Penn State won all but one of its bouts at the NCAA wrestling tournament on Thursday night at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit, Mich. Cael Sanderson’s Nittany Lions sit in first place after Day 1.
At the 133-pound weight class, No. 1 seed and defending National Champion Roman Bravo-Young pinned No. 16 Josh Koderhandt of Navy in the second period. Bravo-Young hasn’t lost a bout his year and is expected to win another national title.
Nick Lee, who is the No. 1 seed in the 141 pound weight class, got out to a 4-1 lead in the first period over Quinn Kinner of Rider. Lee then got two takedowns in the second to enhance his lead to 8-2. Lee ended up winning the match convincingly, 9-2. No. 15 seed Kizhan Clarke from North Carolina upset No. 2 Jaydin Eierman of Iowa 4-2 in sudden victory. It was expected that Eierman would meet Lee in the final.
Ohio State’s No. 4 Sammy Sasso defeated No. 13 Beau Bartlett in the 149-pound weight class, 6-4. Barlett was the only Nittany Lion to lose on Thursday night.
In the 174-pound weight class, No. 1 Carter Starocci defeated Adam Kemp of Cal Poly, 10-4.
Starocci got another a takedown midway through the second period to enhance his lead to 5-1 and preceded to dominate the rest of the match.
At the 184-pound weight class, No. 2 Aaron Brooks faced No. 15 Hunter Bolen from Virginia Tech, and it wasn’t even a contest, as Brooks won 9-0 in a major decision victory.
No. 1 Max Dean almost got upset by No. 17 Jay Aiello of Virginia at 197 pounds, but pulled away with a 4-2 victory. In the third period, Dean trailed 2-1 but got two points off escapes. Dean got the other point in riding time.
At 285, No. 4 Greg Kerkvliet defeated No. 13 Tate Orndorff of Ohio State convincingly, 10-1.
