Penn State Wrestling: 5 takeaways from the Journeymen Duals

Takeaway No. 4 Beau Bartlett appears to be the guy at 149

When it came time for me to try and predict the Nittany Lions starting lineup for this season, I chose this guy as the starter at 149.

While Bartlett looked good in parts of last year’s shortened season, he ended up getting the short end of the stick in several matches in the B1G Championships. In taking those tough L’s, Bartlett, unfortunately, was unable to qualify for the NCAA Championships at 149.

Later in the spring, Bartlett was crowned the champion at 65 kg in the UWW Junior National Freestyle Championships. Which makes sense because Beau is a phenomenal wrestler. But it also made more sense because when you convert 65 kg to pounds it’s roughly 143 lbs. And I felt from watching him wrestle at 149 last year that he would probably excel by dropping down to 141 and take over for Nick Lee in the future. Bartlett appeared to lack the strength and reach when compared to other 149 pounds.

To muddy the waters even further at 149 was the fact top recruit Shayne Van Ness was projected the wrestle somewhere between 149 and 157 in college. Would Cael give him a go at 149 for this season? Or would he go with someone with more experience, like Terrell Barraclough?

Well for now these questions have all been answered as Beau Bartlett competed in both dual meet matches yesterday evening at 149.

In his opening match against Sacred Heart’s Shaun Williams, Bartlett was simply too much to handle as he earned the major decision 12-3.

But Beau’s second match of the evening was not going to be a cakewalk. Standing across the mat from him was Oregon State’s super senior and No. 24 ranked Cory Crooks. In perhaps the match of the night, Bartlett bested Crooks 1-0 in one of the tightest matches I’ve seen in a while.

Beau took a 1-0 advantage into the third period, however, Crooks owned a 1:31 riding time advantage. Bartlett had to keep Crooks on the mat for at least 0:32 seconds to start the third period to get his riding time below one minute, and he couldn’t afford to get taken to the mat.

In amazing fashion, Bartlett did just that in cutting Crooks’ riding time advantage below one minute and the match ended with a 1-0 decision victory for Beau.

I for one am excited to see what he can do with a full season under his belt.