Penn State wrestling notes: As Lions fight through illness battles, will everyone wrestle Sunday?
Penn State coach Cael Sanderson made clear during his final media availability of the regular season on Tuesday that he was not attempting to complain while discussing his team’s issues with illnesses that have impacted the starting lineup of late. And, no one accused him of doing so, considering it’s a fact that the No. 1 Nittany Lions have competed with all 10 regulars in just three of nine matches since Jan. 3. It has become common for longtime radio play-by-play announcer to note that someone is out due to being under the weather and thus not wrestling during the last two month’s worth of pre-match shows. None of it has slowed the team to a halt. Penn State is undefeated ahead of Sunday’s Senior Day tilt with Edinboro and is already the Big Ten regular season champ.
But, the issues have been an issue, without question. And, that goes for some wrestlers more than others. Multi-time national champ and 174-pound stalwart Carter Starocci has been sick for more than a month, for example, but still continues to churn out victories despite probably not being 100 percent.
“He’s starting to get better now, thankfully, and kind of figured out what the problem was,” Sanderson said. “And that’s not my place to say, but he’s a tough kid. And you know, it’s wrestling. He’s just trying to dominate, and be the best he can be every time he steps out on the mat.”
Starocci is among a few Penn State wrestlers who have dealt with illness
Sanderson was not asked about every one of his competitors who has missed at least a single match so far this season. But, one he was asked directly about is first-year Penn State wrestler Aaron Nagao, who starts at 133 pounds. He was out against Maryland in late January and again opposite Nebraska this past Sunday at Rec Hall.
“He’s doing good,” Sanderson said of Nagao. “I think we’ll have him back on the mat towards the end of the week. We just have, I’m sure every program is the same, so you don’t want to be the complaining program, but yeah, we have some guys that are sick, and we just need to give them time to get better right now. And he’s not the only one that will be out throughout a lot of the week just trying to get better.”
Will everyone take the mat on Sunday?
Penn State aims to finish the dual meet part of its season at 12-0 by beating what will be an overmatched Edinboro team Sunday at Rec Hall (1 p.m., BTN+). It will not necessarily need to be at full strength to down the PSAC foe. As to whether or not it will be, Tuesday is far too early in the week to make that determination.
“I would hope so,” Sanderson said. “We’re still few days out. So we’ll see when we get closer. But like I said, we got guys that won’t be practicing for a few days [while] still trying to get healthy.”
