Penn State wrestling: 3 takeaways from the Journeymen Collegiate Classic

Penn State wrestling thrived at the Journeymen Collegiate Classic on Sunday. The Nittany Lions sent 20 competitors to their first even of the season. They left the Lehigh Valley after winning 75 percent of their matches and seeing more than half of their wrestlers win all three matches they competed in during the individual, round-robin style event.

“I think overall the guys wrestled pretty well,” Penn State coach Cael Sanderson told PennLive. “We wrestled under some new rules and we had some good, quality competition. I think overall we’re pleased. Some guys might not be as happy with their results but it’s still all just preparation. We’re gonna be fine.”

Here are three takeaways from the event.

Don’t get too worked up about the results at 125 pounds

It might be easy for some to draw quick conclusions about the Penn State plan at 125 pounds based on what happened on Sunday. Program veteran Robbie Howard, who competed for the first time in two years due to multiple injuries, finished 1-2 while freshman Braedan Davis was 3-0 and returner and 2023 starter Gary Steen finished 2-1, with his only setback coming against his first-year teammate. Despite the outcomes, we still handicap Howard as the favorite to start at 125 pounds when the dual season begins next month against Lehigh. He had the tougher pod of competitors and clearly had some rust to knock off.

Could our mind be changed after the Army Black Knight Invitational next week? Surely. But for now, we aren’t using the results of the first event of the year to make any significant changes or conclusions to or about the projected dual meet starting lineup.

Hello, Penn State newcomers

Penn State’s newcomers had a great debut performance at the Journeymen Classic. The aforementioned Davis went 3-0. His first two wins were by technical fall and his third came by major decision. At 165 pounds, Mitchell Mesenbrink, an incoming transfer who is in his second collegiate season, went undefeated and scored two technical falls. At 184, another transfer, Bernie Truax IV, went 3-0 with a pair of major decisions. And, at the same weight, first-year Lion Josh Barr was 3-0 with a technical fall triumph and two major decisions.

“Our freshmen wrestled great,” Sanderson told PennLive. “I like to come to these tournaments, too, so the guys can see the attitude and confidence and execution, and going out there and being yourself is really the most important thing. We’ll use this as an opportunity to learn and get better.”

The young guys should not be needed this year. But, their careers are off to a promising start as expected.

Mesenbrink on track to be the man at 165

Penn State lists Mesenbrink as capable of wrestling at either 157 or 165 pounds. However, he told reporters on Wednesday that he would focus on competing in the latter classification. It put him into a competition with returner Alex Facundo for the job. Or, at least, that’s what we thought. Instead, the Lions entered only Mesenbrink at the Journeymen Collegiate Classic. We’ll see if Facundo goes to the Army Black Knight Invitational this weekend. But, we could be close to confirming that the newcomer will be the Penn State starter at 165.