Recap: Penn State wrestling puts 9 of 10 in Big Ten semifinals
Penn State wrestling rolled at the first session of the Big Ten Championships. The Lions put 9 of 10 into the semifinals. Multi-time NCAA champ Carter Starocci injury defaulted after one second in his first match and will do so again in the consolation bracket to continue healing the knee he injured in the final dual meet against Edinboro.
A full recap of the session is below.
Big Ten tournament schedule
Maryland is hosting the two-day event. The schedule is as follows (all times eastern):
Saturday
10 a.m. – Session 1 (First Round, Quarterfinals, Wrestlebacks)
5 p.m. – Session 2 (Consolation Matches, Wrestlebacks)
7 p.m. – Session 3 (Semifinals)
Sunday
Noon – Session 4 (Consolation Semifinals, 7th-Place Matches)
4:30 p.m. – Session 5 (1st-, 3rd- and 5th- Place Matches)
How to follow Penn State wrestling at the Big Ten tournament
The Big Ten tournament will be a mixture of live television coverage and streaming. Penn State matches will be part of Big Ten Network’s over-the-air coverage of sessions one, three, and five. BTN+ will stream matside coverage for all sessions. It is also the exclusive home to watch sessions two and four.
The Penn State Sports Network will be on the air with the prematch show at 9:45 p.m. Longtime broadcaster Jeff Byers will be on the call. ET. Click here to access the free LionVision feed.
You can also follow along live and chat with other Penn State wrestling fans on Blue-White Illustrated’s The Wrestling Room forum. Access it by clicking here for live updates.
Who does each Nittany Lion have first?
Here’s the full rundown. The number listed before each wrestler is his seed for the Big Ten tournament. CLICK HERE to see the complete brackets.
125 pounds: No. 6 Braeden Davis, Penn State vs. No. 11 Justin Cardani of Illinois
133 pounds: No. 5 Aaron Nagao, PSU vs. No. 12 Andrew Hampton of Michigan State
141 pounds: No. 1 Beau Bartlett, Penn State vs. winner of No. 9 Danny Fongaro (Indiana) vs. No. 8 Jordan Hamdan (MSU)
149 pounds: No. 4 Tyler Kasak, PSU vs. No. 13 Aiden Vandenbush of Northwestern
157 pounds: No. 1 Levi Haines, Penn State vs. winner of No. 8 Joey Blaze of Purdue and No. 9 Trevor Chumbley of Northwestern
165 pounds: No. 2 Mitchell Mesenbrink, PSU vs. winner of No. 7 Stoney Burell (Purdue) vs. No. 10 Blaine Brenner (Minnesota)
174 pound: No. 1 Carter Starocci, Penn State vs. winner of No. 8 DJ Washington (Indiana) vs. No. 9 Andrew Sparks (Minnesota)
184 pounds: No. 3 Bernie Truax, PSU vs. No. 14 Chase Mielnik of Maryland
197 pounds: No. 1 Aaron Brooks, Penn State vs. winner of No. 8 Evan Bates (Northwestern) vs. No. 9 Ben Vanadia (Purdue)
285 pounds: No. 1 Greg Kerkvliet, PSU vs. winner of No. 8 Bennett Tabor (Minnesota) vs. No. 9 Josh Terrill (Maryland)
Updates from Big Ten tournament session one
2:00 — Greg Kerkvliet has Tabor in major trouble but made his way out of a great turn by Kerkvliet who built a 10-0 lead on the strength of that, a takedown, and three previous nearfall points. Kerkvliet ultimately wins 15-0 by technical fall in 3:25. Penn State has 9 of 10 into the semifinals.
1:55 — Aaron Brooks leads Evans Bates of Northwestern 9-1 after one. He scores early and often in the second to win 19-3 by technical fall in 5:50 at 197 pounds.
1:46 — Bernie Truax scores the first takedown and then allows an escape to Layne Malczewski to lead 3-1. The Spartan escapes to start the second and lead 3-2. He ends up winning 7-2 and will move into the semifinals.
