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Penn State Sits on Doorstep of 10th NCAA Wrestling Title

The Nittany Lions have five finalists and a big lead entering the tournament's final day.

Mark Wogenrich

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Penn State closed in on its 10th NCAA Wrestling Championships team title Friday, sending five wrestlers to the finals and opening a sizable lead over Michigan.

The Nittany Lions can win five NCAA individual titles for the second time under Cael Sanderson and also claim their ninth team championship for the head coach. All four of Penn State's returning champs reached the finals, a year after going 4-0 in an entertaining Saturday-night run at the 2021 NCAA tournament.

Roman Bravo-Young (133 pounds), Nick Lee (141), Carter Starocci (174), Aaron Brooks (184) will wrestle for their second straight titles. Max Dean (197) will compete for his first at Penn State after making the 2019 final at Cornell. Meanwhile, Greg Kerkvliet (285) heads to the consolation round after falling to defending NCAA and Olympic champion Gable Steveson of Minnesota.

According to Penn State's official wrestling Twitter account, the program improved to 45-5 in semifinal bouts since 2011.

Penn State enters Day 3 with 108 team points, well ahead of second-place Michigan (84.5). Arizona State is third with 63.5. Michigan has two finalists, one of whom will wrestle against Penn State.

The medal round begins at 11 a.m. Saturday and will be broadcast on ESPN2. The championship finals are set for 7 p.m. on ESPN.

Penn State will wrestle some fascinating finals, including a 2021 final rematch, a 2022 Big Ten final rematch and a championship bout between wrestlers seeking to become two-time champs.

Here's a recap of the semifinals and look ahead to Saturday's finals.

133: "I've got to find a way," Bravo-Young said during his ESPN interview after beating Iowa's Austin DeSanto for a sixth consecutive time. That's exactly what he did, turning a leg shot into the decisive takedown with 6 seconds left for a 3-1 victory. Bravo-Young trailed 1-0 entering the third period, when he escaped before landing the winner. It took him about 10 seconds, and DeSanto nearly fought off the attempt, but Bravo-Young remains among the best nationally at finishing shots.

Now, Bravo-Young gets a rematch with Oklahoma State's Daton Fix in the final. He upset then top-seeded Fix in the 2021 final, hitting a sudden-victory takedown for the 4-2 win. These are the class' two best wrestlers: Bravo-Young has won 35 straight bouts, and Fix has won 25. For Bravo-Young, the final could be his last college match.

"I don't know, maybe I could be convinced," he said about potentially returning next season. "... If I do decide to come back, I'll make that decision later on. If not, it's a good way to go out with another NCAA final."

141: Lee, Penn State's first five-time All-American, has looked so assured during this tournament. He hasn't been truly challenged, scoring a 15-3 major and a pin in the early rounds before defeating Stanford's Real Woods 3-2 in the semifinals. Despite the score, Lee controlled the bout by scoring the first takedown and preventing Woods from making any big scoring moves.

His opponent is the 15th-seeded Kizhan Clarke, a phenomenal story from North Carolina. Clarke, who lost in the consolation semifinals of the ACC Tournament, received an at-large bid to nationals. This week he defeated three wrestlers seeded above him, two in overtime. Clarke outlasted second-seeded Jaydin Eierman of Iowa in sudden victory in the quarterfinals and beat No. 6 Cole Matthews of Pitt 3-2 in the tiebreaker.

174: Starocci reached his second consecutive final, and improved his NCAA tournament record to 9-0, with an assertive 10-3 win over North Carolina State's Hayden Hidlay. Starocci scored four takedowns to set up a phenomenal title bout against Virginia Tech's Mekhi Lewis.

Lewis, the 2019 NCAA champ and most outstanding wrestler, returned to the final after a year of adversity. He sustained a torn pectoral muscle in 2021 that forced him to withdraw from NCAAs and miss the U.S. Olympic Trials. But Lewis made a resounding return, pinning Michigan's Logan Massa in the semis. Starocci vs. Lewis to become a two-time champ will be among Saturday's most compelling finals.

184: Brooks won another heart-stopping bout against North Carolina State's Trent Hidlay, which he has made a hallmark at NCAAs. Brooks countered a Hidlay shot in sudden victory, turning it into the winning takedown and a 6-4 decision. The win was Brooks' second straight over Hidlay at nationals; he won their 2021 championship bout 3-2. This time, Brooks gave up a third-period takedown but also fought off a late Hidlay shot to force sudden victory.

Brooks will face a familiar opponent in the final. Michigan's Myles Amine also hit a sudden-victory takedown in his semifinal bout. Now Brooks gets a chance to avenge his 6-4 loss to Amine in the Big Ten final. Amine won a freestyle bronze medal at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.

194: Dean easily won an 8-3 decision over Ohio State's Gavin Hoffman who, at No. 21, was the tournament's lowest-seeded wrestler to reach the semifinals. The victory sent Dean to his second NCAA final and first since 2019, when he wrestled for Cornell.

That year, Dean lost 6-4 to Northern Iowa's Drew Foster. This time Dean will meet sixth-seeded Jacob Warner of Iowa. Dean defeated Warner 8-3 in a January dual meet in Iowa City. Warner defeated the second- and third-seeded wrestlers to reach the final. He is Iowa's only finalist.

285: Kerkvliet tried to attack Steveson with speed, a game approach against a quick-moving heavyweight. But Steveson had the counter, moves, and also the riding-time advantage, to produce an 8-3 victory.

"He's phenomenal; he's going to be on top one of these days," Steveson said of Kerkvliet in his post-bout interview with ESPN.

Kerkvliet, who placed seventh last season, contends for his second NCAA medal on Saturday.

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AllPennState is the place for Penn State news, opinion and perspective on the SI.com network. Publisher Mark Wogenrich has covered Penn State for more than 20 years, tracking three coaching staffs, three Big Ten titles and a catalog of great stories. Follow him on Twitter @MarkWogenrich. And consider subscribing (button's on the home page) for more great content across the SI.com 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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