Penn State wrestling notes: Lions move in latest rankings; early look at Oregon State

On3 imageby:Greg Pickel12/07/22

GregPickel

Penn State wrestling had a perfect dual meet record on the mats last weekend. The Nittany Lions took out Rider first, 37-3, and Lehigh second, 24-12, en route to improving to 3-0 on the season.

“I think our guys wrestled well,” Penn State coach Cael Sanderson said after the Lehigh win, according to PennLive. “Obviously, it’s early, and we’re still trying to figure things out.

“Big matches like this where the crowd’s into it, and you’re wrestling quality opponents at every weight, it’s a blessing to see what we need to work on and where we need to go. Just like every year, it’s a process.”

The Lions are back on the mat Sunday when PAC-12 foe Oregon State visits Rec Hall. The match starts at 2 p.m. and will air on ESPNU from State College.

Before match day, it’s time to take a look at the new rankings across the sport, plus an early look at the Beavers and more comments from the team’s weekly media press session, which BWI’s Thomas Frank Carr attended.

Penn State in the rankings: Week of Dec. 6

Penn State defending national champion Max Dean is the only Lion who dropped in this week’s rankings from WIN Magazine and InterMat. He fell after being top-ranked at 197 pounds after losing to Rider’s No. 12 Ethan Laird by a 3-1 decision in sudden victory before former Lion Michael Beard, who is now at Lehigh and was then No. 9, beat Dean 11-9 on Sunday. The Penn State wrestler is now No. 5 respectively according to both publications. The latter moved Beard above Dean but the former did not. And, both now have Laird inside the top-10.

In other news, Greg Kerkvliet now holds the top spot at heavyweight following a pair of wins this weekend

The rest of this week’s rankings are below in the following format: Penn State weight and wrestler, this week’s WIN rankings/Last week’s Intermat Rankings; This week’s Intermat rankings/last week’s.

125 pounds: Gary Steen, NR/NR; NR/NR

133 pounds: Roman Bravo Young, 1/1; 1/1

141 pounds: Beau Bartlett, 11/11; 9/9

149 pounds: Shayne Van Ness, 16/17; 17/20

157 pounds: Terrell Barraclough, NR/NR; 30/30

165 pounds: Alex Facundo, NR/NR; 15/17

174 pounds: Carter Starocci, 1/1; 1/1

184 pounds: Aaron Brooks, 1/1; 1/1

197 pounds: Max Dean, 5/1; 5/1

285 pounds: Greg Kerkvliet, 1/2; 1/2

Sanderson talks Oregon State

Head coach Cael Sanderson held his weekly media availability on Tuesday ahead of the Lions’ meeting with Oregon State.

“We’re looking forward to a great match,” Sanderson said. “They have tough kids, and one of the up-and-coming programs. A coaching staff that has done a tremendous job, as we saw last year at nationals. So, we’re excited for the match.”

The Beavers are 2-1 on the season. Gary Steen will be in for a tough match against ranked 125-pound Oregon State grappler and junior Brandon Kaylor. Jason Sharer is a ranked senior at 133 pounds who might face ‘RBY’ depending on where he is in his schedule. Matthew Olguin is ranked for the Beavers at 165, as is Trey Munoz, who is inside FLO’s top 10 but only WIN’s top 15 at 184. Finally, Taylor Harvey is ranked inside the top-10 by FLO at 197 pounds.

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