NEWS | Penn State Wrestling Gets Seeds for Nationals

Penn State wrestling has been doing Penn State wrestling things in 2023. Undefeated dual season? Check. Big Ten Regular Season champions? Yep. A Big Ten Championships team title? You can mark that one off too.

But if you’ve followed the Nittany Lions this year, you know all these accomplishments are just stepping stones to the ultimate goal. Penn State wrestling wants to win another team national championship, potentially the 11th in program history and 10th under head coach Cael Sanderson.

This has been the mindset all year long. Even when preparing for the Big Ten Championships last week, Sanderson stated that the program views the conference title as the first two rounds of nationals. Even when celebrating four individual champions and the program’s 7th Big Ten crown last weekend, it was clear that the Lions’ eyes were fixed on Tulsa and the 2023 NCAA Wrestling Championships.

Penn State Wrestling Gets Seeds for Nationals

Brackets for the 2023 NCAA Wrestling Championships were released during a selection show on Wednesday evening. The Nittany Lions had nine wrestlers automatically qualify because of their performances at the Big Ten Championships.

Not surprisingly, Penn State’s Big Ten individual champions received some of the top seeds in their respective weight classes. This includes Roman Bravo-Young, who will wrestle as the No. 1 seed in the 133 weight class. Bravo-Young will be joined by Carter Starocci, who will wrestle as the first overall seed at 174.

Levi Haines continued his ascension as the rising star for Penn State wrestling this season. After burning his redshirt, Haines won a Big Ten title at 157 pounds last weekend by beating then-undefeated Peyton Robb of Nebraska. Haines will wrestle as the No. 2 seed after previously being ranked 7th in the weight class. 

However, several Nittany Lions did get slighted in seeding. Aaron Brooks did not get the top seed at 184 pounds, despite winning back-to-back national championships and three Big Ten titles in the weight class. Instead, Brooks will wrestle as the No. 3 overall seed. Max Dean could not repeat as Big Ten champion at 197 and suffered the consequences in seeding. Dean fell to the No. 9 seed and will have to try and defend his national title from there. 

Other seeds were consistent with the national rankings throughout the season. Greg Kerkvliet will wrestle as the No. 3 seed at 284 pounds. At 141, Beau Bartlett was slotted as the 6th seed. Shayne Van Ness (149) and Alex Facundo (165) will be the No. 13 seeds in their respective weight classes. Penn State did not have a wrestler make nationals at 125 after Gary Steen was defeated early in the Big Ten Championships.

The drive for Penn State wrestling’s 11th national championship begins next week in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The first session starts Thursday, March 16, at 11 AM and runs until the National Finals on Saturday night. All six sessions will be aired live on ESPN.

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