Penn State wrestling: Levi Haines, Cael Sanderson earn honors after Lions dominate at Big Tens

Penn State wrestling entered the Big Ten tournament as a prohibitive favorite to win the title after dominating the regular season. The Nittany Lions did not disappoint. They won four individual titles, the overall crown, and sent nine team members to the NCAA Tournament.

“We’re super happy to win a Big Ten championship,” head coach Cael Sanderson told reporters in Ann Arbor, Mich. “As a coach or as a team your heart’s always with the guys who didn’t reach their goals. Unfortunately, that happens in pretty much every event, somebody doesn’t have quite the tournament that they want. But we still celebrate and be happy and move on to the next one.”

Super senior Roman Bravo-Young and senior Aaron Brooks are now three-time Big Ten champs. ‘RBY’ beat Minnesota’s Aaron Nagao in thr 133-pound finals to cap off a perfect tournament. At 184 pounds, Brooks crushed Kaleb Romero of Ohio State 11-2 in the finals. Junior Carter Starocci is a two-time Big Ten champ at 174 pounds. He beat Nebraska’s Mikey Labriola 6-2 in the finals after a 2-0 effort led him there. Finally, freshman phenom Levi Haines won his first conference crown by beating top-seeded Peyton Robb 3-1 in a thrilling sudden victory outcome.

“I just stayed persistent, pulling on his head, and when I felt an opening, I let it rip,” Haines told reporters. “It goes back to what we do in the practice room; I have guys doing similar stuff on me so I’m just comfortable in that position.

 “It’s a very good step in the right direction. It’s the toughest competition in the country, so you can’t get much more prepared than competing against these guys.”

Not every Penn State wrestler lived their dream

It goes without saying that every Penn State wrestler arrived at the Crisler Center Saturday with hopes of winning it all. That did not happen for six Nittany Lions, however.

Redshirt freshman Gary Steen’s season is likely over after he went an uninspiring 0-2 at 125 pounds. At 141, two-seed and junior Beau Bartlett was upset in the semifinals by Brock Hardy of Nebraska but wrestled back to take third after beating Dylan D’Emilio of Ohio State. Redshirt freshman Shayne Van Ness did not make it out of the quarterfinals after losing to Max Murin of Iowa by decision in them. He lost to the Hawkeye again in his final bout of the tournament and finished fourth.

At 165 pounds, redshirt freshman Alex Facundo fell all the way to the seventh place match after being upset in the consolation bracket by Bubba Wilson of Rutgers. The Nittany Lion did rebound to finish with a win, however, as he took out Illinois’ Dan Braunagel to finish seventh.

Senior Max Dean was the top seed but finished as the runner-up at 197 pounds. He was perfect en route to the final but was upset by Silas Allred of Nebraska. Heavywight Greg Kerkvliet, then, also finished second. He lost to top-seeded Mason Parris of Michigan 5-3 in sudden victory.

“Our guys won some big matches and lost some big matches, it’s part of being a team,” Sanderson said. “We got nine wrestlers through to the nationals. That’s first and foremost and we’re happy.

“It’s a different tournament and sometimes it’s tough to wrestle great two weekends in a row,” he added. “So we’ve always kind of focused on the nationals and that’s been our focus this year, so we’ll be ready to roll in Tulsa.”

Sanderson, Haines earn additional honors

Penn State coach Cael Sanderson was selected as the Big Ten coach of the year. It’s his seventh such honor. Levi Haines, then, was the conference’s freshman of the year. He explored onto the scene during Big Ten competition after having his redshirt pulled earlier this year. He is unbeaten during the 2022-2023 season and will be a top contender to win the 157-pound title at nationals.