Marcus Blaze got back to winning in a big way for Penn State wrestling early Thursday afternoon.
Less than two weeks after Blaze lost his Big Ten championship match to Ohio State’s Ben Davino, Blaze, seeded No. 3, took on Oregon State’s Gabe Whisenhunt (No. 30) in the first round.
It wasn’t a contest.
Blaze rolled to a 17-2 tech fall in a bout that took five minutes and 30 seconds and giving Penn State five team points to start the day.
The true freshman came to Penn State as one of the most hyped recruits in program history.
The Perrysburg, Ohio star won his fourth state championship last year and did so jumping up from 138 to 150 pounds. This versatility is part of why Blaze started at Penn State right away. In college, everybody knew Blaze would be competing at either 133 and 141.
Blaze ended up starting out his career at 133, and until the Big Ten final, he was unbeaten.
Add Nittany Sports Now as a preferred source in Google! Click here to add us.He came into the NCAA Championships 21-1 with more than 77% of his wins being of the bonus point variety.
In his loss to Davino— a 2-2 nail biter that Davino won after two tiebreakers due to having more riding time— some felt that Blaze wasn’t aggressive enough, which led to the low scoring.
That wasn’t an issue in Blaze’s first round match.
To win a national title as a true freshman, there’s a good chance Blaze sees Davino again. Blaze won the first bout (Feb. 13 dual meet at the Bryce Jordan Center) in a first tiebreaker 3-2.
Blaze could well wrestle Jax Forrest, Oklahoma State’s No. 1 seed who is also a true freshman.
