 pounds by dominating the weight class with 16 technical falls in the 20 bouts he has wrestled this season. He might be the biggest favorite of any wrestler in the field but still has to finish the season properly.

"He’s a student of the game, too, and he wants to be the best in the world," Sanderson said of Mesenbrink. "It doesn’t matter where you’re at, whether you’ve won all your matches or lost all your matches, we’re still trying to learn from each match. Obviously the key is, you don’t have to lose to learn … especially with a guy like Mitch, where he has people coming at him, trying to defend different ways and trying to slow things down. We’ve got to counter that and stay a step ahead."

Cael Sanderson's favorite event

Sanderson has wrestled around the world, winning an Olympic gold medal, U.S. freestyle titles and a world championship. But the NCAA Wrestling Championships remains his favorite event.

"I don’t think there’s a more fun wrestling tournament in the world than the NCAA Tournament," Sanderson said. "The team race, the energy, I love folkstyle, I think it's the best tournament in the world for sure. I think our guys are ready to go for sure, but they're the ones who've got to decide for themselves and choose to compete with enthusiasm and gratitude or not. But right now, things look pretty good."

Watch Sanderson's full press conference here, courtesy of Blue-White Illustrated.

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