Penn State Wrestling dominates Collegiate National Duals, taking home title
By Chris Snyder
Recapping the finals of the blue pool of the Collegiate National Duals between Penn State Wrestling and Arizona State
Well, here they are.
By defeating UNI 29-9 and sneaking past No. 11 Cornell 21-16 the prior night, Penn State Wrestling found themselves in the finals of the blue pool where they were set to face undoubtedly their toughest opponent of the year.
The No. 3 ranked tournament team and a team with very few holes in its lineup, Arizona State.
ASU punched their ticket by besting Hofstra 42-4 and No. 7 Virginia Tech 23-13. The Sun Devils are now 3-0 on the season and the Nittany Lions come in at 7-0.
Is anyone else as nervous as me? Oh, it’s just me? Good to know.
Now onto the action!
The dual started out at 125 where ASU jumped out to a 4-0 lead thanks to a major decision by No. 3 ranked grappler Brandon Courtney over Jake Campbell.
The Nittany Lions then clawed their way back to a 7-4 lead as Roman Bravo-Young won via a decision and Nick Lee dominated his way to a major decision.
Next up was yet another ranked matchup as No. 22 Beau Bartlett faced a difficult opponent in No. 5 Kyle Parco. Would it be another nail biter for Bartlett?
Of course it was!
The match went to sudden victory with both wrestlers tied 1-1. And out of nowhere Bartlett gained the advantage, took the throw, and got the takedown to win the match 3-1!! Penn State then extended their lead to 10-4 on the evening.
The match didn’t do anything to help my blood pressure, but I think I should just expect that now anytime Beau toes the line.
Tony Negron and Creighton Edsell both fought hard in the next two matches against top six ranked grapplers, however they each lost in decisions 8-3 and 10-5 respectively. With only four matches remaining in the dual, the score stood at 10-10.
Carter Starocci, Aaron Brooks, and Max Dean then continued their bonus bonanza on the season as Carter took a technical fall (17-2), Brooks got the fall 1:48 into the first period, and Dean grabbed a major decision (10-1).
The results of these matches sealed the victory for Penn State Wrestling, for the night with only one match to go.
With the dual meet out of reach, Arizona State then decided to not go with their No. 3 ranked wrestler at 285 (Cohlton Schultz), instead Chad Porter faced Penn State’s Greg Kerkvliet.
And instead of the match being a stroll through the park, Kerkvliet and Porter banged heads and a break in the action took place with Greg being looked at for a possible concussion and Chad was tended to by the training staff to clean up some bleeding.
Not ideal.
Thankfully, both Kerkvliet and Porter were okay and able to continue.
Kerk Kong went on to win his match 9-0 to earn the major decision and the Nittany Lions clinched the blue pool of the 2021 Collegiate National Duals.
I’ll be honest, I did not have a good feeling about this dual meet.
Penn State Wrestling looked vulnerable last night against Cornell and I didn’t think the Nittany Lions would be able to overcome some of the glaring holes they currently have in their lineup.
But as always, you should never doubt Penn State Wrestling and you should never doubt Cael Sanderson when it comes time for big-time wrestling.
The Nittany Lions took care of business and they sent a message to the rest of the wrestling nation. When the bright lights shine down, they aren’t there for moral victories and second-place finishes.
Wrestlers come to Penn State for one thing, to win titles!!
No. 3 Arizona State 10 No. 2 Penn State 29
125 No. 3 Brandon Courtney (ASU) maj dec over Jake Campbell (PSU) 18-7, ASU 4 PSU 0
133 No. 1 Roman Bravo-Young (PSU) dec over No. 14 Michael McGee (ASU) 6-2, ASU 4 PSU 3
141 No. 1 Nick Lee (PSU) maj dec over No. 15 Jesse Vasquez (ASU) 14-3, ASU 4 PSU 7
149 No. 22 Beau Bartlett (PSU) SV dec over No. 5 Kyle Parco (ASU) 3-1, ASU 4 PSU 10
157 No. 3 Jacori Teemer (ASU) dec over Tony Negron (PSU) 8-3, ASU 7 PSU 10
165 No. 6 Anthony Valencia (ASU) dec over Creighton Edsell (PSU) 10-5, ASU 10 PSU 10
174 No. 1 Carter Starocci (PSU) tech fall over Zane Coleman (ASU) 17-2, ASU 10 PSU 15
184 No. 1 Aaron Brooks (PSU) fall over Josh Nummer (ASU) 1:48, ASU 10 PSU 21
197 No. 3 Max Dean (PSU) maj dec over No. 8 Kordell Norfleet (ASU) 10-1, ASU 10 PSU 25
285 No. 4 Greg Kerkvliet (PSU) maj dec over Chad Porter (ASU) 9-0, ASU 10 PSU 29
Next up for Penn State is an away dual against Big Ten foe Maryland on January 7th at 7:00pm.