Penn State chases Big Ten tournament title: Recap

Penn State is wrestling for a Big Ten title today.

The Nittany Lions have five finalists and two members of head coach Cael Sanderson’s team vying for a conference crown.

Michigan and Iowa are the only other programs in the hunt for a Big Ten title.

Below, we will have updates from each Penn State match plus those that impact the Lions. It is worth noting that Iowa’s Jaydin Eierman is expected to injury default his title match opposite Nick Lee of Penn State at 141, per Jeff Byers of the Penn State Sports Network. That would give the Lions team race points, of course, but no chance to earn bonus points.

Penn State Sunday night matches

They are as listed below. You can watch Penn State on the Big Ten Network. This listing is courtesy of BWI’s Tom McAndrew:

133 Championship:
#1 seed Roman Bravo-Young vs. #2 seed Austin DeSanto (Iowa)

141 Championship:
#1 seed Nick Lee vs. #2 seed Jaydin Eierman (Iowa)

157 3rd Place Match:
#10 seed Brady Berge vs. #2 seed Kaleb Young (Iowa)

174 Championship:
#1 seed Carter Starocci vs. #2 seed Logan Massa (Michigan)

184 Championship:
#1 seed Aaron Brooks vs. #2 seed Myles Amine (Michigan)

197 Championship:
#2 seed Max Dean vs. #1 seed Eric Schultz (Nebraska)

285 3rd Place Match:
#3 seed Greg Kerkvliet vs. #4 seed Mason Parris (Michigan)

Rolling Penn State updates, part 2

7:01: Max Dean is a Big Ten champ. He beats Eric Schultz of Nebraska 4-2 in the 197-pound final. Penn State has four conference champs in 2022.

6:45: Myles Amine of Michigan beats Aaron Brooks 6-4 in sudden victory. Tremendous match in the 184-pound final. The Wolverine just had more left at the end. Michigan leads the team race by 5.5 points headed to the final two weight classes.

6:30 p.m.: Carter Starocci wins the Big Ten title. The Penn State wrestler beats Michigan’s Logan Massa 5-1 to become Penn State’s third conference champ today. Off to Aaron Brooks in the finals at 184.

6:09: Alex Marinelli wins his fourth straight Big Ten title. He helps Penn State some in the process by beating Cameron Amine of Michigan. It all comes down to what lies ahead. Lions are in the next three finals and then PSU-Michigan has a head-to-head in the 285-pound third place match. Michigan currently leads team race by five.

5:52: Brady Berge wins in sudden victory 3-1 to earn a big team point and also third place for Penn State as, at the same time, Northwestern’s Ryan Deakin beat Michigan’s Will Lewan in the 157-pound title bout. The Big Ten title race tightens some more.

Rolling updates, part one

5:13: Iowa’s Jaydin Eiermann injury defaults out of the Big Ten final. That makes Nick Lee the 141-pound Big Ten champ. It also gives Penn State six points in the team race. Then, Penn State gets some help from Minnesota as Bergeland beats Micic of Michigan 4-0 in the third place match. The Lions will take it.

5:06 p.m. Roman Bravo-Young is a two-time Big Ten champ. He beat Austin DeSanto 3-1 in the 133-pound final. A takedown in the third period was the difference between the pair, which have wrestled often. He is the first Penn State champ of the session.

What happened earlier this weekend?

Penn State 125-pounder Drew Hildebrandt won his first match in a mini-bracket at 125. That guaranteed him a spot in the NCAA Tournament. He then injury defaulted out of the ninth/tenth place match, which might help explain his 0-2 performance on Saturday at Pinnacle Bank Arena in Lincoln, Neb.

Beau Bartlett also won seventh place at 149 pounds. That locked up his trip to Detroit after a tough Saturday at the conference level.

The only Nittany Lion who does not yet have an NCAA spot is Creighton Edsell. He needs an at-large bid at 165 pounds from the selection committee to make it. It’s possible but by no means a guarantee. Those selections will be announced next Wednesday. Blue-White Illustrated will have an update on that, as well.