BREAKING: Penn State wrestling earns multiple top seeds at NCAA Championships

Penn State wrestling is fresh off its second consecutive Big Ten Championships win last weekend. The Nittany Lions now turn their attention to Kansas City in hopes of capturing a third straight team title at the NCAA Championships next week. On Wednesday night, we learned where each Penn State wrestler would be seeded as each makes their push for a national title.

Penn State wrestling earns four top seeds for NCAA Championships

The Nittany Lions put together the most dominant conference tournament of the Cael Sanderson era at the Big Ten Championships in College Park. Penn State wrestling had five individual champions crowned, with nine wrestlers finishing higher than third place. The Nittany Lions set a program record with 170.5 team points.

The only weight class where the Nittany Lions didn’t advance was at 174 pounds, where Carter Starocci medically forfeited out of the tournament. But both Starocci and Cael Sanderson have confirmed that the senior is good to go for the NCAA Championships. The Erie native will look to cement his place in wrestling lore, becoming one of the select few four-time National Champions in the sport’s history. Starocci was a no-doubt No. 1 seed before his injury, but instead earned an at-large bid after sitting out at the Big Tens.

Wednesday evening, the NCAA revealed the seeding for next week’s Nationals. As expected, it was a strong showing for Penn State wrestling, with four Nittany Lions earning No. 1 seeds in their weight classes. Overall, the lowest-seeded Penn State wrestler was Aaron Nagao (133) at No. 10. The biggest surprise was three-time NCAA Champion Carter Starocci ranked No. 9 at 174 pounds.

The Nittany Lions will compete for their third straight National Championship and 11th under Cael Sanderson starting on March 21. The NCAA Championships will be broadcast on ESPNU/ESPN+.

125: No. 1 Braeden Davis 20-2

Braeden Davis is coming into the NCAA Championships wrestling the best he has all season. The true freshman is fresh off winning a conference title and defeating multiple top-five wrestlers to take the top of the podium. Davis will be considered one of the top contenders in what has been a chaotic weight class, where it appears 15 different wrestlers have a shot to win the national title.

First-round opponent: No. 32 Mike Joyce 8-7 (BRWN)/No. 33 Tristan Lujan 16-15 (MSU)

133: No. 10 Aaron Nagao 14-5

Aaron Nagao had a solid Big Ten Championships, finishing with a pin for third place. The Minnesota transfer has had an up-and-down year compared to his preseason projections. However, it looks like Nagao is trending in the right direction in the postseason and could be a dark horse to make a deep tournament run like he did in 2023.

First-round opponent: No. 23 Marlon Yarbrough 15-7 (UVA)

141: No. 2 Beau Bartlett 20-1

Beau Bartlett finished the regular season undefeated and was ranked No. 1 in the country heading into the Big Ten Championships. The senior was then upset in the Big Ten finals by Jesse Mendez of Ohio State. Bartlett will be favored to make at least the semifinals, and probably even the finals at Nationals. He could even face Mendez for the third time this season.

First-round opponent: No. 31 Kai Owen 17-11 (COL)

149: No. 7 Tyler Kasak 17-4

Tyler Kasak was thrust into a starting role this season after a season-ending injury to Shayne Van Ness earlier in the year. Wrestling up from 141, the true freshman has gone above and beyond what many expected, finishing third in the Big Ten Championships. While winning the National Championship doesn’t look likely this season, making All-American is certainly a possibility.

First-round opponent: No. 26 Jaden Abas 16-7 (STAN)

157: No. 1 Levi Haines 18-0

Levi Haines is looking to finish the job this year after finishing runner-up during his freshman season. The sophomore is undefeated this year and is coming off his second consecutive Big Ten title. Haines started the year a little slower than expected, but has ramped it up in recent weeks and is the favorite to take home the national title next Saturday night.

First-round opponent: No. 32 Isaac Wilcox 20-10 (OSU)/ No. 33 Nick Stampoulos 22-17 (BUFF)

165: No. 2 Mitchell Mesenbrink 22-0

Mitchell Mesenbrink has been one of the most exciting wrestlers in the country this season. That was on full display on Sunday evening, when the freshman came back from an 11-6 deficit to defeat No. 4 Dean Hamiti (WISC) 13-11 to win the Big Ten Championship. While Keegan O’Toole is still the odds-on favorite to win this weight class, Mesenbrink is certainly in the conversation.

First-round opponent: No. 31 Maxx Mayfield 15-15 (NW)

174: No. 9 Carter Starocci 11-2

Carter Starocci has been one of the biggest topics in the sport the past week. After injury defaulting out of the Big Ten Championships, the star wrestler publicly vented his frustrations. However, Starocci will look for his fourth NCAA title this year, and will do it without being a top seed. Since he had to take two losses in the Big Tens, he fell a few spots in seeding. But this is more of a bad draw for everyone else in the bracket than it is for him.

First-round opponent: No. 24 Andrew Sparks 12-8 (MINN)

184: No. 6 Bernie Truax 14-4

Bernie Truax had a solid Big Ten Championships, finishing runner-up and upsetting Lenny Pinto (NEB) in the semifinals. Truax has been solid this season, but hasn’t quite looked like the national contender many expected. He will be favored to at least become an All-American, but whether he can make a deep run to the finals remains to be seen.

First-round opponent: No. 27 Cameron Pine 23-6 (CLAR)

197: No. 1 Aaron Brooks 17-0

Aaron Brooks has been dominant all season, and has picked up bonus points in 16 out of his 17 matches. The one match he didn’t was against Zach Glazier of Iowa during dual season, an opponent he beat by a 19-3 tech fall in the Big Ten finals. This weight class starts and ends with Aaron Brooks.

First-round opponent: No. 32 John Crawford 22-12 (F&M)/ No. 33 Evan Bates 12-13 (NW)

285: No. 1 Greg Kerkvliet 15-0

Greg Kerkvliet has been the country’s No. 1 heavyweight all season. He will be a heavy favorite to win the national title, with the biggest competition being fellow undefeated wrestler Younger Bastida (ISU). Kerkvliet just gave up his first takedown of the season in the Big Ten finals, just to show how dominant he has been. He should be picking up a bunch of bonus points for Penn State wrestling in the NCAA Championships.

First-round opponent: No. 32 Nick Willham 12-10 (IND)/ No. 33 Jordan Greer 14-8 (OHIO)

Thank you for reading Basic Blues Nation, the market’s fastest-growing Penn State sports outlet. Please follow us on Facebook and Twitter for the latest news and insights on your favorite Penn State athletics. For feedback, questions, concerns, or to apply for a writing position, please email us at [email protected] or direct message us on our social media. Also, be sure to check out our new site shop. It’s due to your support that we can proudly claim a readership of over 3.5 million in our first year of operation.