4 Penn State wrestling storylines to watch at Sunday's Black Knight Invite

Penn State wrestling returns to the mat on Sunday at the Army Black Knight Invitational. The Nittany Lions have made this one-day tournament, which starts at 10 a.m. on FLO from West Point, N.Y., an annual stop on their non-conference schedule. Army, Binghamton, Buffalo, Chattanooga, Columbia, Gardner-Webb, and LIU are also sending wrestlers.

Our top storylines to follow are below.

1. Penn State fans will have a close eye on 125 and 157 pounds

Two weight classes will be in focus for Penn State fans on Sunday. The first is 157 pounds. Freshman phenom PJ Duke is on track to make his blue and white debut. His list of accomplishments is long, including a U20 World title, multiple international freestyle medals, and a slew of folkstyle gold medals. Redshirt freshman Joe Sealey, meanwhile, was highly decorated as a recruit and won his dual meet debut handily last weekend against Oklahoma. Assuming they meet in the finals, it will be a fun match to watch.

The other weight class in the spotlight is heavyweight. Redshirt freshman Cole Mirasola earned the start against the Sooners and beat No. 24 Juan Mora 5-2. Senior Lucas Cochran, meanwhile, came back to push his younger teammate at 285 pounds with hopes of earning a starting spot. Their battle to earn the spot long-term continues this weekend.

“With all the weight classes, the Black Knight Open is always a deciding factor, and then, depending on how things go there, then figure out what we’re going to do, if there’s a next step, or if there needs to be a next step, in all weight classes,” head coach Cael Sanderson said this week.

Most of the weight classes are locked in, however. But, these two will be monitored closely.

2. What are the other interesting matchups we could see?

As you could probably tell by looking at the list of teams that are participating, Penn State will be favored to win every weight class. But, some interesting potential matchups along the way, either in the finals or otherwise, could include (rankings courtesy of InterMat. PSU wrestlers are first):

133 pounds: No. 14 Marcus Blaze vs. No. 11 TK Davis of Gardner-Webb

141 pounds: No. 10 Aaron Nagao vs. No. 25 Braden Basile of Army or No. 26 Lorenzo Frezza of Columbia

184 pounds: No. 3 Rocco Welsh vs. No. 17 Aaron Ayzerov of Columbia

285 pounds: No. 10 Cole Mirasola or Lucas Cochran vs. No. 15 Brady Colbert of Army

3. Will there be any changes to the potential PSU participants list?

Here is who Penn State said it could send in each weight class on Sunday. The full roster will be official only after weigh-ins early Sunday morning. Starters from the Oklahoma match are in bold type.

125 pounds: Luke Lilledahl and Nate Desmond

133 pounds: Marcus Blaze and Kyison Garcia

141 pounds: Aaron Nagao and Cael Nasdeo

149 pounds: Shayne Van Ness, Connor Pierce, and possibly Dalton Perry

157 pounds: Joe Sealey and PJ Duke

165 pounds: Mitchell Mesenbrink and Ty Watson

174 pounds: Levi Haines and William Henckel

184 pounds: Rocco Welsh and Asher Cunningham

197 pounds: Connor Mirasola

285 pounds: Cole Mirasola and Lucas Cochran

4. Debut day

Duke is not the only Penn State freshman who will make his debut on Sunday. William Henckel and Asher Cunningham are both set to compete at 174 and 184 pounds, respectively. It will be good to see what both accomplished high school wrestlers and Class of 2025 signees can do during their first competition date in a blue and white singlet.