Takeaways: Penn State wrestling rolls No. 5 Michigan

No. 1 Penn State wrestling moved to 5-0 (2-0 Big Ten) on the season after a dominating 27-9 win over No. 5 Michigan. The Nittany Lions have now won 49 consecutive duals under Cael Sanderson. Penn State cruised to an emphatic victory even without its full lineup. What does this mean for the Nittany Lions moving forward, and what else did we learn from Friday night’s win against the Wolverines?

Haines grinds out win against Lewan

No. 1 Levi Haines and No. 9 Will Lewan met last year in the BJC dual, where Haines won in overtime. On Friday, this was where the dual started and, quite honestly, was anticlimactic for much of it.

After both wrestlers were given a stall warning in period one, it was clear that neither side could get any solid offensive shots in. Haines then escaped in period two and Lewan in period three to deadlock the score at 1-1. If you watched closely, though, Haines was consistently trying to take shots while Lewan remained on the defensive the entire match. This resulted in Lewan being called for stalling with about 20 seconds remaining to give Haines the 2-1 victory.

It wasn’t the most dominant win for Haines, but he got the job done against Lewan, who was on the defensive the entire match. Not every match is going to be flashy, but in the Big Ten, you take wins however you can get them.

Mesenbrink dominates top 10 clash

No. 9 Mitchell Mesenbrink has been absolutely rocketing up the rankings the past few weeks after defeating multiple ranked opponents in a row. The matchup with No. 7 Cameron Amine was the highest-ranked opponent of the season so far for the redshirt freshman. Mesenbrink was on the attack early, consistently pushing Amine to the edge of the circle. Ultimately it resulted in a stall call in both the first and second period that gave the Mesenbrink the lead.

Mesenbrink finally broke through for a takedown late in the second to take a 5-1 lead. The third period opened with an escape for the Nittany Lion, and then once again, Amine was called for stalling, this time resulting in two points for Mesenbrink. The referee even told Amine that if there was to be a four stalling, he would have been disqualified.

Mesenbrink would tack on another takedown and a point of riding time for a dominant 12-1 major decision. There isn’t a question that the redshirt freshman is now a contender at 165 this season. He will get another chance at another top-10 opponent if he gets the start on Sunday against No. 10 Caleb Fish of Michigan State.

Kerkvliet cruises in top 5 win

No. 1 Greg Kerkvliet cruised to an 8-3 win over No. 4 Lucas Davison to improve to 7-0 on the season. Kerkvliet jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead after a first period takedown. After starting on the bottom for period two, the Penn State heavyweight quickly escaped and picked up another takedown on Davison. Kerkvliet picked up some riding time to close out the win.

Davison is the highest-ranked Big Ten opponent behind Kerkvliet in the most recent InterMat rankings. The fact that the Penn State heavyweight made such easy work of him is promising for his postseason run. We also can’t forget that Greg Kerkvliet had an 18-2 tech fall victory over No. 2 Wyatt Hendrickson of Air Force in the NWCA All-Star Classic. That doesn’t count for or against either’s record, but it showed just how far the rest of the pack is.

Penn State true freshman pulls off top 5 upset to remain unbeaten

No. 14 Braeden Davis entered Friday night’s match as the last remaining undefeated wrestler in the 125-pound weight class. After a 5-1 upset win over No. 5 Michael DeAugustino, he is on track to enter the top 10 in the upcoming rankings.

The two wrestlers were scoreless after one period. But in the second, Davis picked up 1:46 of riding time before DeAugustino picked up the escape with 10 seconds remaining in the period. Davis then escaped in the third in what initially had 59 seconds of riding time in his favor. Penn State challenged the clock, and it was determined that there was exactly one minute on the clock. Talk about just getting gout in time!

With DeAugustino becoming more aggressive knowing he needed to score, Davis was able to use that against him and pick up the match-clinching takedown with eight seconds left for the 5-1 upset win. The match showed just how unpredictable 125 has been this season. Braeden Davis has just as good of a chance as anyone to be standing on top of the podium in March.

Nagao pinned by Ragusin in overtime

No. 4 Aaron Nagao suffered his second loss of the season when he was pinned by No. 6 Dylan Ragusin in overtime. Ragusin now improves to 17-0 on the season and will make his way into the top five this week.

Nagao got an early takedown to take the first lead at 3-0, but Ragusin responded, and the match was tied 4-4 after one. Nagao then escaped in period two to take a 5-4 lead. Penn State challenged for a reversal, but the call was confirmed as just an escape. Ragusin got the riding time over one minute, and it was 5-5 heading into sudden victory.

In overtime, Nagao quite simply got himself in a bad spot after grabbing the right leg of Ragusin as he was flipped onto his back with no way out. It is the sort of thing that can happen in wrestling, even for those as good as Nagao. His inability to finish shots allowed Ragusin to stay in the match, and then one bad chance ended it. Ultimately, these are the top two Big Ten wrestlers at 133, so it isn’t inconceivable that we could see this match again in the conference tournament.

Penn State wrestling dominates without full lineup

Penn State Wrestling once again dominated a top-five opponent without its top lineup. No. 1 Carter Starocci didn’t start at 174 due to “health complications.” That meant Terrell Barraclough moved up from 165 to wrestle No. 4 Shane Griffith, fighting hard in a 2-1 loss. Both 149-pounders, No. 14 Tyler Kasak and No. 6 Austin Gomez, were unavailable Friday as well. That was one of the intriguing matchups coming in, mostly due to the uncertainty of just how good Kasak can be this season.

The Nittany Lions got upsets from Mesenbrink and Davis. Both could potentially be in or close to the top five at their respective weight classes after this weekend. The only upset was the pin of Aaron Nagao at 133. A match that if Nagao got another chance, it wouldn’t be inconceivable that he could win.

Overall, Penn State wrestling probably saw its strength as a team go up. The list of contenders has seemingly increased, and there is a legitimate chance that the Nittany Lions have all 10 wrestlers achieve All-American status by the end of the NCAA Championships.

For now, Penn State will have one more road dual this weekend, traveling to an overmatched Michigan State on Sunday in what could be an opportunity to see more younger wrestlers.

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