Third Penn State wrestler enters the transfer portal, per report

Penn State wrestling is fresh off winning a 12th NCAA Championship in the previous 14 tournaments under head coach Cael Sanderson. The Nittany Lions broke their own NCAA points record of 172.5 set last year with 177 points over the weekend in Philadelphia. The good news kept on coming Monday, as the program picked up a massive commitment from 2024 World Champion Japanese wrestler Masanosuke Ono.

But on the other side of the coin, the Nittany Lions have seen several wrestlers leave the program at season’s end. On Monday, Greg Pickel of Blue White Illustrated reported that backup 125-pounder Marco Vespa had entered the transfer portal. Vespa is the third wrestler to transfer in the last week, with Alex Facundo and Gary Steen doing so last Thursday.

Vespa was not officially listed on the roster this season but was on the 2023-24 roster and is 0-8 for his career. He hasn’t competed since his redshirt sophomore season, where he went 0-4 overall and 0-2 in Big Ten duals. The 125-pounder went 0-2 in Binghamton that season, lost to No. 1 Spencer Lee in the BJC dual, and dropped another dual to Indiana in Bloomington. During his redshirt freshman season in 2021-22, Vespa went 0-4 during open tournaments.

Out of Monroe-Woodbury High School (NY), Vespa’s brother, Vinny, wrestled for Hofstra. In high school, Vespa was in the 200-win club and 100-pin club and was a four-time New York state championship qualifier and three-time medalist. He won multiple section titles, earned six varsity letters, and was team captain twice. He also helped lead Monroe-Woodbury to a New York state title.

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