Penn State Wrestling: full results from the Collegiate Wrestling Duals
By Chris Snyder
Recapping Monday night’s wrestling action as Penn State took care of the University of Northern Iowa 29-9 and No. 11 Cornell 21-16 in the first day of the Collegiate Wrestling Duals
Penn State Wrestling travelled down to Niceville, FL to compete in the 2021 Collegiate Wrestling Duals, a massive wrestling tournament put on by Journeyman Wrestling.
The tournament featured some powerhouse wrestling programs with Iowa, Penn State Wrestling, Arizona State, NC State, Virginia Tech, and Missouri taking part in the action.
The Nittany Lions were matched up in the blue pool and paired up against the University of Northern Iowa and Cornell in their respective pod. On the other side of the blue pool in their own pod was Arizona State, Virginia Tech, and Hofstra.
Penn State Wrestling’s first dual against UNI started at 7pm and the dual kicked off at 125.
Brody Teske kicked things off with a decision win over Jake Campbell to get UNI on the board 3-0, however the Nittany Lions stormed back to win the next three matches as RBY earned a fall, Nick Lee won a major decision, and Beau Bartlett fought out a decision. Penn State flipped the early lead for UNI into a 13-3 lead of their own.
UNI then took each of the next two matches at 157 and 165 to shrink the Penn State lead to 13-9.
But the big guns were next, and they did not disappoint.
Carter Starocci won a major decision and in the match of the dual, Aaron Brooks once again proved he’s one of the best in the nation as he pulled out a thrilling decision victory (3-2) against a top 4 wrestler (Parker Keckeisen).
Max Dean pitched in a technical fall and Greg Kerkvliet added the cherry on top with a major decision and a 29-9 victory for Penn State.
UNI 9 No. 2 Penn State 29
125 No. 10 Brody Teske (UNI) dec over Jake Campbell (PSU) 2-0, UNI 3 PSU 0
133 No. 1 Roman Bravo-Young (PSU) fall over Kyle Biscoglia (UNI) 4:34, UNI 3 PSU 6
141 No. 1 Nick Lee (PSU) maj dec over Cael Happel (UNI) 18-4, UNI 3 PSU 10
149 No. 22 Beau Bartlett (PSU) dec over Triston Lara (UNI) 4-3, UNI 3 PSU 13
157 Derek Holschlag (UNI) dec over Tony Negron (PSU) 5-2, UNI 6 PSU 13
165 No. 23 Austin Yant (UNI) dec over Creighton Edsell (PSU) 4-1, UNI 9 PSU 13
174 No. 1 Carter Starocci (PSU) maj dec over Pat Schoenfelder (UNI) 13-4, UNI 9 PSU 17
184 No. 1 Aaron Brooks (PSU) dec over No. 4 Parker Keckeisen (UNI) 3-2, UNI 9 PSU 20
197 No. 3 Max Dean (PSU) tech fall over Noah Glasser (UNI) 19-3, UNI 9 PSU 25
285 No. 4 Greg Kerkvliet (PSU) maj dec over No. 21 Carter Isley (UNI) 12-1, UNI 9 PSU 29
Next up for the Nittany Lions was perhaps their toughest opponent so far in the 2021-2022 season, No. 11 Cornell.
This dual meet featured 15 ranked wrestlers and six ranked matchups.
And as with the dual against UNI, this also started at 125.
Cornell jumped out to a big lead early with a fall in the first match, however RBY and Nick Lee gave Penn State Wrestling the lead back with two major decisions and a 8-6 score.
Beau Bartlett then fell to the No. 1 grappler at 149 (Yianni Diakomihalis) via a major decision and Joe Lee made his season debut at 157. But it wasn’t the debut Lee was hoping for as he dropped a decision and Cornell opened up a 13-8 lead over Penn State.
At the halfway mark, the Nittany Lions were once again trailing with hopes of a late comeback as they have had pulled off against Penn and Lehigh.
Creighton Edsell then dropped a really tough 7-5 decision and Cornell extended their lead to 16-8 with Penn State’s talented upper weights left to go.
Carter Starocci then pulled out the king of all gut checks to ride out his opponent for the entire 3rd period and earn the 3-2 decision and Penn State cut the lead to 16-11 in favor of Cornell.
Aaron Brooks was up next in yet another ranked matchup. And he gave the Nittany Lions a much needed shot in the arm with a major decision to narrow the lead to 16-15 with only two matches remaining.
Was Max Dean up to the challenge?
Of course he was!
Dean pulled out a closer than expected decision of his own (4-2), and Penn State snagged their first lead of the dual 18-16 with one match to go.
The entire dual match then rested on the broad shoulders of Greg Kerkvliet.
And he pulled out the a massive decision (5-0) to secure the dual against Cornell 21-16.
What a night of wrestling!!
No. 11 Cornel 16 No. 2 Penn State 21
125 No. 5 Vito Arujau (CNL) fall over Jake Campbell (PSU) 0:58, CNL 6 PSU 0
133 No. 1 Roman Bravo-Young (PSU) maj dec over Dominic LaJoie (CNL) 21-9, CNL 6 PSU 4
141 No. 1 Nick Lee (PSU) maj dec over Cole Handlovic (CNL) 13-3, CNL 6 PSU 8
149 No. 1 Yianni Diakomihalis (CNL) maj dec over No. 22 Beau Bartlett (PSU) 11-3, CNL 10 PSU 8
157 No. 25 Colton Yapoujian (CNL) dec over Joe Lee (PSU) 4-2, CNL 13 PSU 8
165 No. 9 Julian Ramirez (CNL) dec over Creighton Edsell (PSU) 7-5, CNL 16 PSU 8
174 No. 1 Carter Starocci (PSU) dec over No. 12 Chris Foca (CNL) 3-2, CNL 16 PSU 11
184 No. 1 Aaron Brooks (PSU) maj dec over No. 15 Jonathan Loew (CNL) 15-3, CNL 16 PSU 15
197 No. 3 Max Dean (PSU) dec over No. 19 Jacob Cardenas (CNL) 4-2, CNL 16 PSU 18
285 No. 4 Greg Kerkvliet (PSU) dec over No. 18 Lewis Fernandes (CNL) 5-0, CNL 16 PSU 21