UNIVERSITY PARK — It doesn’t get a whole lot more dominant than what Penn State showed on Sunday afternoon against Wyoming. All 10 Nittany Lions that took the mat put up bonus points in a 54-0 shutout of the Cowboys at the Bryce Jordan Center.
The win was Cael Sanderson’s 250th career victory as a head coach – 44 of them coming at Iowa State and the other 206 at Penn State. But in typical Sanderson fashion, he wasn’t even aware of the milestone and was focused on the team.
“It just means that I’m old,” he said. “That’s news to me. We don’t really worry about that stuff.”
The dual meet was moved to the BJC to accommodate the PSU volleyball team, which hosted Creighton in the NCAA Tournament Elite Eight at Rec Hall on Sunday evening.
Sanderson thought perhaps his wrestlers competed with more energy than usual because of the venue change, but 149-pounder Shayne Van Ness and 165-pounder Mitchell Mesenbrink said it made no difference.
“It’s not really our job to worry about where it is,” Mesenbrink said. “It’s just our job to go out there and have fun. Maybe there’s a little more people, but if you’re focused on that, you’re probably not focused on the right things.”
“It’s still just you and one guy out there on the mat, no matter where that mat is,” Van Ness said. “You’re going to go do what you want to do.”
The Nittany Lions recorded five pins, four technical falls, and a major decision on a day that all of PSU’s starters took the mat.
“We wrestled full strength, and I know our opponents weren’t,” Sanderson said. “Our guys just need the matches.
“Wyoming was a little banged up. A couple of their top guys weren’t in their lineup. We really appreciate them still throwing 10 guys out there. That’s not always easy to do if your guys are beat up. But I thought our guys wrestled with solid enthusiasm. The effort was great.
“You have to give a lot of props to Coach (Casey) Cunningham. A lot of leg turns today, and that’s his specialty.”
Add Nittany Sports Now as a preferred source in Google! Click here to add us.Luke Lilledahl got his first action of his career in front of a home crowd, and put it to good use in a 21-5 technical fall in 4:25 over Wyoming’s John Braman. Lilledahl had six takedowns in the bout.
“I thought Luke looked great,” Sanderson said. “He was just kind of flowing around the mat, and putting multiple things together. He worked hard on top. He’s a student of the game, and he’s always trying to get better. He looked really sharp.”
Braeden Davis made it 2 for 2 on technical falls with a 19-3 victory over Stockton O’Brien at 133.
Beau Bartlett (141) and Van Ness (149) picked up the first two falls, with Bartlett’s coming in under a minute and Van Ness’ in the second period. Van Ness gave up the lone takedown of the day to Wyoming’s Gabe Willochell, who is a Greensburg native.
The Cowboys’ Jared Hill put up a good fight against PSU’s Tyler Kasak. The bout at 157 was the only match of the day that went the full seven minutes as Kasak took a 16-3 major decision.
Mitchell Mesenbrink started off the intermission with a 16-0 tech fall over Wyoming’s Cooper Voorhees in a match where Mesenbrink said he applied new techniques recently for the first time in a match.
“I feel like every time I go out there, it’s a new canvas and time to have fun,” Mesenbrink said. “Enjoy it and work on the things I’ve been working on. Progressing as a wrestler never ends. When you feel like it’s done, maybe that’s when it’s time to be done.
“Wrestling is an art and you can constantly keep getting better. I’m not really thinking about tech falls or whatever because I love the battle too. If it goes into triple OT, I love that too.”
Levi Haines (174), Carter Starocci (184), and Josh Barr (197) all rattled off first-period falls before Greg Kerkvliet (285) ended the meet with a 19-3 technical fall.
Before the holiday break, Penn State will wrestle in the Journeymen Duals on Sunday in Nashville. The Lions will take on Binghamton, Arkansas-Little Rock, and Missouri, starting at 3 p.m.
