3 takeaways from Penn State wrestling's 36-3 road win at Oregon State
No. 1 Penn State roared to its third meet victory of the season on Friday night. The Nittany Lions won nine of 10 bouts and secured nine bonus points en route to a 36-3 triumph over non-conference foe Oregon State. Its the fourth time in program history that the Lions have beaten the Beavers. And, it was in front of a Gill Collesium crowd of 8,540, which is a new program record.
“They have a very good team and are very motivated and just a really good staff that’s doing a great job,” Lions coach Cael Sanderson told reporters before the match. “So yeah, it’ll be a great match. I think our guys are used to the big stage and big crowds So yeah, it’ll be it’ll be fun to just go see where we’re at.”
Here are our top takeaways.
Fired up freshmen
Penn State scored a pair of upsets via first-year wrestlers. At 125 pounds, Braeden Davis stunned No. 15 Brandon Kaylor with an early takedown before racing to an 11-6 victory. It included 2:10 in riding time. Davis is now 9-0 on the season and will take the Lions as far as he can at 125 pounds. It’s something the program has been looking for. One thing it was not expecting this season, however, was to wrestle a freshman at 149 pounds. But, once 2023 All-American Shayne Van Ness suffered a season-ending injury earlier this year, the team had no choice but to turn to either junior Davis Evans or freshman Tyler Kasak at 149 pounds. It went with the latter in Corvallis. And, the decision paid off. Kasak upset Nash Singleton 4-1. He scored first and last en route to the big victory.
Assessing the Penn State transfers
Three first-year Penn State transfers competed on Friday night. Two of them came away with victories. No. 4 Aaron Nagao rolled to a major decision over ranked Beaver Gabe Whisenhunt at 133 pounds. At 165, No. 12 Mitchell Mesenbrink scored one of the Lions’ four technical falls by pouncing on No. 10 Matt Olguin from the get-go en route to a 17-2 triumph in just 3:44. It was arguably the most impressive victory of the night for the Nittany Lions.
The only transfer who suffered a setback was Bernie Truax. The multi-time All-American and second-ranked wrestler at 184 pounds will drop this week after falling to No. 6 Trey Munoz 5-2 in a competitive match that saw the Nittany Lion unable to create enough offense. It’s something to work on as the team moves forward.
Odds and ends
–Gerg Kerkvliet was held out of Senior Nationals due to a lower-body injury. But, he was ready to go on Friday night. The nation’s top-ranked heavyweight stopped No. 12 Boone McDermott by technical fall, 21-5, in 5:17.
–Penn State won both exhibition bouts before the regular dual began. Per the progam match notes: “Terrell Barraclough majored Kekana Fouret 11-1 at 165. Lucas Cochran posted a 22-6 technical fall (5:51) over Mason Christiansen at 197.”
–See the full match recap below courtesy of Penn State Athletics:
#1 Penn State 36, #18 Oregon State 3
January 5, 2024 – Corvallis, Ore.
125: Braeden Davis PSU dec. #15 Brandon Kaylor OSU, 11-6 3-0
133: #4 Aaron Nagao PSU maj. dec. #26 Gabe Whisenhunt OSU, 9-0 7-0
141: #2 Beau Bartlett PSU dec. #25 Cleveland Belton OSU, 8-5 (sv) 10-0
149: Tyler Kasak PSU dec. #12 Nash Singleton OSU, 4-1 13-0
157: #1 Levi Haines PSU dec. Isaiah Crosby OSU, 10-8 16-0
165: #12 Mitchell Mesenbrink PSU tech fall #10 Matthew Olguin OSU, 17-2 (TF; 3:44) 21-0
174: #1 Carter Starocci PSU tech fall #7 Travis Wittlake OSU, 19-3 (TF; 6:32) 26-0
184: #6 Trey Munoz OSU dec. #2 Bernie Truax PSU, 5-2 26-3
197: #1 Aaron Brooks PSU tech fall #30 Justin Rademacher OSU, 19-4 (TF; 4:53) 31-3
285: #1 Greg Kerkvliet PSU tech fall #12 Boone McDermott OSU, 21-5 (TF; 5:17) 36-3
Attendance: 8,540 (new Oregon State wrestling record crowd
Records: Penn State (3-0), Oregon State (4-2)
Up Next for Penn State: home vs. Indiana, Sunday, Jan. 14, 1 p.m. – Rec Hall
