5 Penn State takeaways from a mostly successful session three for the Lions at the NCAA Championships

Penn State had a mostly successful session three at the 2024 NCAA Championships. The Lions continue to have a massive lead in the team race and have six semifianlists. We have more on that and other takeaways from the Friday afternoon session below.

1. Penn State continues to have a chance to make history

No school has ever had six NCAA champions in one tournament. Penn State still has a chance to become the first. The Lions started the round with eight quarterfinalists. Six of them won to make the semifinals.. Beau Bartlett kicked things off with a pin of No. 26 Vance Vombaur of Minnesota to make a 141-pound quarterfinal. Sophomore Levi Haines scored beat Peyton Robb of Nebraska, 8-0. At 165, Mitchell Mesenbrink scored 6-1 decision over N0. 10 Cameron Amine of Michigan. Carter Starocco gutted out a 4-0 decision win over No. 1 Mehki Lewis at 174. Aaron Brooks pinned No. 8 Stephen Buchanan of Oklahoma in the first period. And, Greg Kerkvliet beat Nick Feldman of Ohio State 1-0. They are all All-Americans (Starocci for the fourth time and Brooks for the fifth) ahead of tonight’s semifinals at8  p.m. ET on ESPN. 

As for the two quarterfinalists who lost.. 

2. Will Truax push on for Penn State?

Graduate senior Bernie Truax lost his quarterfinal match to No. 3 Dustin Plott of Oklahoma State by major decision, 16-6. The margin of victory may be surprising but the result isn’t necessarily so. However, the Nittany Lion appeared to hurt his knee when Plott drove through on a shot and put the knee a potentially dangerous situation that was not called to stop the action. Truax immediately called for an injury timeout after giving up the takedown. He returned to action but was not the same. Now the question is whether or not he will compete in tonight’s consolation bracket action. He needs to win one more match to make All-American status. Will he give it a go? We’re sure he’ll want to. But it’s unclear if his body will allow it.

3. Davis must bounce back

Braeden Davis has experienced a lot of success over his wrestling career. A four-time Michigan state champ, he never experienced the consolation bracket at the state tournament. Now, he’ll get a taste of that for the first time at the college level. And, he must refocus to be ready for it. The Nittany Lion was incredibly frustrated at the end of his 3-2 loss to No. 8 Richard Figueroa of Arizona State in the quarterfinal.

We obviously didn’t talk to the freshman. But, it doesn’t take much guess work to think he felt like the head referee should have hit the Sun Devil with a second stall call in the third period. That would have netted a penalty point and sent the bout to sudden victory tied at three. The call didn’t come, though, which sends Davis to a Friday evening wrestleback bout that he must win to qualify for All-American status. He has time to move on from this loss, but it was clearly painful and with good reason. He cannot let that impact his next match, though, if he wants to hit the podium. 

4. Starocci is a warrior

Yes, we know that you know that Carter Starocci is an unbelievably resilient athlete and probably the biggest competitor at the NCAA Tournament. But, that doesn’t mean what he’s done so far at this year’s Championships is anything short of incredible. After winning two bouts on day one, the Penn State senior who is wrestling with a knee injury in search of his fourth natiional title beat No. 1 Mehki Lewis of Virginia Tech, 4-0. Starocci would usually be the one seed, of course. But, because of the injury, he had to forfeit for medical reasons at Big Tens, which hurt his win percentage enough to drop him down the rankings. He said he’d wrestle anyone and didn’t care about the seeding. So far, his words have proven accurate. We’ll see if he can again beat Shane Griffith again when the two square off yet again in tonight’s semifinals. 

5. Four Nittany Lions need one more win for All-American status

We covered Davis and Truax above. But, we should note that Aaron Nagao and Tyler Kasak both went two-for-two in session three consolation bracket action to keep their respective tournaments alive at 133 and 149 pounds. All need one more win to reach All-American status. Only one team has ever had 10: 2001 Minnesota. The Lions already have six and look to get four more tonight.

Penn State leads the team race with 86.5 points. Michigan is second with 50.5, Arizona State third with 44.5, Iowa State fourth with 42.5, and Iowa fifth with 41.5.

Complete Penn State session results

Listed matchups are championship bracket quarterfinals unless otherwise noted. 

125 pounds:No. 8 Richard Figueroa, Arizona State d. No. 1 Braeden Davis, Penn State, 3-2 

133 pounds: No. 10 Aaron Nagao, PSU d.  No. 24 Julian Chlebove, Arizona State (consolation bracket), 6-1

–133 pounds third round consolation: Nagao d. Nic Bouzakis, Ohio State 3-0

141 pounds: No. 2 Beau Bartlett, Penn State F  No. 26 Vance Vombaur, Minnesota, 6:48

149 pounds: No. 7 Tyler Kasak, PSU F. No. 9 Ethan Fernandez, Cornell, :39 (consolation bracket)

–149 pounds third round consolation: Kasak md. Graham Rooks, Indiana 13-3 (consolation bracket)

157 pounds: No. 1 Levi Haines, PSU md. No. 8 Peyton Robb, Nebraska, 8-0

165 pounds: No. 2 Mitchell Mesenbrink, Penn State d. No. 10 Cameron Amine, Michigan, 6-1

174 pounds: No. 9 Carter Starocci, PSU d.  No. 1 Mehki Lewis, Virginia Tech, 4-0

184 pounds: No. 3 Dustin Plott, Oklahoma State md. No. 6 Bernie Truax, Penn State, 16-6

197 pounds: No. 1 Aaron Brooks, PSU F No. 8 Stephen Buchanan, Oklahoma, 2:45

285 pounds: No. 1 Greg Kerkvliet, Penn State d. No. 9 Nick Feldman, Ohio State, 1-0

Who does each Nittany Lion have in session four?

All bouts are championship semifinal matches unless otherwise noted.

125 pounds: No. 1 Braeden Davis, Penn State vs. No.5 Jore Vork, Wyoming (consolation bracket)

133 pounds: No. 10 Aaron Nagao, PSU vs. No. 3 Kai Orine, North Carolina State (consolation bracket)

141 pounds: No. 2 Beau Bartlett, Penn State vs. No. 6 Lachlan McNeil, North Carolina 

149 pounds: No. 7 Tyler Kasak, PSU vs. No. 3 Jackson Arrington, N.C. State (consolation bracket)

157 pounds: No. 1 Levi Haines, PSU vs. No. 12 Bryce Andonian, Virginia Tech

165 pounds: No. 2 Mitchell Mesenbrink, Penn State vs. No. 6 Mikey Caliendo, Iowa 

174 pounds: No. 9 Carter Starocci, PSU vs. No. 4 Shane Griffith, Michigan

184 pounds: No. 6 Bernie Truax, Penn State vs. No. 10 Dylan Fishback, N.C. State (consolation bracket) 

197 pounds: No. 1 Aaron Brooks, PSU vs. No. 12 Rocky Elam, Missouri

285 pounds: No. 1 Greg Kerkvliet, Penn State vs. No. 4 Cohlton Schultz, Arizona State