10:30 a.m. We are here for Day 2 of the Big Ten Championships at the Xfinity Center in College Park, Md. The Nittany Lions have seven of the 10 wrestlers in the finals. Aaron Nagao and Tyler Kasak will wrestle in the consolation semifinals starting at noon, but the other seven will wait until 4:30 p.m.
There will be a lot of down time, but we’ll update this file throughout the day.
1 p.m. – Aaron Nagao ran out to a 7-1 lead, but needed to hold on to get a 9-5 victory over Maryland’s Braxton Brown. Nagao moves into the third place bout where he will wrestle Nebraska’s Jacob Van Dee. Van Dee beat Iowa’s Brody Teske, 9-6, in sudden victory.
1:15 p.m – Right after Nagao got off the mat, Tyler Kasak wrestled Iowa’s Caleb Rathjen in the 149-pound consy semis. Nagao took a 3-1 lead after two periods, but exploded for five points for an 8-1 victory over Rathje. Kasak will take on Maryland’s Ethen MIller in the third place bout. Miller beat Ohio State’s Dylan D’Emilio, 4-3, in the consolation semis.
4:45 p.m. – Braeden Davis started off the finals in a big way for the Nittany Lions with an 8-1 victory over MInnesota’s Patrick McKee. Davis got a big three near fall points in the second period before also picking up a takedown late in the match. Pretty incredible considering we weren’t sure exactly who would start at 125 before the season.
4:55 p.m. – Another incredible performance from Nagao as he got the pin in 1:51 on Nebraska’s Jacob Van Dee. Nagao gets a third place finish after getting second behind Roman Bravo-Young last year. If you’re keeping track at home, the Lions are 4-for-4 on the day.
5:20 p.m. – Penn State just took its first loss of the day as Beau Bartlett dropped a 4-1 decision to Ohio State’s Jesse Mendez in the 141-pound finals. It is Bartlett’s first loss of the season.
5:30 p.m. – Tyler Kasak nearly had a fall of Maryland’s Ethen Miller in the first minute, but Miller survived the pin attempt. He couldn’t survive the second turn though as Kasak got the fall in 2:37 for third place. What a season for a guy that wasn’t the starter in the beginning.
5:50 p.m. – Make it two Big Ten championships for Levi Haines. He needed sudden victory, but he got the takedown early in the extra period to get a 4-1 win over Michigan’s Will Lewan. It is likely Haines will be the 1-seed in Kansas City in a couple weeks.
6:05 p.m. – Just when it looked like Mitchell Mesenbrink was out of it, he went on a tear. Down 9-2 in the second period, Mesenbrink stormed back behind a reversal and back points to win, 13-11, over Wisconsin’s Dean Hamiti. It was definitely the match of the day so far.
6:55 p.m. – Catching up a bit after doing some interviews, Bernie Truax lost a tough 8-1 bout in sudden victory to Minnesota’s Isaiah Salazar. Truax had to fight off getting pinned in the extra period. After that, Aaron Brooks dominated his way to a 19-3 technical fall over Iowa’s Zach Glazier for his fourth Big Ten title.
7:10 p.m. – Greg Kerkvliet finished off the day with the Lions going 5-for-7 in the Big Ten finals. Kerkvliet defeated Ohio State’s Nick Feldman, 9-3.
