Penn State wrestling injury update; what's the Lions plan for the Collegiate Wrestling Duals?

Penn State wrestling is on the cusp of its final competition date during the 2024 portion of its regular season schedule. The No. 1 Nittany Lions head to the Collegiate Wrestling Duals on Sunday in Nashville, Tenn. Head coach Cael Sanderson’s team will wrestle Binghamton at 3 p.m. ET, No. 16 Little Rock at 5, and No. 15 Missouri at 7 p.m. ET.

Numerous top 10 and top 15 bouts are expected throughout the day. Highlights include (if all wrestle as expected):

#11 Braeden Davis opposite #5 Nasir Bailey of Little Rock at 133 pounds

No. 2 Levi Haines vs. No. 1 Keegan O’Toole of Missouri at 174 pounds, Haines vs. No. 12 Brevin Cassella of Binghamton at 174

# 1 Carter Starocci vs. #10 Colton Hawks Jr., of Missouri

No. 7 Josh Barr opposite No. 5 Stephen Bailey of Little Rock at 197 pounds and Barr opposite No. 4 Rocky Elam of Missouri at 197

“I think there’s, like you said, a lot of great matchups, and some matchups that could be NCAA finals, NCAA semifinals,” Penn State head coach Cael Sanderson told reporters on Tuesday. “So those are the fun ones. I mean, every match has a purpose, and you just kind of bring your best. But yeah, some great matchups.”

“We’re excited to compete against three good teams. A lot of good individual matchups. Each guy has their own challenges. And for us, it’s really just, we’re trying to do what we do and get better at what we do.”

This week’s Blue-White Illustrated Penn State wrestling show previews the match and other top topics. Watch it below, and read on for more Nittany Lions news!

How will Penn State approach a three-match day for its starters?

The team is still working on its plan. Some starters — we project the majority — will likely wrestle in all three matches while the rest will compete in two of the three.

“We’ve talked about the different possibilities, different options,” Sanderson said. “It just depends on the guys. I mean, a lot of our guys just want to wrestle. And they’re in very good shape. And, three matches in a row shouldn’t be that big of a deal to them. You kind of break things down and look at it as, we’ll see competition in the conference, and the national tournaments and if you’re winning, you’re going to see two matches a day at the most, right? But if something doesn’t go right, you got to scrap, you just got to be ready to go.

“These guys love wrestling and, and hopefully the more matches at the end of the day, the better. Especially, I think the team setting makes it fun. Obviously, they have three plus matches already [in one day] at the Army Black Knight Inivte. But yeah, three strong teams. And, you know, the teams get stronger as the day goes on. So that’s that’s fun.”

Penn State injury update

Penn State wrestler Alex Facundo is dealing with an undisclosed injury, Sanderson said Tuesday.

“He tweaked something,” Sanderson said. “It could be a few weeks to several weeks. I don’t think it’s any kind of surgery or anything, but he probably won’t be on the mat for a couple weeks.”

Facundo, of course, was the Lions’ 165 pound starter in 2022-2023. He then took an Olympic redshirt year in 2023-2024. Before the 2024-2025 season, he dropped down to battle Tyler Kasak for the open 157-pound starting spot, which the latter won.

It’s an honor

Penn State swept this week’s Big Ten honors. Senior Beau Bartlett is the conference’s wrestler of the week after decking No. 28 Cole Brooks of Wyoming in 47 seconds back on Sunday. Luke Lilledahl, meanwhile, is the freshman of the week. He stopped Wyoming’s Jack Braman by technical fall, 20-5, in 4:25.