Penn State wrestling Big Tens preview: Breaking down 165-285 pounds

Penn State wrestling is now just one day away from kicking off its quest for a third consecutive Big Ten title. The No. 1 Nittany Lions are sending all 10 starters to this year’s tournament, which is being held in Evanston, Ill., at Northwestern.

Blue-White Illustrated is continuing to preview the conference championships. Yesterday, we started with the outlook for the Lions at 125-157 pounds (Click here to read it). Today, we’ll take a look at 165-285 pounds. We will have the finalized brackets this afternoon and a preview Saturday before complete coverage throughout the weekend.

Let’s take a look at the final five weight classes.

165 pounds: Redshirt sophomore Mitchell Mesenbrink

Seed: No. 1

Expected opening opponent: A first-round bye means Mesenbrink gets the winner of a to-be-determined first-round matchup between the Nos. 8 and 9 seeds.

Weight class breakdown: Mesenbrink enters this tournament as the clear class of the field. He leads the country in technical falls and should only add to that total this weekend. He should cruise to the finals, where a rematch with No. 2 Mikey Caliendo of Iowa looks likely. The Penn State star is 4-0 against him in college with victories coming by decision, technical fall, major decision, and technical fall.

174 pounds: Penn State junior Levi Haines

Seed: No. 1

Expected opening opponent: After a first-round bye, Haines will face either No. 8 Brody Baumann of Purdue or No. 9 Lucas Condon of Wisconsin in the quarterfinals.

Weight class breakdown: Haines projects to face Iowa’s Patrick Kennedy in the semifinal on the top half of the bracket. He already beat him by decision, 10-3, earlier this year. On the bottom half of the bracket, the seeds project to hold, which would put Ohio State’s Carson Kharchla, who is the two seed, opposite Nebraska’s No. 3 Lenny Pinto in the semifinals. Haines has beaten both this year, though the Buckeye gave him the tougher match. A rematch in the finals between those two is likely.

184 pounds: Graduate senior Carter Starocci

Seed: No. 1

Expected opening opponent: After a first-round bye, Starocci will face either No. 8 DJ Washington of Indiana or No. 9 Ryder Rogotzke of Ohio State in the quarterfinals.

Weight class breakdown: Things are, obviously, notably different for Starocci entering his final Big Ten tournament compared to this time a year ago. He is healthy, and not on the brink of injury defaulting twice to try and put himself in the best position possible for nationals. Washington is the only wrestler to ever beat Starocci at the college level, and that happened in his very first match. The Penn State star has got the best of him in both matches since, and he beat Rogotzke by technical fall this year. A semifinal date opposite Iowa’s Gabe Arnold, the four seed, likely awaits. The two have exchanged plenty of barbs, with the Hawkeye doing most of the talking despite Iowa going with Angelo Ferrari and not him during the team’s dual meet this season. So, those two finally meeting, in all likelihood, has many excited.

Max McEnelly of Minnesota is the two seed and thus has the bye on the bottom half. If the chalk holds, he’ll face No. 3 Silas Allred in the semifinals. Regardless, Starocci is expected to cruise to another conference crown.

197 pounds: Penn State redshirt freshman Josh Barr

Seed: No. 2

Expected opening opponent: After a first-round bye, he will face either No. 7 Evan Bates of Northwestern or No. 10 Remy Cotton of Michigan State.

Weight class breakdown: Barr heads to his first Big Ten tournament as the two seed behind only Iowa’s Stephen Buchanan, who is the top seed in the bracket after beating the Nittany Lion by decison, 4-1, earlier this year. A semifinal rematch with No. 3 Jacob Cardenas of Michigan is expected. Barr beat him in thriller, 3-2, earlier this year in a match decided in the tiebreaker portion of overtime. Another doozy is expected, assuming both clear their earlier opponents as expected.

On the top half, Buchanan will likely have to contend with No. 4 Isaiah Salazar of Minnesota. The Hawkeye beat the Golden Gopher 4-1 earlier this year, but it should be another close match if it happens.

This bracket’s winner comes out of the top four and probably the top two, but no outcome would be overly surprising.

285 pounds: Graduate enior Greg Kerkvliet

Seed: No. 2

Expected opening opponent: After a first-round bye, he will face the winner of No. 7 Ben Kueter of Iowa vs. No. 10 Hayden Filipovich of Purdue.

Weight class breakdown: Let’s just cut to the chase here: The top two heavyweights in the country are also the top two heavyweights in the Big Ten. Barring an absolutely shocking result, Kerkvliet will meet top-seed Gable Steveson of Minnesota in the finals. Earlier this year, the Penn State standout and reigning NCAA champ was No. 1. Then, Steveson returned for a final collegiate season. The Golden Gopher is 2-0 all-time against Kerkvliet but they haven’t wrestled since 2022, of course. A preview of the likely NCAA title bout awaits us at Big Tens.