Making The Case: Levi Haines will start at 157 for Penn State Wrestling

3. Levi Haines is darn good

This one probably falls under the “Captain Obvious” category considering Cael Sanderson wanted Haines to wrestle at Penn State. And if I said it once then I’ll say it a thousand times: If Cael Sanderson wants you to wrestle for him then you are darn good.

But let’s just take a quick dive into Haines’ accomplishments up until this point. And remember, he’s technically still only a high schooler.

Levi is a three-time Pennsylvania state finalist and he won the state title in 2021 at 145 pounds. And while these starts are good, they aren’t up to the standard “4x state champion” label you see for most of the top tier Penn State commits. But as I’ve alluded to, Haines forwent his senior season of high school wrestling to focus on training and getting ready for the college environment. Had he wrestled his senior year then it’s almost a foregone conclusion he would have locked up another PA state title.

Haines also likes to dabble in the world of freestyle wrestling, which generally goes hand in hand with folkstyle guys.

And with a pin in the third and final match against Iowa’s Aiden Riggins, Haines captured the 2022 Freestyle Cadel National title at 71kg. So before setting foot on a college campus, Levi Haines is a national champion.

How about them apples?

With his Cadel National title secured, Haines earned a berth into the 2022 Cadet World Championships in Budapest, Hungary. Levi cruised through his first match via a pin however he lost his second match on a controversial no-call late in his second match to Turkey’s Cengizhan Dogan. Haines’ Cadet World Championship run then ended as Dogan ended up losing in the quarterfinals.

Do you think Levi Haines learned anything from these experiences? Heck, when I was Levi’s age an adventure consisted of going to the Little Dipper and trying a new flavor of ice cream. Haines traveled to Hungary and competed against the best Cadet wrestlers in the world.

There’s also another small item to note regarding Levi Haines and his wrestling abilities. For the past several years, his family has been busing him up to Centre Hall every weekend to train at David Taylor’s M2 Training Center. If you want to be the best, then you need to train with best. And David Taylor is about as good as they come in the world of wrestling.

Do you still need any more convincing Levi Haines is ready for this year?