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No. 1 Penn State Subdues No. 2 Iowa, Asserting Its Dominance Over College Wrestling

The Nittany Lions rout the Hawkeyes for the second straight year, winning their 66th consecutive match.

Mark Wogenrich

Penn State wrestles Iowa in a Big Ten match at the Bryce Jordan Center.
Penn State wrestles Iowa in a Big Ten match at the Bryce Jordan Center. / Mark Wogenrich/Penn State on SI

STATE COLLEGE | No. 1 Penn State once again asserted its dominion over college wrestling, head-locking No. 2 Iowa 30-8 at the Bryce Jordan Center on Friday in a match that cemented the Nittany Lions atop the sport's hierarchy. Penn State wrestling won eight of 10 bouts, losing one with a missing starter, and dominated some of Iowa's top wrestlers.

Penn State (10-0, 4-0 Big Ten) won its 66th consecutive dual match on the fifth anniversary of its last loss (to Iowa, by the way). The Hawkeyes (9-1, 3-1) never had a chance to end the streak. Penn State won five of the first six bouts, two by technical fall, on a resolute night of control. Penn State handed two ranked wrestlers their first losses, beat a No. 1 and scored bonus points in four bouts.

A packed and animated Bryce Jordan Center crowd, which included Penn State football coach James Franklin, reveled in nearly every minute.

Penn State Vs. Iowa Bout by Bout

125: No. 7 Luke Lilledahl (PS) technical fall Joey Cruz 22-6: Lilledahl (11-1) set a proper tone for Penn State, taking down Cruz five times in the third period for the technical fall. Leading 7-1 after two periods, Lilledahl got to work, playing pick-up-and-drop with Cruz before finishing the technical fall with 17 seconds remaining in the third period. Lilledahl took injury time in the first period for a hand issue, which didn't bother him thereafter.

133: No. 3 Drake Ayala (Iowa) technical fall Kurt McHenry 19-4: McHenry, a fifth-year wrestler for Penn State, made his dual-meet debut this season in place of Braeden Davis, a late scratch. Ayala (12-1) made quick work of the bout, getting six takedowns for a second-period technical fall to tie the match. And that pretty much was it.

141: No. 3 Beau Bartlett (PS) dec. Cullan Schriever 7-3: Bartlett, whose walk-up song was KC and the Sunshine Band's 1975 hit "Boogie Shoes," moved to 13-0 with a mechanical decision over the Iowa senior. Bartlett hit an early takedown, added another in the second period and waded through a lot of step-backs from his opponent in the third.

149: No. 4 Shayne Van Ness (PS) dec. No. 2 Kyle Parco 17-6: This was the turning-point bout, and the second period was the turning-point moment. Trailing 6-5, Van Ness hit a seven-point move in the second, putting Parco on his shoulders after a takedown. That fired up the crowd, and Van Ness (12-1) punctuated the win with a third-period takedown off a restart. The win was Van Ness' third over Parco (13-1) and by far his largest. Van Ness had defeated Parco, then at Arizona State, 7-2 for third place at the 2023 NCAA Wrestling Championships. Van Ness has two bonus-point wins since his loss to Nebraska's Ridge Lovett.

157: No. 3 Tyler Kasak dec. No. 1 Jacori Teemer 5-2: For the last few seconds of the bout, Kasak lifted Teemer off the mat, held him in the air and waved his left arm to juice the crowd. It was a symbolic moment for Kasak, who truly controlled most of the bout. Kasak (13-0) scored the first takedown and generated more than 2 minutes of riding time, often with Teemer (3-2) in the air. Even a cut above his right eye couldn't stop Kasak.

165: No. 1 Mitchell Mesenbrink (PS) technical fall No. 2 Michael Caliendo 19-4: In a luneup of full-bore wrestlers, Mesenbrink might be the most unstoppable. Mesenbrink (14-0) turned the formerly unbeaten, second-ranked Caliendo into jelly. Mesenbrink scored his 12th technical fall of the season by imposing his will on Caliendo. Mesenbrink led 6-1 after one period, hit a third takedown in the second period and defused Caliendo with a reversal/takedown combination in the third. The bout ended mercifully late in the third on a stalling point.

174: No. 2 Levi Haines (PS) dec. No. 6 Patrick Kennedy 10-3: Haines (12-1) hit a few superb technical moves, including a quick single-leg takedown that Kennedy had no chance of defending. Kennedy was 5-0 vs. ranked opponents entering the bout. Haines quickly changed that.

184: No. 1 Carter Starocci (PS) vs. Angelo Ferrari 3-1: The anticipated duel of. Starocci vs. Gabe Arnold, who traded some pre-match chatter, never materialized. Iowa coach Tom Brands sent out the freshman to face the four-time national champ, who said before the match that he expected to wrestle Ferrari anyway. So it worked. But after taking the mat to the theme from "Halloween," Starocci (13-0) wrestled a frustrating bout, as Ferrari largely steered clear of wrestling, preventing Starocci from getting to his offense. Still, Starocci, who didn't get a takedown, had to stay sharp to avoid giving up a late score.

197: No. 1 Stephen Buchanan (Iowa) dec. No. 4 Josh Barr 5-1: The highlight of Iowa's night, Buchanan countered a late Barr shot for a third-period takedown to remain unbeaten in a tense bout. Buchanan rode Barr through the second period to take the advantage, then defended late to hand Barr his first college loss. The Penn State redshirt freshman (10-1) had won 24 consecutive bouts to begin his career.

285: No. 2 Greg Kerkvliet (PS) dec. No. 11 Ben Kueter 12-2: Penn State's defending national champ punctuated the night with his second consecutive major decision over Kueter. Kerkvliet took a 6-1 lead after one period and then accumulated more than 3 minutes of riding time. But a match is never over, so with 1 minute remaining, Penn State coach Cael Sanderson challenged a no-takedown call. The challenged was overruled, but Kerkvliet responded with a takedown anyway to finish the night.

Up Next

Penn State returns to the Bryce Jordan Center on Feb. 7 to host Michigan for another Big Ten match. Action begins at 6 p.m. ET on Big Ten Network.

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Mark Wogenrich
MARK WOGENRICH

Mark Wogenrich is Editor and Publisher of AllPennState, the site for Penn State news on SI's FanNation Network. He has covered Penn State sports for more than two decades across three coaching staffs and three Rose Bowls.

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