At his press conference ahead of Thursday’s season opener against Bloomsburg, Penn State wrestling coach Cael Sanderson revealed some changes to the lineup, which include two wrestlers who are redshirting.
Cole Mirasola, who started at heavyweight for Penn State last season, and William Henckel, a U20 World Silver Medalist, won’t be on the roster this season due to going on a mission trip.
Sanderson also confirmed that one of Penn State’s top stars will be moving up in weight.
WHAT CAEL SAID
“The other thing is that we have two wrestlers this year who are going to take religious mission years: Will Henckel and Cole Mirasola. Both are strong men of faith and felt like this would be a good opportunity for them to go out and share that with the world. Those are their personal decisions, obviously, so they won’t be on our roster this year. You’ll see that when the roster comes out.”
BLAZE MOVING UP
The night before Sanderson addressed the media, the Voice of Penn State wrestling, Jeff Byres, told Zach Seyko of Locked on Nittany Lions that the expectation was for Marcus Blaze to move from 133 pounds to 141. Sanderson confirmed that Tuesday.
“We felt like it was a good move for him personally and obviously a really strong move for our team as well,” Sanderson said.
So who will be moving into 133 for Penn State?
Just a guy who won a Senior World Championship at 20 years old.
His name is Masanosuke Ono, and he is good.
We know Ono is one of the best freestyle wrestlers in the world, but how will be translate to folkstyle?
We might find out pretty soon.
Byers told Seyko that he expects Ono to start at 133 against Bloomsburg, and Sanderson didn’t fully confirm it, but told reporters we’d “possibly” see him Thursday, and if we did, it would indeed be at 133.
Sanderson confirmed most of the Penn State lineup during his availability.
Here’s what it looks like:
125: Luke Lilledahl
Add Nittany Sports Now as a preferred source in Google! Click here to add us.133: Masanosuke Ono/Nate Desmond/Braeden Davis
141: Marcus Blaze
149: Shayne Van Ness
157: Tyler Kasak (returning from redshirt)
165: PJ Duke (moving up from 157)
174: Mitchell Mesenbrink (moving up from 165)
184: Rocco Welsh
197: Josh Barr
Heavyweight: Connor Mirasola
It’s also worth noting that Sanderson didn’t rule out the possibility of Levi Haines returning for a fifth year, despite Haines being ineligible to do so as it stands.
But Penn State can’t control what the ruling is on Haines.
Penn State can control focusing on Bloomsburg and beyond.
“We’re excited,” Sanderson said. “We’ve got a big match this week, and we’re getting started.”