1:24 — Mitchell Mesenbrink wins his quarterfinal match over Blaine Brenner by fall in 3:59 to move on at 165.
1:21 — Carter Starocci injury defaults at :01 in his quarterfinal match. He will do so again in the consolation bracket and continue healing for nationals.
1:15 — Levi Haines scored the first takedown to lead 3-0 over No. 9 Trevor Chumbley of Northwestern. Chumbley is penalized so Haines gets a penalty point and then hits a single leg takedown to go up 7-0. Haines scores another to lead 10-0. With riding time and a stall call against Chumbley, Haines wins 12-0 with 3:31 in riding time.
12:56 — Tyler Kasak is up against Dylan D’Emillo of Ohio State. After a scoreless first, D’Emillo is down to start the second. The Buckeye escaped but not before Kasak built up a minute of riding time. To start the third Kasak is down and gets a reversal to take a 2-1 lead. D’Emillio escapes with 1:30 left to 2-2. It ends that way and with riding time Kasak wins 3-2 with 1:18 in riding time.
12:50 — Beau Bartlett and Jordan Hamdan were scoreless after one. The Penn State 141-pounder converted a takedown in the second period to lead 3-0. Hamdan scores and Bartlett escapes to 4-2 in the third period. Bartlett wins 4-2.
12:36 — Aaron Nagao is now on the mat and he gets a takedown and takes Van Dee to his back and gets just a takedown for a 3-0 lead. After a scoreless second, Van Dee gets a late third period takedown but it’s not enough to beat Nagao, who wins 4-3. It’s another seeding upset for Penn State.
12:30 — Eric Barnett scored the opening takedown against Penn State 125-pounder Braeden Davis. Davis was penalized one point making it 4-0 Barnett but Davis escapes to make it 4-1 after one. Davis escaped to 4-2 in the second. Davis threw Barnett to his back and got a takedown plus two nearfall points that were reviewed and called off. So, Davis leads 5-4 after two. Barnett is down to start the third. Davis called for his first stall warning at 1:18 of the third. Barnett gets a reversal but Davis reverses him right back to 7-6 but with riding time Burnett gets it top 7-7 and sudden victory. Davis shoots on a single and wins 8-7 on a locked hand penalty in sudden victory to go on to the semifinals.
11:46 — Bernie Truax scored an early takedown and rolled from there over Maryland’s Chase Mielnik. He wins by technical fall, 19-1, in 2:41. Penn State is 4-0 in the opening round.
11:39 — Mitchell Mesenbrink will get Blaine Brenner of Minnesota in the quarters at 165. Carter Starocci gets Andrew Sparks of Minnesota. Bernie Truax is coming up.
11:15 — We are in a holding pattern until Bernie Truax takes the mat at 184. He does not have a mat assignment yet. We do have more quarterfinal matchups though. Levi Haines will face No. Trevor Chumbley of Northwestern at 157.
10:50 — Tyler Kasak caught wins his first Big Ten tournament match by fall. He caught and decked Aiden Vandenbush of Nebraska at the 2:48 mark of the first period.
10:41 — Beau Bartlett will face No. 8 Jordan Hamdan of Michigan State in his 141-pound quarterfinal.
10:31 — Braeden Davis will face No. 3 Eric Burnett of Wisconsin in the quarterfinals at 125. At 133, Aaron Nagao will face No. 4 Jacob Van Dee of Nebraska.
10:20 — Braeden Davis took a 6-0 over Justin Cardini of Illinois in a 125-pound first round bout via a reversal and three-point tilt off of it. Cardini escaped to start the third for a 6-1 lead for the Nittany Lion. Davis added a takedown late in the third period and tilted for two to score an 11-1 major decision to move on.
10:15 — Aaron Nagao made it to the mat first for Penn State at 133 pounds. He used a double leg shot to score the opening takedown and then titled Andrew Hampton for four near-fall points and a 7-0 lead. Later, he scored a takedown for a 10-0 lead and scored an 11-0 major decision with 2:12 in riding time. He is onto the next round.
