4 Penn State takeaways from the Lions' dominating Day 1 at the NCAA Wrestling Championships

Penn State wrestling closed out Day 1 of the 2024 NCAA Wrestling Championships with a dominating performance in the second session. The Nittany Lions advanced all eight championship bracket wrestlers into the quarterfinals. And, Aaron Nagao and Tyler Kasak kept their tournaments alive at 133 and 149 pounds, respectively, by earning consolation bracket victories. It means that head coach Cael Sanderson’s team leads the team race and is still capable of becoming the second team to ever have 10 All-Americans heading into day two. That action begins at Noon ET on Friday. Before that, we have takeaways from Thursday’s evening session below.

How far can Starocci go?

Penn State star Carter Starocci made clear before the tournament that he’d happily wrestle the entire bracket if that’s what it would take to win his fourth national title. It signals his desire to compete and win. The 174-pound Nittany Lion is wrestling with a sleeve over either a brace or some other protective measure for his injured right leg. It’s going too far to say he’s wrestling with just one leg. But, it doesn’t appear to be too far from the truth. The senior surrendered his first two takedowns of the season on Thursday, one in his first round match and another in his second. Yet, he moved on initially by beating Andrew Sparks of Minnesota 12-6. Then, he trailed Adam Kemp of Cal Poly 3-0 early in the first period but quickly escaped, scored a takedown of his own, and ultimately won, 5-3. 

With that said, it’s clear that Starocci, at least on Thursday, did not have the motion and aggression that he usually does. Was that a day one survival tactic? We’ll find out early on Friday with No. 1 Mehki Lewis of Virginia Tech waiting on deck in a quarterfinal bout.

All seems well with Davis

We noted in our session one takeaways that there appeared to possibly be something wrong with freshman Braeden Davis’ hand. He repeatedly fidgeted with it during his first bout. But, there were no signs of issues during his second round 2-1 decision victory over No. 17 Brett Ungar of Cornell that included a dominating third period ride out.

Two Nittany Lions bounce back

We noted in our session one recaps that Nagao and Kasak have a long ways to go if they want to be All-Americans. Neither seemed bothered by that fact in their first elimination match on Thursday night. Nagao showcased an aggressive, attacking style that was missing in the first round en route to a 16-1 technical fall triumph over No. 26 Kade Moore of Missouri. And, Kasak was aggressive early and pushing but unable to secure a tech fall late to instead win by major decision, 14-15, over No. 23 Drew Roberts of Minnesota.

Both will be back in action Friday morning. They must win three more matches each to reach the medal round.

Penn State cranks up the bonus point machine

Penn State has won 10 national titles under Cael Sanderson, including two in a row, because it has a tremendous coaching staff leading extremely gifted wrestlers. It’s also been so successful because that latter group is coached to go for bonus points when possible so that individual success leads to team success. Thursday was a good example of that. Beau Bartlett and Aaron Brooks both scored second-round falls, and the Lions had seven technical fall wins and four major decision victories. 

Here are the team scores at the end of day one:

1. Penn State — 34.5

T2. Iowa — 24.5

T2. Iowa State — 24.5

T4. Michigan — 22

T4. N.C. State — 22

Complete Penn State second round results

125 pounds: No. 1 Braeden Davis, Penn State d. No. 17 Brett Ungar, Cornell, 2-1

133 pounds: No. 10 Aaron Nagao, PSU tf. No. 26 Kade Moore, Missouri, 16-1 (5:00) (consolation bracket)

141 pounds: No. 2 Beau Bartlett, Penn State F No. 15 Mitch Moore, Rutgers, 5:09

149 pounds: No. 7 Tyler Kasak, PSU md. No. 23 Drew Roberts, Minnesota, 14-5 (consolation)

157 pounds: No. 1 Levi Haines, PSU vs. No. 16 Teague Travis, Oklahoma State

165 pounds: No. 2 Mitchell Mesenbrink, Penn State md. No. 15 Brevin Cassella, Binghamton, 11-3

174 pounds: No. 9 Carter Starocci, PSU d. No. 8 Adam Kemp, Cal Poly, 5-3

184 pounds: No. 6 Bernie Truax, Penn State d. No. 11 Colton Hawks, Missouri, 4-2

197 pounds: No. 1 Aaron Brooks, PSU F No. 17 Joseph Novak, Wyoming, 2:20

285 pounds: No. 1 Greg Kerkvliet, Penn State md. No. 17 Grady Greiss, Navy, 9-1

Who does each Nittany Lion wrestle first on Friday?

Listed matchups are championship bracket quarterfinals unless otherwise noted. 

125 pounds: No. 1 Braeden Davis, Penn State vs. No. 8 Richard Figueroa, Arizona State

133 pounds: No. 10 Aaron Nagao, PSU vs. No. 24 Julian Chlebove, Arizona State (consolation bracket)

141 pounds: No. 2 Beau Bartlett, Penn State vs. No. 26 Vance Vombaur, Minnesota

149 pounds: No. 7 Tyler Kasak, PSU vs. No. 9 Ethan Fernandez, Cornell (consolation bracket)

157 pounds: No. 1 Levi Haines, PSU vs. No. 8 Peyton Robb, Nebraska

165 pounds: No. 2 Mitchell Mesenbrink, Penn State vs.No. 10 Cameron Amine, Michigan

174 pounds: No. 9 Carter Starocci, PSU vs. No. 1 Mehki Lewis, Virginia Tech

184 pounds: No. 6 Bernie Truax, Penn State vs. No. 3 Dustin Plott, Oklahoma State

197 pounds: No. 1 Aaron Brooks, PSU vs. No. 8 Stephen Buchanan, Oklahoma

285 pounds: No. 1 Greg Kerkvliet, Penn State vs. No. 9 Nick Feldman, Ohio State