Penn State wrestling takeaways: It's time to burn Levi Haines' redshirt; Parris tops Kerkvliet, more

Penn State wrestling lost the first and last match on Friday night at Rec Hall. But, the Nittany Lions had all the laughs in the middle en route to a 30-8 Big Ten victory over No. 4 Michigan.

Head coach Cael Sanderson’s side won the takedown battle 23-8. They scored more bonus points and earned the match’s only fall. Two Lions picked up upset wins. But, one suffered an upset loss.

Here are our top takeaways from Penn State’s second win of January.

1. Parris gets the best of Kerkvliet

The highlight bout of the night featured No. 1 Greg Kerkvliet of Penn State opposite No. 2 Mason Parris of Michigan. The former won all three matches against the latter last season, but Parris scored a win in the series two years ago. He also earned one Friday night.

After a scoreless first period, Parris was down to start the second and escaped for a 1-0 lead. The remainder of the middle frame was neutral. Kerkvliet then escaped quickly to tie the bout at one early in the third. But, after fending off a strong Parris double leg attempt, the Wolverine countered a Kerkvliet shot with about 30 seconds to wrestle and then rode out the remainder of the match for his team’s second win of the night.

There will be a new number one when InterMat releases its new rankings next week. But, the loss by no means ends the Lions’ heavyweight’s chance at winning his first national title. Work remains, though, if that is going to be the case.

2. There is no longer a decision about what Penn State should do with Levi Haines

Speculation ran rampant all week about whether or not Penn State would wrestle freshman phenom Levi Haines at 157 pounds. Unlike football, where a redshirt is burned in the fifth contest of a season, college wrestlers get five matches before facing a decision about preserving eligibility or competing in a sixth. With Terrell Barraclough hurt, Haines was forced into action in the Lions’ last four matches and won them all. Head coach Cael Sanderson said this week that Barraclough is healthy. But, it was No. 17 Haines who took the mat to face No. 10 Will Lewan.

The match was spectacular. With the pair tied at one in the third, Haines fended off a wonderful Lewan shot to force sudden victory. He then somehow stopped a terrific Lewan single-leg takedown attempt while getting called for stalling and then got in on a single-leg shot of his own that he finished for a 3-1 win as the BJC erupted.

See the winning sequence below:

Levi Haines wins a thriller in SV!#PSUwr pic.twitter.com/pv05e7oC63

— Penn State WRESTLING (@pennstateWREST) January 21, 2023

There is no longer a question about what Sanderson should do. Haines should start for Penn State at 157 pounds on Sunday against Michigan State at Rec Hall, burn his redshirt, and see how far he can take the Lions in his weight class at nationals.

3. Penn State has the real deal in Alex Facundo

Speaking of upsets, did you see No. 16 Alex Facundo beat No. 5 Cameron Amine 6-5 with a 14-second riding time tiebreaker?

This was another outstanding match. Facundo scored first, but the bout went to the third period tied at two. An escape for the Nittany Lion redshirt freshman made it 3-2 then. Late in the final regulation frame, though, Amine appeared to have a takedown, but it wasn’t awarded, leading to a Facundo takedown and 5-2 lead. However, Michigan challenged the call. Upon review, Amine was given the takedown and the clock was reverted to that point in time. It put Facundo in the bottom position down 4-3 with 20 seconds left. He quickly escaped, though, to force sudden victory. After a scoreless 60 seconds, Facundo rode Amine long enough to secure the victory via riding time, even though both escaped to make it a 5-5 match at the horn.

Facundo is going to fly up through the rankings this week. It will be a deserving bump.

4. Odds and ends

–Gary Steen tries hard at 125 pounds. But, he was no match for No. 23 Jack Medley, who scored a 19-3 technical fall victory. Penn State will have to be content with not scoring points at Big Ten or nationals in this weight class barring a massive turnaround.

–Carter Starocci had the Lions’ lone pin of the night. He decked Max Maylor at 174 pounds in 4:14.

–Penn State returns to the mat Sunday when Michigan State visits Rec Hall. The match starts at 2 p.m. ET on BTN+.