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No. 1 Penn State Wrestling at No. 3 Michigan preview, key matches, predictions

By Chris Snyder

PHILADELPHIA, PA - DECEMBER 3: Carter Starocci of the Penn State Nittany Lions gets his hand raised after defeating Nick Incontrera of the Penn Quakers at The Palestra on the campus of the University of Pennsylvania on December 3, 2021 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Hunter Martin/Getty Images)
PHILADELPHIA, PA - DECEMBER 3: Carter Starocci of the Penn State Nittany Lions gets his hand raised after defeating Nick Incontrera of the Penn Quakers at The Palestra on the campus of the University of Pennsylvania on December 3, 2021 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Hunter Martin/Getty Images) /
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Penn State Wrestling
Max Dean of the Penn State Nittany Lions (Photo by Hunter Martin/Getty Images) /

Key Matches vs. Michigan

149 – No. 16 Kanen Storr vs No. 19 Beau Bartlett

Hey, look at that, Bartlett made the list again!

And until Beau can shake the label of being a wrestling enigma, he’s going to appear in this section going forward. Because in tight dual meets it is absolutely imperative that guys who have a chance to win their match, actually win.

Beau continues to prove he can beat anyone in the country and he continues to prove he is susceptible to losing matches against lesser opponents.

Case in point was his last match against Rutgers’ Mike Van Brill, a 4-3 loss in TB-2. Granted he was partially screwed by Angel Rivera, but when he officiates a dual someone is bound to be ripped off at some point.

Storr and Bartlett have yet to face each other in their careers, however, it would be a huge lift for Penn State if Beau can pull out a victory. A three-point swing in a close dual meet is invaluable to whichever team benefits from it.

133 – No. 8 Dylan Ragusin vs No. 1 Roman Bravo-Young

There will be precious few opportunities for either team to win bonus points in the dual, and this matchup represents one of them.

Ragusin and RBY have faced each other once before with Bravo-Young coming out on top 9-2 in a decision from early last season. However, a couple of things have changed since then.

One of them is the fact RBY cemented himself as the best wrestler in the nation at 133 by winning the 2021 NCAA title. The other is the fact Dylan has had another year to improve his wrestling, train his body, and further progress his mindset in matches.

Make no mistake though, RBY is a clear favorite in this match and his speed and quickness are almost impossible to defend. And if he can land a flurry of shots in this match and take either a major or a tech fall, then it will be huge for the team to score at the end of the night.

Bonus points are king.

285 – No. 2 Mason Parris vs No. 4 Greg Kerkvliet

Oh boy, this one is going to be a doozy.

In this match we have the immovable object (Parris) matched up against the irresistible force (Kerkvliet) and something is going to give.

As you can see above, Parris is a perfect 7-0 on the season and he’s been able to capture bonus points in all seven matches. Kerkvliet is also perfect on the season with a 9-0 record and he has secured bonus points in all but one match.

The last time these two locked horns in folkstyle was back in the 1st round of the Big Ten Championships where Parris won a major decision 11-3 over Kerklviet. But the last time they faced each other on a wrestling mat, Greg was victorious 4-4 in a freestyle match (last wrestler to earn a point wins in a tie) in the US Wrestling Qualifier back in April 2021.

As noted several times this season, Kerkvliet looks like he’s a different wrestler than the one Penn State fans saw last season. He looks every bit the monster he was in the NLWC tournament back in the fall of 2019.

And if Kerkvliet is able to topple Parris, it would be his first loss to anyone not named “Gable Steveson” since March 21, 2019. That’s almost three years ago.

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