Penn State wrestling wins 11th NCAA Championship in school history
Penn State wrestling has won another NCAA Championship. With a perfect quarterfinal round and a strong semifinal performance, the Lions took every drop of suspense out of the team race in Tulsa, Okla.
Then, before the finals even began on Saturday evening, head coach Cael Sanderson’s side locked up the title during Saturday morning’s medal round with time to build on its final point total. Beau Bartlett clinched it for the Lions with a win over Clay Carlson of South Dakota State in the 141-pound consolation semifinals. He will next wrestle for third.
It marks the 11th national title for the school and second in a row. Ten have come under Cael Sanderson, who won his first one with the program back in 2011. The Nittany Lions put another exemplary performance on display. They racked up bonus points endlessly and routinely earned advancement points throughout the three-day event. And, they still have five finalists left to go plus other medals to be earned.
Penn State continues its dominant run
Penn State has now won the last two national team titles. It has also taken 10 of the last 12 contested events. For further proof of its dominant, dynastic run under Sanderson, consider this paragraph from the program’s press release following Friday night’ semifinal round:
“Penn State has secured eight All-Americans for the year, tying the school record for All-Americans in a single season (1987, 2018). The Nittany Lions’ 5-2 showing in the semifinals improves the team’s mark to 50-8 in the semis since 2011, for a win percentage of .862. Penn State now has a total of 246 All-Americans in its long history, 83 of them (over one-third) under the guidance of head coach Cael Sanderson.”
Another fact to add: Penn State has has five finalists in five of the last six NCAA Championships. That includes this year, of course. We’ll run down that list below.
As noted above, the team can still add to its point total before the event concludes with the team posing with the trophy pictured above in the middle of the BOK Center mats.
The highest total hit in a previous Penn State win was 146.5 in 2017. Iowa holds the all-time record after scoring 158 while winning the 1986 tournament. And, no team has ever doubled up the second place finisher. Will Penn State exceed all of those? We’ll see later tonight.
Lions’ finals matchups
133 pounds: No. 1 Roman Bravo-Young, Penn State vs. No. 3 Vito Arujau, Cornell
157 pounds: No. 2 Levi Haines, PSU vs. No. 1 Austin O’Connor, North Carolina
74 pounds: No. 1 Carter Starocci, Penn State vs. No. 2 Mikey Labriola, Nebraska
184 pounds: No. 3 Aaron Brooks, PSU vs. Parker Keckeisen, Northern Iowa
285 pounds: No. 3 Greg Kerkvliet, PSU vs. No. 1 Mason Parris, Michigan
